Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Little Peas That Could

Good morning!

Remember when I posted about my garden, and showed you my 6 beautiful rows of peas? These little guys?

Then I posted another update, and they had grown. See those pea fence panels (actually stock panels)? They are shoulder height for me, and I'm 5'3" with my shoes on.

These are my peas today (well, yesterday).
God is blowing me away through His handiwork with these peas. Yes, I prayed that He would make them grow tall and strong and bear well. He is answering with a resounding "YES!" I don't know that I've ever prayed over my garden as earnestly or seriously as I have this year. They have only done this well (or somewhere close) once before and that has been several years. Yes, there were many things I did on my part to give them the best opportunity to grow big and strong. I can water and fertilize the dirt all I want, but I can't make the plant grow. Only God can do that.

Picking peas this enormous is an adventure. The first two pickings I did most of it on my knees. The vines are entwined and I do not want to just ram my way through - that would damage the vines and they would most likely die. Picking peas this enormous is also like giving your 2 year old the toilet brush and hair dryer and asking them to fix your hair. You come out looking like a wild woman. I don't have a 2 year old, so I might be wrong. Just guessing ;)


Yesterday was my third picking, and so far I have frozen about 15 quarts. There are still LOTS of pods on the vines that need to mature, but the weather this week is supposed to be in the 90's each day. Peas do NOT like hot so I don't know how many more I will get before the vines die. I know one thing, though: God is good. So, so good. I am so thankful for each pea that He gives us from these vines.

On to the rest of my garden, it's looking pretty good! I am happy with my garden this year :)

Saturday I weeded the cauliflower and broccoli. Earlier last week I planted the Amish Paste Tomatoes and finished caging all my plants. Once the peas come out I will have stakes to stake the rest of the cages.

Susannah was happily playing in the shade yesterday while I picked. It was VERY warm and humid yesterday, so we both looked a little stroogly. At least she was cute stroogly and not scary stroogly like her mama ;)

I found a baby broccoli growing!! Yay!! I haven't found any baby cauliflower yet, but hopefully soon?

My Summer Heat Tolerant head lettuce. It needs weeded :) Saturday I also planted more beets and a little heat tolerant spinach. I don't know if they'll grow since they didn't last time, but I wanted to try again.

Saturday was a garden day for me. Daniel got the tiller to run like it's supposed to, and tilled up for my first corn planting. This is 2 double rows. There's about 2 1/2+ feet between each big row, and about 12" between the "doubles". I'm hoping to get more corn in more space doing it this way. I'll still have room to walk and pick from each side. As soon as the peas come out and we get that part tilled, I'll plant the rest of the corn.

Hard to see, but my Tenderette Beans came up! This is 1st year garden space, so the grass is growing abundantly and needs removed. The bean plants are a little sparse in some areas (3 double rows), but I'm leaving them as is and will plant a later planting if I need to.

Peppers :) The yellow peppers I replanted don't look like they're doing anything. I think I'm stuck with all green peppers this year :)

Zucchini and squash plants. I can't wait to eat some!!! I did plant Nasturtiums between the hills of Zucchini and Squash, it is supposed to deter the squash bug (or vine bore beetle? can't remember). I hope it works :)

I had replanted eggplant seeds a couple weeks ago after I killed the starter plants the plants died, and I think I saw a few of them growing yesterday! I will have to check again in a couple days to see if it's really eggplants or just weeds :P I also planted a hill of cucumber plants on Saturday, they are looking ok.

This year has been a big learning experience for me, but this post is long enough already I'll save all that for later :) Thanks for stopping by my garden! Please check out Phoebe's, Amy's and Connie's gardens - they're the real hosts!!!

6 comments:

Diana said... [Reply to comment]

Your peas do look great! I wish I had planted more--I only did one short row. But now I know for next year :) What type of lattice did you use for them to grow on? Looks like it worked well :)

Rachel E. said... [Reply to comment]

Your garden looks great. I enjoy seeing how everyone garden grows. Keep up the good work and enjoy some peas for me.

Miriam said... [Reply to comment]

@Diana The lattice that we use for our peas are Stock Panels. They are heavy wire panels, each one 16' long. They come in different heights, I'm not sure exactly what these are, somewhere around 4 - 4.5'? You can find them at a farm supply store that sells fencing stuff. They are not cheap, though. We invested in them knowing we wanted to garden seriously, and that they would last us our entire gardening lifetime. My mom used box-wire fence, which works just as well, but since it is so flexible it is a major undertaking to put up and take down. These panels are rigid so I am able to do them by myself (they're kinda heavy, though).

Alicia said... [Reply to comment]

Oh my goodness, Miriam...your garden is swoon-worthy! Although I really wish you had posted a picture of your wild-woman hair! I was picking blueberries today and getting a similar effect (I really get into my picking)...

i cant decide said... [Reply to comment]

Your peas are amazing! The whole garden looks great!

My peas will never get that tall, 'cause it gets too hot and dry here too early in the season.

Sally said... [Reply to comment]

Wow! Your garden is doing so good, and you are putting a lot of time and muscle into it. I know you'll enjoy the vegetables it yields. (Do you think the Miracle Grow applications made any difference? I'm curious because I want to know if I should try it some year.)