I just couldn't resist.
Okay, it might be rushing the season here in 5a (which I thought was 5b, but DG assigned me to 5a), but the sun was warm and the garden bed was tilled and the soil was warm and I was standing in my garden shed and thought...what the heck?
So I planted some peas today...but hedged my bet and only planted a half row.
I wonder if they'll survive?
Daisygrrl
St. Patrick's Day Peas
Hi again. I was all ready to plant peas on the tenth and I didn't have any. I have onion sets to get in when the garden dries off and spinich, turnips, and carrots too. I'm trying the daikon radish this year - Mooli, and Oasis turnips. Tired of the same old same old.
Hi Daisygirl
I live in 5a also, and it is a tradition here to plant peas on Easter. I know Easter is a different date every year, but It's never this early. Today the high temp was 33 and the ground is still frozen. Still, I hope your peas come up for you, but I think they will wait until the soil temp warms up. I can't wait to get started on my garden but for now I have to be satisfied with starting some seeds in my house. The weather man is talking about more snow in a couple of days. I hope it's the last of it.
Easter...that's good to know. I'm originally from Maryland and I always heard St. Patrick's.
Well, the peas are in a very sunny and sheltered place, we'll see.
And the seed starting indoors has begun for me, too. And I'm also trying new things:
Poblano and Habanero peppers, 3 colors of cherry tomatoes and Purple Cherokee heirloom tomatoes
I'm ready to try the heirloom tomatoes too. I usually order all my seed from Totally Tomatoes. I like growing something besides Better Boy and Early Girl.
BillyPorter: if you love tomatoes, you will think you've died and gone to heaven with the heirlooms. In the stores, Botanical Interest and Renee's Garden seeds have a few varieties. There's one that is huge, yellow, with a little red blush to the skin. When you slice it, there are beautiful red markings among the yellow fruit.
Purple Cherokee and Black Prince and Black Krim are very, very sweet.
Yum!
You know what some of us old timers say: the uglier the tomato, the better the taste!
It's always been Good Friday for peas down here in the southwest corner of NY. The thing about peas is that you can actually plant them in the fall just before the ground freezes and if they don't get waterlogged, they will sprout when the time is right.
Another good place for heirloom tomatoes is Baker Creek Seed. They also have some international varieties, I highly reccommend the Thai Pink Egg tomatoes. here's a link to the Garden Watch Dog listing:
http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/14/
I can a lot of juice, so I'm also looking for juicy tomatoes. I've always loved fried green tomatoes. Now we've discovered tomato pie. I carefully picked all my green tomatoes last fall, layered them in a clothes basket in the garage and we had green tomato something almost every day. One tomato had a chewed up spot and I'm thinking that I have a late grasshopper. I pulled back the newspaper and there's a mouse running around. Dang! There went my fine tomatoes onto the compost pile.
Kathleen, maybe my peas will be alright, then. They'll just germinate when they want to? Worth seeing if they do that. Great link, too, thanks.
Billy, i love your green tomato ideas~
Hi daisygrrl...I'm in Northern NJ near NYC and always followed the rule of thumb that you plant peas as soon as the ground can be worked which here is usually mid March. I always plant treated seed (sorry if you're organic!) and they break the ground usually in 14-21 days. They are quite hardy and more than once I had them covered with snow for up to a week before it melted and they just happily kept right on growing. I bet yours will be just fine.
Rich
Rich: That's exactly what is suggested in the classic 1977 book "Crockett's Victory Garden." "As soon as the ground can be worked." And he even says you can brush away the snow from the bed and plant. He also sites St. Patrick's day, and his garden was in Boston.
Thanks for the encouragement.
sprinkle a little lime on the bed - that was the thing I forgot. Peas and Sweet Peas like sweet soil (sweet soil, more alkaline, sour soil, more acid).
daisygrrl: I can remember watching Jim Crockett on PBS every Saturday here on WNET in New York. I'm obviously showing my age here (lol). There was also a call in gardening show with Ralph Snodsmith on WOR radio here every Saturday and his advise was exactly the same...St. Patrick's Day or as soon thereafter as the ground can be worked. Using that planting schedule I have picked sugar snap's in mid May. Also when the weather warms if you mound some soil around the base of the plants to keep the roots cool you can extend the picking through June and maybe beyond.
Rich
Daisygrrl, I was going to quote Crockett ! My book is from 1977 too! Using it, I put out peas, spinich, turnips and onion sets yesterday. This morning I cut up sprouted red potatoes and planted them too. It's a little too early, but better than throwing out rotten ones.
Rich, I loved The victory Garden. Then they ruined it.
We got 3/10'' this morn and it's still sprinkling!
Except for the emphasis on pesticides and chemicals, that early Victory Garden TV show and book are the best. And Crockett was doing all this just as people were beginning to get back into gardening...he was a real pioneer.
I don't like poisons either, but sometimes you have to. It's up to us to not overdo it.
We're up to 1/2'' of rain now!
I agree about Crocket! His book on perennials was the first I read and one of the best.
Dave
I must admit I used to spray everything with Diazinon on a regular basis but have come almost full circle. Now I'm using 100% organic fertilizer, things like BT, Neem Oil, Serenade, Messenger, etc. One thing though I will guarantee as sure as the day I was born. You will get a 100% better stand of peas using treated seed and in cool soil the same applies to stringbeans.
Rich
I know, the treated seeds do much better in terms of germination rate, no question. This is the second year for me not using treated seeds. I'm just at the point personally that I am a little afraid of the treated seeds and am willing to put up w/ erratic germination.
It's just a personal preference, though. I used (and my late father used) treated seeds forever...they do work!
Just to let everyone know, the peas, spinich, turnips, onions and potates I planted March 26th did good.
I got 9 potatoes out of 12, the peas are still putting out blooms, the turnips are done and the rabbits eat a lot of my spinich. The spring onions are pulled, but the keepers are looking good. I pulled a foot long Daikon radish for dinner and got a late row of green beans in the other day.
We're eating healthy now!
mine, too billyporter. the peas I planted on March 17th are producing, the ones planted 2 weeks after are flowering. and the onions and lettuce planted 4/1 are still going strong, and the radish and baby bok choy are finished.