More "What's Goin' On"

peas in cages in the back yard

Snow peas have been on the menu for less than a week.  Plantings were staggered by probably 3 or 4 weeks - March 31 in the front yard and twice in April in the back (wish I'd made notes at the time) - and the pods all came out at the same time.  I have seen this with pole beans before; I finally give up on the first planting, poke some more beans into the ground, and watch them all come up at once.  Lesson learned: peas can be sown "as soon as the ground can be worked" (March), but they won't feed us any sooner than if we sow in late April. Any fine weekend in between will do. Strong wind a few days ago knocked over the vines that had grown beyond the tops of their cages. They are still alive and well, but won't stand erect again and are going to get all tangled up in themselves now. Barry has been picking the pods and reports that front yard pods are smaller than backyard pods. Less sun, more wind, shallower soil - I'm glad they are doing so well. Shell peas in cages have blossoms now, those on the fence, sown later do not. They also haven't climbed nearly as high, a difference I am not sure is due to their respective ages. I'm curious to see if the two groups eventually reach the same height.

scarlet runner beans

There are six pole bean structures this year, the most we have ever had.  New poles had to be found.  Though I did anticipate using the stalks of a few tall sunflowers from last year, they were  broken before I had a chance to get them out of the ground.  They grow in the alley, so are vulnerable to misfortune at the whims of deer or other creatures.  I'll try pulling them up before winter this time around.  Meanwhile, I'm trying out some lengths of plastic conduit (used as row cover support last year).  They appear to be acceptable for climbing, but don't contribute to a stable structure.   Anyway, I sowed two structures with scarlet runner, three with Ina's white, and one with rattlesnake beans.  The first two are well underway, winding toward their respective peaks and revealing petal colour in their axillary buds, while the rattlesnakes are slower, just starting to find their poles and having rudimentary buds.  There was a bit of a slug problem in that area.

scarlet runner bud

Bush beans - Maxibel French Filet and Orca - grew up fast and are now looking crowded on opposite sides of the pea fence.  Those were sown in May and and the buds are about to open.  Yesterday I filled an empty spot at the end of the Swiss chard with two rows of each.  I'm pretty sure there is enough time.

garlic from bulbils

garlic from cloves

The garlic patch has three sizes of plants this year.  I haven't a clue what the varieties are (they could all be the same one), but they are different stages that were planted last fall.  The smallest are from bulbils, the seeds of the flowers (or scapes), the medium stalks are from teardrops, the root bulb that grows the first year from a bulbil, and the largest are grown from single cloves.  I pulled up one of the latter recently and wish I hadn't.  It was interesting to see the tiny cloves forming inside the root bulb, but now we won't have that full-sized bulb in August.  The teardrops should produce small bulbs.  The bulbils may even produce small bulbs instead of teardrops.  It depends on the variety.  Surprises await.  Scapes are growing and curling on the two larger groups.  Today I cut a few that had done a full circle and will try them in an omelet tomorrow.  Generally, leaving the scapes on is expected to reduce bulb size, because plant energy is going into making bulbils instead of bulbs.  I will leave a few scapes in place and check whether this is true for my garlic.  Plus, I want some bulbils.

walking onions

Also in the allium group, we have yellow onions, shallots, chives, and walking onions.  Yellow onion sets were poked in the ground between carrots and parsnips in one bed (see the Parsnips post) and much later inserted into the area left unclaimed when some zucchini plants failed.  The later ones are still less than finger height, and may, like the ground cherry, require some protection from encroachment.  Shallot seeds went into the end of a raised bed meant for peas and beans.  The legumes still followed, cutting short both ros of shallots. I'd say only half of the seeds germinated and they are now a few inches tall, thin and delicate, like baby chives.  Onions and legumes are said not to be good companion plants, but we have volunteer peas coming up among the garlic and neither are visibly suffering.  Chives and walking onions carry on beautifully, tough perennials that they are.  The chive flowers have mostly lost their colour and the walking onions have scapes on scapes.  Very interesting formations.

We also have two onions in a container: one was found this spring in last summer's onion patch, the other had begun to sprout out of boredom during a long stay in my father-in-law's refrigerator.  That one has already made a scape, the other is just being.

More to follow.....