This photo is from June 2011. Lovely Snow Peas! I put in a lot of hard work every year to have the wonderful food that I grow. Today was such a day...the weather was mild (not hot). I moved about 10 wheelbarrow load of compost into a new raised planting bed. All together, I think that makes about 50 large wheelbarrow loads of compost for this planting season. I have used nearly all my compost pile. Phew...that is hard work, but I just do 5 to 10 loads at a time.
I am trying a new way to grow Snow Peas. I normally plant the seeds directly, and wait. Sometimes the seeds just don't germinate well. Last year I had to plant them two times directly into the soil. This year I put the seeds onto wet paper towels, covered them to germinate. It took a week. I was surprised to find that the "old seed" I used from 2009...had about a 97% germination rate.
I put them into the soil 1" deep as the packet recommended, 4 days ago. The weather turned hot, and the seed took off. The plants are just beginning to come to the soil surface. I put floating row cover over them for protection from insects and birds. I am hoping that all will grow well, and I will have a nice crop in about 6-8 weeks.
