Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Peas for self sufficiency

This year I understand better the position of peas in the self sufficient garden.
I am not growing them for year round freezing or bagfuls. I am growing them as the sweet vegetable that will fill the gap, while my spring vegetables are growing and before the summer harvest begins.
The plan is to plant peas for trimming the tops as salad greens, sugar snaps for use with the whole pea pod and then because we have the space, I have planted some peas that you do pod - for sweet treats.
I planted the peas for trimming and the sugar snaps about a month ago but made the mistake of not covering them. Very few have survived. I think the birds enjoyed some tasty snacks.
I replanted and covered them. Now I have plants!
The peas planted for trimming were microgreen peas fiji feathers from King Seeds.
I trimmed them two days ago and then trimmed them again tonight for dinner for four. If you let them grow too much they get tougher. I will probably need to trim them every day or every second day to keep to the yummy tender shoots and leaves. They do taste just like peas.

At the end of the microgreens are planted the sugar snap peas. I chose this variety because of the comment "excellent eating quality." They sounded tasty. I was concerned they might get trimmed as microgreens by accident but the advantage of the fiji feathers is they look completely different to the sugar snaps. If all goes to plan, early November we should be using these pods in our cooking.

My peas for podding are the peas alderman. I have grown these the previous two years and they are delicious. Very few make it anywhere near the kitchen. They get eaten in the garden and that is a yummy way to enjoy some peas. They should follow on from the sugar snaps.

Peas are also nitrogen fixing. Once the peas have finished, if I dig them into the soil, they will also enhance the nitrogen content of the soil for future plants to use. The peas will keep giving us more vegetables.

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5 Favourite Sights Seen

  • 1996 Watching tropical lightning turn night to day, outside a little wooden church in a small village in Sabah.
  • 2004 Flying down the Rainbow Valley at 8000ft in a cessna on a clear blue day.
  • 2003 Seeing and hearing Michael Schmacher rolling out of the pit garage in his Ferrari in Hungary.
  • 2009 Chancing upon 100 or more dolphins just off the Kaikoura Coast swimming around, jumping out of the water, doing somersaults and generally having fun.
  • 2006 Finding a pool at the bottom of a waterfall in the bush at Kaikoura that was full of playing baby seals.