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| 2-3 week old pea sprouts |
As you can probably guess from the title, this blog will be about peas! Typically peas are a cold weather crop so I would imagine that most have already been harvesting their peas. I started late (beginning of April), but I have definitely seen a huge difference from the tiny sprouts that came up about a week after planting and the 2 feet high pea plants threatening to take over that corner of the garden today. We are growing sugar snap peas, which has an edible outside as well as the pea fruit.
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| 1 month old pea plants |
I didn't really plan on the peas growing so tall. Shame on me I know; the seed package even tells you to have a trellis for the peas. The sprouts grew quickly and within a couple of weeks I had to build a support system. Those suckers are quite spindly and with their tendrils they will latch onto anything within their grasp. In a way they remind me of the
scene in Sleeping Beauty where Malificent used her powers to grow those nasty thorns to trap Prince Philip. Those thorns twist and turn and seemed to grab everything! Now, I know my peas aren't manevolent, but it seemed like one day they were minding their own business and the next taking over the nearby sprouts!
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| Green twine to tie plants up |
I first built a trellis with wood stakes we found at our local Ace Hardware. Side note - Growing up, I used to go to Ace with my Dad and he would buy me a ring pop. So, I have fond memories of that store ☺After getting the stakes, I cut them using a hand saw to 18 in in height. I also had to cut one end at a slight angle so that I could hammer it into the ground. I then placed one stake on each corner and the remaining ones in the centers of each corner so that I had 9 total. Then, using some green twine I wrapped it around the stakes creating three trellises.
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| Finished trellis! |
And of course, not even two weeks later and the peas completely outgrew the trellis I had made. The pictures I have posted on this blog are about 4 feet in height. So far, so good! I can continue to add the green twine as the pea plants grow higher, up to about 4 feet. I can't imagine they will get much taller since they should be fruiting within the next couple of weeks. I am very excited for the peas to produce and am just waiting now for the flowers to start blooming!
