Trials and Triumphs

March 1, posted by Mary
For Peas Sake

           

It's not too late to sow seeds of peas. Green garden peas come in three variations. There are shelling peas (sometimes called English), with thick, inedible pods but tasty round peas. Snow peas are flat and popular in Asian cooking to eat whole. Then there are snap peas, which have edible pods if picked young, or round peas when shelled at maturity.

All garden peas (Pisum sativum) are easy to grow with the proper conditions. Sow shelling and snow peas in mid to late January and snap peas in early February after soaking the seeds overnight. Sow about 1 inch deep, water thoroughly then don’t water again until the seeds sprout. Thin the seedlings to 3-4 inches apart. Try not to get water on the leaves when watering as this encourages mildew on the foliage. Give the plants trellises or twine supports as they can grow up to 5 feet tall. Once they start up the support, they sprout tendrils that will grasp the twine or wire and cling on their own.

 

 

 

Harvest snow and snap peas when the pods are about 3 inches long, before the peas swell. Harvest shelling peas when the peas are round but before the pods lose their bright green color. Pick all the pods that are ready or the plants will quit producing.  Refrigerate peas without washing them. Rinse them before cooking.

 

February 26, Posted by Mary
Radishes

We sowed our first crop of radishes just before Valentine's Day and will do one more sowing of seeds next week. Radishes germinate and grow quickly so they should be ready to harvest about 3 weeks after they first appear.

How to plant: Sow radish seeds directly into the ground (or the potting soil in containers) anytime from now through April. Scatter the tiny seeds onto soil that has been tilled or dug and amended with organic matter. Bagged compost, bark mulch, sheep or cow manure, or a combination of the above should be mixed with the native soil to add fertility and help loosen the soil. Lightly push the seeds into the soil with your hand or the back of a shovel. Water the soil and keep it moist until the seeds germinate and little seedlings appear. After that, water when the top inch of soil dries out.

Care: Thin the seedlings so they are about 4 inches apart while they are still small – about a week after they come up. Provide at least half a day of sun to your radishes

 

The variety French Breakfast holds up and grows better than most early types in summer heat if water is supplied regularly. An heirloom introduced in 1879, French Breakfast was the popular market radish of Paris, now more a type than a single variety. The shape can vary from oblong to round, but they are always red tipped with white. They are mild with a spicy bite, and tender when picked young. I don't think they really eat them for breakfast in France, but it is the French, so who knows?

To harvest, loosen the soil around the fleshy root bulb with a garden fork or trowel. Pull the whole plant up and shake it off to loosen the dirt. Wash the bulb in cold water and eat immediately, or soak in cold water, pat dry, and store in the refrigerator. The leaves can be added to salad and the bulbs eaten whole or sliced.

February 6, 2013
TRANSPLANTING CARROTS?

Each year in my kitchen garden I try to grow carrots. It's not like I haven't had success. It's that my success doesn't come in the same season in which I seeded the carrots. I've had carrots seeded in the spring appear the following fall, and I've had fall carrots appear the following spring. "What is the deal," I thought.

 

Well, the deal is that although carrots are really pretty easy to grow during our cooler months in spring and fall, getting the seeds to germinate is not always easy. Carrots do not transplant well. Therefore direct seeding into the garden is the best option. Carrot seeds germinate best when soil temperatures are around 54 degrees. I'm determined to get a spring carrot crop this year.

I found a fellow gardener on the internet who offered a very creative solution for starting carrots indoors and successfully transplanting them. She had success using paper tubes as a biodegradable pot that could be transplanted to the garden intact after the seedlings began maturing. 

So I enlisted my family and coworkers to save the roll from their paper products. Paper tubes from toilet tissue, paper towels or even holiday wrapping paper  all work well.

I loosely filled the tubes 95% full with potting soil that had been pre-moistened (Its a good idea to always work with pre-moistened soil no matter the intended growing purpose.)  I seeded 3-5 carrot seeds per tube, then pressed them lightly into the soil. I place all of my tubes into a slotted bottom crate which will allow free drainage, and placed my crate in a sunny warm spot indoors. 

 

Now I'll wait for my seeds to germinate and sprouts to appear. As the plants begin to grow, I'll thin each tube to 1-2 plants. Once my plants are 3-4 inches tall, I'll transplant them into my prepared bed outdoors.  I'll keep your updated with my progress.