A wonderfully balmy winter day was perfect for planting. Feb. 14 is often used as the marker for planting peas (garden, sugar snap, and snow) across the continent, but it's not often so pleasant as today, here in the Eastern U.S., although days like this are typical in late February.
The soil in the 'main' vegetable garden was frozen on the surface until about noon (it's shady this time of year now, because of the angle of the sun, and the increasing height of the shrub row and hollies beyond the fence). The satellite garden beds were warm in contrast -- I meant to check the difference in soil temperatures.
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| peas, onions, and garlic in the satellite garden |
I worked up the beds, planted 2 bundles of onion plants, sowed peas (of all sorts mentioned above), sprinkled out some collards and sprouting broccoli seeds as an experiment, and poked some radish seeds around the pea plantings.
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| garlic and onion beds |
My seed potatoes should be on their way tomorrow, so I'll get a couple of new beds ready for them. (I'm eyeing the 'wasted' lawn space between the garden shed and the satellite garden again). I need more space with full sun....
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| flats in cold frame |
I tucked flats of newly-sown lettuce, mesclun, and 'peas-in-a-pot'-- a dwarf pea that caught my attention in a seed catalog -- into the cold frame.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteJust now planting peas? Our best pea crop was planting in the third week of January. The onion sets we planted in November look as good as the garlic about 1/4 inch around and 6 inches high. WE are up to our ears in lettuce right now, more than we can eat in the cold frames. Oh first picking of spinach today, it was yummy.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteI think peas are one darn mercurial crop! It all depends on the weather fluctuations. I'm not surprised that you had a great crop planting in January, but I've had plenty of peas that succumbed to an early demise in cold soils, too. You never know in spring what's going to happen.
You've probably got it right with the onion sets-- my colleague Kathy planted onions in November and has them bulbing up now. Wow. My garlic is looking good, but needs a lot more warm weather to grow vigorously. It's about 6 inches high, too.
And I can imagine all the lettuce in the cold frames! Enjoy...
Lisa