Peas Planted

It may have been a little hasty, but the 2011 garden season is, at last, officially underway. With recent temperatures hovering in the 40's I have been delaying my first planting of peas longer than I would have liked. Yesterday, however, the sun was out and the weather felt suitably spring-like so I decided that it was time to give it a go and get some seeds into the ground.

I am planting two pea types this year. Green Arrow (which I grew last year) which is a productive low climbing shelling pea. And also Amish Sugar Snap which is a vigorous climber and good for eating raw, pod and all.

I have high hopes this year to incorporate Aiden into as many garden activities as possible. He got a garden tool set for Christmas and has seemed excited to put his little trowel and watering can to good use. Pea planting was a perfect 3 year old garden project. We pushed aside the top layer of leaves around the pea teepees that I had built and Aiden used the wooden dibbler to poke holes into the ground.

After carefully placing a pea seed into each hole we filled in the holes and gave to area a good smooth pat down with our trowels. A few of the seeds received some extra water from Aiden's watering can for good measure.

Peas successfully planted!

Hopefully potatoes will follow in short order. I would have liked to have them in ground earlier as well, but cold wet weather can spell rot for seed potatoes, so I am going to dig in my heels and wait. I may try to "chit" my potatoes this year, which means to put them out on a shelf in the basement where they will begin to sprout- this could give them a head start in the growing department while still avoiding the bad weather.

Also, I planted the tomato seeds into my mini-greenhouse flat in the kitchen. Again I am about a week behind when I started seeds last year, but in the end I don't think that this should make too much difference.