Peas for presidents day?

[heidihi]

OMG the moon is absolutely inspiring me to let loose in the garden!!! this picture below while not the best quality is what I saw on the deck this morning ...it made me feel so good to breath in the cold air and look at this beautiful sight...and the best part is we really have had spectacular moonsets each morning they wake me up glowing through the bedroom windows then as I have my coffee they move over the Salish Sea ..it is the single most beautiful moon of the year and the sky has been so clear ...time to plan that first round of peas! ..

I am looking for one thing first..what is your favorite shelling pea? I have always loved them and so far have not found that perfect great big extra sweet shelling peas I used to get them all the time and the pods while fibrous as hell made a lovely stock flavoring
would you share your ideas for the perfect shelling pea

here is my list for the weekend PEAstravaganza!
I plant a light first round and then follow up with a planting every three to four weeks until I know they will not be good and I am ready to save seed

Lincoln Garden peas
Saveurfine
purple blossom sugar pea
snow peas (they are just great big basic snow peas)
and a sugar snap pole pea

any special tips for growing peas ..I have never had much of a problem producing

also planting a light dust of tasty peel carrots (if you have not been there find some they are the best all around orange carrot I have ever grown and eaten)
santa cruz carrots (I have no idea they were a gift)
a new spread of parsley around the garden edges
and I am taking a cheap shot at lettuce but I think it is too early and too cold

oh yes and another round of fava beans ..I am so excited to be trying those ..

but peas are the center of attention and I am not even sure as yet where that all came from ..someone said it forever ago to me and it stuck!

if I till my peas into a bed and let it just sit I usually also get a self seeding early fall crop

our summers are not all that hot usually

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[Joseph Lofthouse]

St Patricks day is my traditional pea planting day (first planting). As little snow as we have received this year I expect that I might be planting the first crop earlier.

[raymondo]

My favourite shelling pea is Onward - large and sweet. Where do you source your Tasty Peel carrots?

[heidihi]

Feb 20, 2011 5:36:08 GMT -5 raymondo said:

My favourite shelling pea is Onward - large and sweet. Where do you source your Tasty Peel carrots?

thanks I will look for it

my friend works for a seed company here in the NW he gave me these seeds

I will ask where they are available I tried to do a search and came up dry I am sorry! I thought you could just find them

they are wonderful carrots!

[robertb]

I start peas in pots, under cover. This avoids problems with pigeons (terrible on my plot), mice and rotting in cold soil.

[seedywen]

Am wondering if it's time to start a couple of rows of gutter peas.

Peas, any kind, right now, sown directly in the cool, damp, soil of my West Coast garden are almost inevitably condemned to rot or be eaten by hordes of slugs/sow bugs waiting for the first tender greens of the season to emerge.

So I overlap multiply layers of newspaper in three 8 foot gutters, fill with garden soil with some complete organic fertilizer and plant presprouted(in the house) peas fairly thickly. The gutters get covered with other newspapers or old feed sacks in the unheated greenhouse. It's not a lot of peas but does give me a pea fix weeks ahead of direct planted sowings.

Trouble is, currently muscovy ducks sleep in the green house at night, and the chickens have dust baths there in the day. Both will lose these privileges when the peas or other plants get growing.

[heidihi]

OMG it is going to be below freezing and probably thundersnow..how funny! but tradition dies hard with a 4 year old grandson so we will at least get some peas in his bed

we can take the garden inside and make bamboo trellis and not poke eyes out of ourselves or the poor dogs ..I think we all need googles with this craft

[mnjrutherford]

LOL, googles AND macs! I'm hoping to get out and get our February seeds planted. That will include peas!

[heidihi]

LOL GOGGLES GOGGLES!!!! blaming it on the bifocals!

I made ginger walnut scones..and nice pot of coffee... still no peas in the ground but it is not even noon I have time

[mnjrutherford]

Oh the scones sound heavenly! I make mine with candied orange peel and pecans sometimes. But alas, no peas in the ground yesterday. Today perhaps?

[heidihi]

I finally got some in by the end of the day before it started pouring ..strange weather I tell you!
today I can finish cleaning up the yard if the weather holds itself back!

my fava beans have the first leaves I hope we do not get a hard frost

[flowerpower]

You should try to put in some lettuce seed. It will germinate at the right time. It's hardier than you might think. I've had them self-sow here.

[heidihi]

for sure lettuce is in and about an inch high already and I have some in the hydroponic set up as well ..I wil replant some today thanks for reminding me I have some interesting types this year to try ..I love the sharp flavored ones

I also have some black radish and hardy spinach to put in as well