Thursday, January 26, 2012

Planted Sugar Snap Peas Today!

The best crop of sugar snap peas we have ever had here were planted early, on January 21th. Here is central North Carolina it gets pretty hot by the end of April, peas do not like warm weather. So given my work schedule was open today I went out and got my hands dirty! It is supposed to rain the next two days so it was now or wait til the soil is dry enough.

I worked the two 8 foot strips were I was planting with a shovel then sifted the soil with my bare hands. I had to remove acorns, henbit and other weeds. I've told this before and will tell it again as we have a lot of new visitors here. First inoculate the peas with a little water and inoculant, I poured the 3/4 lbs of peas into a quart container and shook them up so the inculcate would stick to the peas well.

Here is the real trick plant your two rows about a foot apart under your trellis and drop the peas in very heavy like in the photo below.
Putting so many peas in the furrows is insurance against birds, squirrels, slugs and peas that do not sprout. This way you get a nice full trellis of peas. It just works, Meg taught me this. These two rows 8 foot long may produce 4-5 gallons of peas this way.

Then cover the rows with wheat straw to hold in the moisute and hide the peas from critters finding them. Then we let the peas grow. This trellis will need more strings before the peas grow very much. Make sure your peas do not fall over by making sure they stick to the trellis or the plants will bend in half and you'll loose your pea crop.

 Above is our garlic patch, that first one is about 3/4 inch in diameter. I added fertilizer today to the garlic. What type, grocery (coop) store garlic. That green clump behind the garlic is the sugar snap peas Meg planted last fall.
 These hellebores opened today in the garden. The white one I call Breezy 13 and the pinkish one I call Breezy 14. These were given to us by our friend Breezy, she gave us a lot of them.
 Above is Henbit a weed that grows in our lawn, it is very invasive, but the bees like it and I heard the pollen from it is red.
 Here are some of my girls with pollen sacs on their hind legs from today. The brown pollen below was being carried in like crazy. Three colors of pollen was seen.
 Anemone blanda I think from the garden.
 Firefly crocus is still hanging on. It is my favorite, for now.
Gypsy Girl crocus has just opened up, kind of sneaky about it, never saw it coming.

14 comments:

Andrea said...

Hi Randy, I haven't been here for a while, as i didn't see a new post in my dashboard. Now that i see those crocus again, I remember it was here that i found a very very beautiful violet photo last year. And your bees seem to be very healthy, i don't know how to grow them so I learn from here and Curbstone Valley Farm.

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Ohhhhh Love Gypsy Girl!! I need to add some Crocus this fall. So bright and sunny.
Nothing better than homegrown snaps. I never planted them so close/heavily.
That one photo of the bee is super!!!

Karen said...

Hi Randy, I had a lot of catching up to do on your blog. My condolences on the loss of your cat, I know how hard that is. Loved the video which is a wonderful way to remember him by.

Those hellebores are so very colorful, you sure have an amazing variety. I'm just hoping mine come back this spring. To see someone working in the garden and planting things is good for my spirits. And look at those bees working so hard; amazing!

Bridget said...

You've certainly got a head start in your garden. Well done! Must try planting Peas thickly like that.

tina said...

Simply incredible close ups of the bees! Love them! You've reminded me I must get to planting some sugar snaps soon. I sometimes wait too long. Time to get busy for sure.

Q said...

Dear Randy,
Seeing your crocus and thinking about planting peas just makes me long for spring! My ground is frozen so way to early for me to be in the garden but soon.
It has been a warm dry winter. Temps have dropped to more normal.
I will try inoculating the peas. I have never done that. I do plant heavily...We love sugar snaps in the spring....
Your girls are lovely...
Sherry

Lisa said...

Randy,
I'm planting peas this weekend, so just behind you. Let's hope for a nice moderate and cool spring! I'll plant extra, too, following Meg's advice. Quite wise.

Lisa

meemsnyc said...

What a great idea for planting peas. I never thought to plant them so close together. I'll have to try that!!

debsgarden said...

First, thanks for stopping by my own blog. I appreciate your comment!

I really enjoyed this post. I was eating sugar snap peas at a restaurant a couple days ago and told my husband I wanted to plant some of these. I have never planted them before, so your post came just in time!

Lona said...

I cannot believe all of the blooms you have already. Makes me long for spring.The Anemone is just so pretty. I love the color. And the Hellebore's are just lovely. We get that Henbit all over the yard too. I am sure your bees are loving it anyway. They look like they are very busy already.
Do not tempt me with the pecan brittle. LOL!

Kelly said...

...seeing all your blooming flowers and the sight of your peas already planted makes me wonder why we stay here! I want to live in the south!! :-) Love the flowers....

sweetbay said...

Wow you have crocus already, and Gail too?! Lovely shots of the Hellebore, especially the white one.

You've reminded me to get the sugar snap peas going. I'm always behind on the vegetable garden.

Carol said...

Wow! Wonderful portraits of your winter blooms Randy! I am so jealous! Great shots of your bees too. So much is happening and sweet peas in . . . you have such a long growing season or is it just early this year?

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