Our Tom Thumb Peas are chugging along in the growth category and starting to develop lots of little tendrils. Damian thinks they are awesome. I thought I would get a photo of my blue eyed babe beside them today…
…but instead they got attacked. Nom nom nom!
Previous Weeks:
We planted our Tom Thumb heirloom peas 14 days ago and they are really coming along nicely, so well in fact I have decided that I want to post a picture of them every week from now till they’re finished. If we had some kind of herbal mascot here at Paganites, it might be the pea. They are just so satisfying to watch grow.
Previous Weeks:
I admit, I have a weakness. A weakness for heirloom pole beans. But really aren’t they lovely? Bush beans are just fine but towering pole beans are just way more fun in my book, and growing up instead of out conserves space in the garden too.
Going clockwise we have Purple Poded Pole Beans, which are a snap bean. Think green beans, except purple of course. They blanch to a pale green though (pity.) Damian picked those from my Seed Savers catalog.
Damian also picked the next beans, Good Mother Stallard. Aren’t they lovely? These are a shelling bean that will be growing up our Strawberry Popcorn this summer. I read that they maintain their loving coloring through cooking, so I am looking forward to using them into succotash.
I love the description Chiot’s Run left on my flickr page about the next beans, that the coloring of them reminds her of palomino horses. And people wonder how heirlooms end up with half a dozen common names… Palomino Beans, I almost want to call them that, but Hidasta Shield Beans they are. I ordered these shell beans as much for historical reasons as culinary ones. The Hidasta Indians grew these beauties up corn in the Missouri River Valley of North Dakota. They will be growing among our corn too. A little piece of Native heritage in my garden and eventually my family’s tummy! Apparently they taste kind of like a white bean so I am sure they will be making their appearance in my soups next Winter.
And last put not least we have the non-beans of the lot, Amish Snap Peas, which are going in as soon as the trellis/inoculant situation is resolved. And trellises are important as this variety grows six feet tall and are suppose to be enormously productive. I like heirlooms that have been developed by the Amish, they are very reliable.
My beans won’t go in for a few months, not until the last frost has past, but that’s why I have the peas isn’t it? Still, I can’t wait to see those pole beans climbing their supports, be it trellises or corn. How about you, what are you waiting to see sprout in your garden?
We have encountered some kinks this gardening season. Northwest Seed & Pet (my gardening store) does not have pea and bean inoculant in yet. More so though, we were intending on using part of our tax return to built a second raised bed, tomato cages and a couple trellises but instead we are waiting on Ivy’s January emergency room visit bills to work their way through our insurance. It may chew up the rest of our return. Amazing how expensive me sitting around for hours holding a gauze pad on my daughter costs. Before anyone gets any ideas, I’m not angry at Ivy. It is not her fault she has a hemangioma. I might be a little more then annoyed at “health care” (what an oxymoron) in the USA but there’s nothing I can do about that. Really anyone who thinks it is even remotely function in this country needs a serious reality check.
If anything, the second raised bed will have to wait till next year and I’ll downsize the garden plan to fit in the one bed. The trellis is the current priority since my snap peas are waiting but if all else fails I have some long branches that I can build a tepee with (which will leave less space in that one bed, so I’m trying to be patient.) We will see how things go.
It’s not all bad though, we can rise to the challenge. In much brighter news, I started some lettuce, spinach and kale indoors last week as well as a pot of dwarf peas (Tom Thumb.) With the exception of the peas, the rest will be planted out under hoops once they are large enough. I’m excited about the heirloom dwarf peas, they are suppose to do really well in containers, so I can’t wait to see how they do.
I have my seedlings (and a couple other houseplants) on the desk in the dinning room under a shop lamp that was in the basement when we moved in (frugal score!) I should replace the lights with full spectrum ones, but I am hoping they will do fine with what I have in combination with the south facing windows in that room. If not I have a small full spectrum light (that I use for SAD) that I can install over there.
So far the peas, lettuce and kale have sprouted, still waiting on the spinach. I’m the first to admit I am impatient, I want to see those beautiful little sprouts! Little green dots of pure happiness for me.
Have you started anything for your garden yet?
I am having my pap this afternoon, as well as an IUD implanted. The first not being overly traumatic, the second, I’ve never had one before so I am a little nervous about having a copper tv antennae stuck in me for birth control (pardon the mental imagine…) More then anything though this will be my first time being away from Ivy and honestly, I have a bit of separation anxiety. I wasn’t away from Damian until he was almost a year old. I have a bottle of pumped breast milk in the fridge though and Andrea is coming over to hang out with Michael, Damian and Ivy while I’m gone. I’m sure everyone will be fine, but I still wish it was tomorrow already.
But to keep my mind off all that, let’s talk about my Spring garden plan! If you click the image you can see the little details, no key since I know what all the little images mean, but to give you an quick overview.
And that is the Spring garden. As you can see, it is all pretty much condensed into one bed, mostly because the 4×4 and second 4×8 haven’t been built yet. One step at a time. Next up, the Summer garden plan
