I found peas in the garden…

But not as many as I’d like so I sowed some more.

Grow well little peas, grow well!

I made some me time today in the garden and it felt great.  The sun was shining and the birds were singing.  It even felt a little warm.  It is really strange because on days when it rains, you think “how can it ever be sunny again?”  On days like today it seems impossible that it could ever be miserable again.

Last of the summer peas

I thought I’d start with something easy and gave the corn bed a hoe over, and then decided it would benefit from being forked over.  But I couldn’t find my fork.  It had been so long since I used it that I couldn’t remember where I left it, and knowing me it could have been anywhere!  I walked around and around the garden looking for it and decided this was just wasting time and I looked about for something else to do with my precious time.  I eventually found my fork.  It turned out it had fallen over where I had left it and the grass had grown over it.  Tripping over them is a most effective way to find lost forks.

A bit of a mess

I looked about again for something else to do – something that would make me feel like I had achieved something and the peas were calling out “pick me, pick me!”  Not because they needed harvesting, but they were in a dire state.  I had sowed a whole row some weeks back, but I had no idea how they were faring.  It turns out pretty badly.  Only about half a dozen had come up – or it is highly likely they came up, but the slugs got to them.  In the absence of the peas, weeds raised their ugly heads and the bed, while being a verdant green, not a lot of it was any good.

Untangle your tendrils

The old row from summer was still hanging in there, clinging to the net with brown and crispy tendrils.  They really should have been removed long ago.  So I took care of them.  And I did it with care.  Normally I just rip down the plants, take down the netting, bunch it all up, with dead and decaying foliage still clinging on, telling myself I’d sort it in the spring.  But experience has taught me it is far easier to remove the tendrils as best you can while the net is still hanging up, and that way any pests and disease have no home to overwinter in.

Then I folded the net as best I could and removed the poles and put everything away.  My spring self will thank me for it.

Pea-lings

Then I weeded the entire bed, and rescued the wee pea-lings and thought safety in numbers and popped them into a very short row down one end.  The rest of the empty row was then replanted with fresh seeds and they were lovingly protected from the greedy gastropods with a liberal application of little blue pellets.

It is so reassuring to know that one of my 30+ beds is under control.  Peas rein in my garden once again.

Come again soon – I love the feeling of dirt under my nails – I must do it again tomorrow!

Sarah the Gardener  : o )