...a picture of my peas! They're killing me--covered in pods, and they're just not growing fast enough! Can't wait for a meal of super-fresh just-out-of-the-pod peas!

Nice Jill!

What do you have them trellised on?

My sugar snaps are in overdrive right now too. I have them growing on tomato cages thinking they'll have run their course by the time the tomatoes need the cages.

They're in the background of this pic.

I did my sugar snaps on tomato cages too, but most of them got eaten before they got big enough to climb, and I never got around to replanting them. My Wandos (shelling peas) are on rabbit wire, anchored with plastic rebar. They got a little blown over when we had the Big Storm, but I re-anchored and they seem to be doing fine. Heavy, though, and there's carrots and lettuces and such getting buried under there!

... and just how many seeds did you start? I mean it that 15 seeds or 30? Huge!

I have 5 cages and planted 12 seeds around the circumference of each, though not all germinated.

Probably ended up with about 8 to 10 plants on each cage. I've already harvested 2 colanders full and there is another one ready now.

Wow, those are some peas you guys have going there.

I went with the SFG spacing of 2 rows of 4 peas per foot--12 foot fence, so there's a lot of peas out there. You can't tell from the pic, but there's a second row behind the first, but only about half of those made it. I was determined to have enough for several dinners and maybe even freeze this year!

Mine are doing well too, but no where near as good your youse guys, major envy here in West Mesa!

Susie

Jill, those peas are fabulous!

Got 2 lbs 5 ozs of sugar snap peas today!
(That's about 3/4 of a gallon ziploc bag)

And a soup bowl full of cherry tomatoes!

Life is good today.

That's right, Dan--rub it in!

:)


Okay, you do deserve it, after all--go enjoy!

Jill and Dan - you both did just great!
I have a little lettuce growing... that's it!

Regarding the peas.....my planting guide says I can still plant, till Feb 15th. Are the your 'shelling peas' English peas? Snow peas? I'm pretty sure snap peas are the ones I eat whole, maybe dipped in hummus. I want the kind that I scoop out of the pod, which is what I think Jill has.

Thanks, mm

I think it is too. I like English Peas and I have tried to grow them here several times but I just don't have the space to make it worth while. Back when space wasn't such a precious commodity I could grow a couple of 25' rows and have plenty of shelled peas.

I grew 16' ( four 4' rows) in my raised bed and got maybe a pound of shelled peas...maybe. The cooler weather lasted longer in N CA which means a longer season for peas, so that has something to do with it too. If I did in ground gardening here in AZ I would plant 50' of row and start them in the fall.

BTW: When I plant peas, I plant them in double rows.... a pea vine support fence down the middle with peas every 4" on each side of the fence.

ok, so remind me next fall alright?? I seem often to be just a tad late in my Great Ideas!

Yep, mine are English "shelling" peas--Wandos, which are a non-hybrid and supposed to be a little more heat-tolerant than most peas. They're perilously close to garden candy, too--so they better get crackin' before I eat the pods one by one!

I picked another 1 1/2 lbs of sugar snaps and a dozen purple kohlrabi. Would've had some more Sweet 100 tomatoes but we munched on them in the garden too much this week.

I think the sugar snaps are ending their cycle, some are turning brown at the bottom of the plants. I'll let them go until next weekend and harvest whats left then pull them out to make way for other things.

This is the last week for the sugar snaps. They're still producing but they are beginning to slow down. So next weekend I'll harvest whatever is left and then prepare the soil for the next crop.

I was out of town for 5 days--came back and picked at least 3 pounds of peas! There's at least one more, probably two more, pickings just like it that'll be ready over the next week or so. Now to shell them all...

I did say I wanted a lot of peas--next year I should be more careful what I wish for!

Jill, if I were in Tucson I'd come by for a shelling party. Lucky you.

My Maricopy County planting guide says I can plant Beans, snap so I was thinking to plant the snap peas I have. So what are snap beans? What I think of as green beans??