I keep notes, I write this stupid blog. And still, I make the same mistakes over and over.
What, pray tell, was I thinking in March when I created this mess?
Actually, I know what I was thinking when I planted shelling peas two rows wide followed by sugar snap peas weeks later, three rows wide. I was thinking: “Shell peas are planted earlier than snap peas. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a problem telling them apart because the shelling peas will mature a lot faster. This will be great!”
Pea Fail.
I planted the shelling peas a full three weeks earlier than the sugar snap peas.
The sugar snap peas are ready now.
The shelling peas are ready now.
I can’t tell the damn difference!
See? Here is a side-by-side comparison:
Yes, yes, the pizza crust is somewhat easier to identify. The shelling pea compared to the sugar snap pea though? Not so much.
So we’ve got a big bowl of them on the counter. I offer them to guests and say, “Just bite into them. If the shell isn’t juicy and sweet, here, spit it into this bowl.”
But keep the peas!
And now, some useful gardening information:
How not to plant sugar snap peas.
Gardening books will tell you various things about planting peas. I don’t consult books very often anymore unless I have a real problem, but I am quite positive that I read this in a gardening book: it is a good idea to plant peas in wide rows (meaning instead of a single row of individual pea seeds, you plant 3 or 4 rows of pea seeds closely) since the vines will help hold each other up. I have done this religiously every year. Because:
1) it makes sense, and
2) it allows me to plant more peas in a smaller space.
It is 2010, I am writing this post so that I remember NEVER to follow that advice AGAIN!
Here is the mess planted that way:
Half are falling down (thanks to Lola, the pea-loving dog. She’s like a migrant dog, working her way from crop to crop as they ripen):
Now, I finally know better, because this year, in addition to planting them that way, because I had leftover sugar snap pea seeds, I stuck them in a single row along the back fence behind the garlic. You could say that was a bad idea too, since the tall vines now shade the garlic more than I’d like (let’s just forget that part for a minute), but I prefer to think of it as a surprise success.
Because, these peas, planted in a single row, are a dream to pick. Easy. Fast. Healthy. Not falling over. And in the end, I bet I’ll harvest more from them, too, since I can actually find them.
Lola can find them too. She camps outside the fence and pulls them through the fence holes. But at least that way, she can’t pull the whole vine down, which is another bonus.
All I have to do now, is to remember this for next year…ha!
Pamela says
Jennie – I just cracked up when I saw your twitter tweet. I thought, boy this is going to be a good post. And good it was.
We came up with a plan for next year to avoid the picking woes we had this year. Last year my husband constructed an elaborate labor intensive trellis http://seedsofnutrition.com/?p=467 photo doesn’t do it justice of what it really looks like since it was taken late dusk and didn’t show up well. Made with T posts / fence wire, springs, etc…It was sturdy and held pea vines up nicely but was a pain to put up and take down.
This year we used all the cattle / hog panels we had around here not in use. Using electric fence posts to erect them, spreading them out because we didn’t have enough for the tons of peas my husband ordered. So in between panels wire was strung.
Problem #1 – erected the panels after the peas came up and didn’t set them close enough. So we had major problems getting the sugar snaps to latch on…woe is me…we used ballers twine and wood stakes, whatever we could find to get them to the panels / wires. The shelling peas did just fine we must have gotten the panels close enough plus they have a kazillion more tendrils than sugar snaps.
Problem #2 – the day we had our first big picking of the shelling peas we had a major storm hit that morning that came out of the N.E.. Peas were on the west side of the panels. The high winds knocked virtually all the peas off the panels making picking a nightmare.
2011 Plan is now in effect and will commence with buying more panels over the winter or any sales we see between now and next spring. We decided that cattle and or hog panels make the very best trellis for peas. Easy to erect and take down. And we decided we what we want to do is set up panels in a row with 2 rows of panels about 5 or so inches apart with the seeds planted in the middle of that space. The peas then will grow up and latch on either or both panels. The peas then will be erect and will have greater protection from storms.
In spite of it all we got a tremendous yield…49 qts shelling peas / 35 qts. sugar snaps put up…and we had several friends come out to do picking also.
Even after years of gardening we are still learning.
Sylvana says
Pamela, I like the way you think. Sandwich the peas between trellises. Brilliant!
Jennie, come on. Your peas are gorgeous! My neighbor can’t grow peas to save her life, and mine are nowhere near as spectacular as yours.
I made the mistake of mixing the sugar snaps and the shelling peas last year, and probably again this year. Next year — ALL sugar snap!
Jami says
I have to say it… it’s like someone complaining… oh, it’s such a bummer to be a size 8, I really yearn to be a size 4. Come on! Those messy vines are drop dead gorgeous! I will send you a sad picture of my blue lakes that are anemic and wimpy compared to your glorious pea vines. It’s all about perspective!
Now, please tell me what to do with this sourdough starter that I can’t seem to throw away…. I keep feeding that main one and putting the leftovers in a big jug in the frig. I must bake this into something… !
admin says
Touché. I have to remember that. Just like when complaining about my asparagus, right? I’m going to back to the Fast Easy Ciabatta post to comment on the sourdough!
admin says
yes, pamela, and there is the rub. I don’t think I truly was able to get across the fact that I have tried out so many different pea-growing methods I can’t even recount them all. And every single one of them had been disastrous in one way or another. Usually it is exactly as you said: a storm from the non-prevailing wind direction that takes them down. Once they go down, I don’t know about you, but I find them to be all but a lost cause. So far, aside from my dog woes, I’m doing better than normal.
admin says
yes! yes! Everyone, all together now: NEXT YEAR ALL SUGAR SNAPS. NEXT YEAR ALL SUGAR SNAPS! (my shelling pea packet was a “free gift” from one of the places I ordered from. “Gift”, my ass!