Fenton Friday: Pea Crazy!

I'm back in plot #16 at the Fenton Street Community Garden. This is the start of the growing season as just had mulch delivery though our cistern is not filled with water yet. I spent a few days clearing off the straw, adding compost to my beds, and weeding. It is now pristine.

A few days ago, I put Sugarsnap Peas 'Sugar Ann' and another unknown variety in cups with water. I meant to do it only overnight, but my schedule got away from me and I did not get them planted until today. See the image here of the soaked peas starting to sprout.

I also pre-soaked a few varieties of Sweet Peas including an early multiflora mix and 'Black Knight' both from Landreth Seed Company and 'Blue Ripple' from Thompson & Morgan. I mixed all the sweet peas seeds in one cup together so I'd have a random color mix.

Then I lined up supports all along the length of a 18-ft long bed. I planted the sugar peas on the south-facing sides of the supports and the sweet peas on the north-facing sides. I'm not sure I did the correct thing with facing them that way, but we'll see how it goes. My hope is that one side will shade the other as they grow and I'll either have a bumper crop of edible sugarsnap peas or cut-flower sweet peas -- or, weather-permitting, both!