My garden, it bloometh over

[lakmiseiru]

Peas are nearly done - dry, dessicated plants, with single short pods of fat seeds waiting to be plucked and eaten. I'll cut them down tomorrow and replant for the fall harvest. Beans are still going strong, despite each plant being only about the size of a skull (sorry, best scale I could think of on the spot); I'll replant between those, and

Comments

[anonymous]

Peas are easy to grow but not so easy to tell when to pick them. One day they taste sweet and the following day they are bitter. If you missed the 'picking window' you can save them for next year and use them as seeds. I would pick a pod and eat a few peas raw asap.

-v-

[lakmiseiru]

Indeed! These have been being continuously harvested, and having grown sugar snaps for a while means I'm very used to judging them. But it's a good thought to set some aside - I wonder how "overripe" they need to be to have properly formed as seeds? The right thing to do would be to leave them on the vine if they'd gone too long - thankfully these haven't. (and I always eat them raw)

[anonymous]

Last summer I saved a few pods from a batch af fresh peas from a local farm. I removed the peas from the pods and simply left them in a paper cup. This spring I planted them and every single seed came up. My crop happened the end of June, while I was away. I checked them just before I left and they were sweet but some of the pods were on the small side so I left them. When I returned they had turned bitter. So, I got a big seed crop for next year.

I am going to plant again for the fall but with last year's seeds since the new seeds need to dry out and winter over (cold cycle).

My tomatoes are turning red now and the green peppers are ready to pick. I have a nice distribution of sizes of peppers to last well into September. So, lots of stuffed peppers and tomato/basil/olive oil salads for dinner in the coming weeks.

-v-

[lakmiseiru]

Neat! That's a good trick with the peas - I was unaware of it. Thanks for sharing that.

Your garden sounds lovely - sadly I'm going to be away when many of my tomatoes ripen! But I suspect there will be more when I come back; my three bushes already have more than 80 green tomatoes on them...