Pea Rooted In Water

Remember this post which featured a picture of a pea I pulled from the ground that had started to sprout? I didn't have the heart to toss it in my compost tub (the poor thing is trying to live, after all ;) so I popped it in a glass of water to see what would happen. I used plastic food wrap to hold it up at the top, and put it on a sunny window sill. As you can see, not only has it grown more leaves, it's also grown new roots as well (the clean roots with no dirt on them are the ones that have grown since being in water). The only question now is what on earth do I do with it? I guess it's going to become an experimental new houseplant ;)


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Saving Garden Peas For Next Year's Seeds

I purposely left my peas planted this year, long after I'd finished picking them, so that the leftover peas could dry out enough to be saved for next year's planting. (This took longer than I thought it would, as interestingly enough the pods were the last part of the plants to stay green - the plants seemed to direct most of the water and nutrients they absorbed to the pods and peas).

Today they were finally dry enough. I managed to find about 20 (see pic) that I can save for next year, and as I was scrounging around I pulled up what I though must have been a weed... nope! A fallen pea had started the next generation of plants already (foreground of pic).

Nature definitely knows how to take good care of things :)


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Harvesting Seeds From Peas

I am becoming more and more interested in obtaining my own seeds directly from the plants I've grown. My Father-In-Law has shown me how with marigolds, and when I saw these dried peas still on my aging plants (see pic), I wondered if you could with peas as well.

Apparently you can, as I read on this and many other web sites. The trick is to leave the pods on the plant until they're very dry, and then store them in an envelope until next season. You want all of the moisture to be gone, so that no mildew forms during storage.

I've taken the peas in this picture and put them away for next season... hey, you never know! And to think that in previous years I may have composted perfectly good seeds ;)


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Eating Peas From My Garden

Kids can be picky eaters, but you never know what they'll like.

I seldom ever cook the food from my garden (except for potatoes). We normally just eat most of it raw.

My five year old son, for example, LOVES peas from the garden. I shell them and put them in a bowl for him, and he snacks to his heart's content :)

My Good Veggie Crops This Year...

...have been tomatoes, beans, peas, zucchini and cucumber. Here's a picture of some tomatoes and beans I picked recently.

My biggest challenge with the tomatoes has been keeping them up off the ground. The plants need to be propped up, or the weight of the growing fruit will pull the branches down. (The beans require less effort to keep up because they're lighter.)

My advice to anyone who has never grown tomatoes or beans before is to plant them along the edge of your garden if it's enclosed with a fence (this is what I do, then simply tie them up against the fence). Either that or have long sticks and twine ready, or purchase plant "cages" from your local gardening store to support the plants.

While I love the Roma tomatoes and the beans from the garden, the cherry tomatoes are fabulous!! Store bought cherry tomatoes simply cannot compare. If you've considered growing them but have never tried, you should - you won't regret it :)