peas again

songbird · 2011-08-17T00:10:10+00:00

they've sprouted, maybe we'll have somepods before the frosts. i'm hoping wehave late frosts and they will do well.if anything they will be a cover crop.we've really enjoyed the peas this yearand only regret we didn't plant more andyears ago. this garden is about 1.5m x 1.5m, raisedbed and almost all clay (a little sand wasadded to it many years ago when it wasset up as a perennial garden). it was used to grow green peppers the last two years (both years produced well). this year ithad peas and mixed leaf lettuces. it didok. the lettuces eventually bolted and ihad to get them turned under. which was a good chance to examine thesoil to see how it was changing from theplant roots, the few holes where i'd putworms a few months ago and the light mulchof shredded paper i'd put on top to keepthe lettuces from getting dirt splashedon them. there was more evidence of fungal hyphaealong the fractures of the clay as itcrumbled. most of this was likely fed fromthe decaying shredded paper. the placeswhere i'd put worms or where there weredecayed roots from the peas or lettuceswere more easily noticeable. no wormswere found. probably too hot and notenough organic materials in there andthey didn't have an easy way to get downdeeper either. i dug out four trenches down about 30cmand put down the bolted lettuces and whatever else on top that was organic andthen on top of that put several kilos ofworms, chopped up organic materials and worm poo. then buried them. i'm hopingthey'll do ok this time. one trench imade deeper in the middle to give thema way to work down if it gets hot again.good luck little buddies. :) gotta makesure to get some green manure on therein a week and a half. then i planted plenty of peas on top. this garden is right next to anothergarden of the same shape, height and soil and that has been treated a littledifferently to start with and will be examined later this fall after the volunteer squash plants are done. other peas are in...