Believe it or not, it is time to start the peas. Last year I tried direct sowing the peas in late January. I had limited success with this. It took forever for the seeds to germinate, and the germination rate was less than what I had hoped for. So this year, I am starting the peas indoors under lights and will transplant them into the garden. I want them to grow for a couple weeks indoors and then harden them off for a week before I put them out in late January. I did the Super Sugar Snap Peas this weekend, and I'll do the Early Frosty next week. The Super Sugar Snaps are the type that you eat the pod and all, and they are very, very tasty. So much so that it is hard to get them from the garden to the kitchen without eating them! The Early Frosty are old fashioned english peas which must be shucked from the pods to be eaten. They are also very tasty right out in the garden.
I am still debating as to wether I will give Alaska peas another try this year. Last year, they did not taste good enough to warrant the effort to grow them. This is a variety that is recommended by both the NC State and Clemson Ag sites, so I may be willing to give them a second chance. My problem is that I have limited space for them in my garden plan this year. On the other hand, I have the seeds so I don't have to buy more. I am leaning towards not growing them, but we shall see.
I also started another batch of cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage seeds. And added in some spinach as well. And I found an old package of granex onion seeds and sowed them in a shallow container. I keep those plastic containers that potato salad and cole slaw come in at the grocery store, clean them out, and poke some drainage holes in them. They make nice little greenhouses to sow seeds. The onions have started to sprout, about a week after sowing. After they grow for a few weeks, I'll prick them out into individual 3"x3" cell packs and grow them on for transplanting into the garden in late February. I've yet to have an onion get much bigger than a golf ball in the garden, but then I haven't been faithful in weeding the onion beds and everything I read, onions do not compete with weeds well. So I am going to put forth a little more effort in weeding and see what I can do .
I am still debating as to wether I will give Alaska peas another try this year. Last year, they did not taste good enough to warrant the effort to grow them. This is a variety that is recommended by both the NC State and Clemson Ag sites, so I may be willing to give them a second chance. My problem is that I have limited space for them in my garden plan this year. On the other hand, I have the seeds so I don't have to buy more. I am leaning towards not growing them, but we shall see.
I also started another batch of cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage seeds. And added in some spinach as well. And I found an old package of granex onion seeds and sowed them in a shallow container. I keep those plastic containers that potato salad and cole slaw come in at the grocery store, clean them out, and poke some drainage holes in them. They make nice little greenhouses to sow seeds. The onions have started to sprout, about a week after sowing. After they grow for a few weeks, I'll prick them out into individual 3"x3" cell packs and grow them on for transplanting into the garden in late February. I've yet to have an onion get much bigger than a golf ball in the garden, but then I haven't been faithful in weeding the onion beds and everything I read, onions do not compete with weeds well. So I am going to put forth a little more effort in weeding and see what I can do .
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