Derald wrote:
"Terry Coombs" wrote:

Y'all are a bit ahead of us . I've got lettuce , spinach , bok choy
, and snap peas in the ground . Peas were just planted a couple of
days ago , everything else is coming up now . Strawberries are
starting to come to life too . I thought I'd lost part of the patch
from grass strangulation , but maybe not . I'm cautiously optomistic
. Pepper and tomato seedlings are doing well in the window . Got
some herbs planted but they haven't come up yet . We seem to be
about 3 weeks ahead of usual temps , but I don't trust it , gonna
wait until at least the second week of April before I set seedlings
out .
I'm still getting garden peas planted in mid-October (picked some
this morning). They suffered a bit from a couple of near-freezing
nights but weren't seriously damaged. However, mature plants
accustomed to cooler weather don't cope well with the sudden onset of
warm weather (as I've mentioned, "spring" down here is about ten days
in February most years). Their replacements were planted on 23 Feb.
to share the same trellises. The late planting on 11 March, in a
separate bed has germinated fully (near 100%) as of today. Summer
squash is up; no cukes yet. No lettuce this year. It's a winter
crop down here and most winters are, as was this one, too warm for
lettuce. Open-head "leaf" lettuce does OK from about October 'til
about May but _real_ crisphead lettuce demands consistently cool
temperatures and this winter simply was too warm (as most are) for
even so-called "summertime" crisphead. Bok choy is holding on,
although it wilts down every day and we still have two small patches
of edible turnips and mustard greens, as well as several gigantic
"volunteer" plants in the yard. Have planted pepper seeds but no
tomataoes. Might not do tomatoes. Eggplant is next.
I continue to plant spinach and carrots sequentially, although, I'm
just about out of space for them because I need it for beans. I'd
like to get a sense of the warmest temperatures they'll
tolerate-nobody seems to know or, at least, they ain't talking. I've
been interplanting them with onions but have space in the last onion
bed for only one more planting of each. Must make other
arrangements, I guess. Crowder peas should be fully leafed out by
tomorrow. Prepping a bed for first planting of snap beans: Delinel.
Should be planting tomorrow or next day. Still too chilly for okra
though; bummer. Nothin' better than peas with a little slimy okra
cooked in with them; yum. Have enough frozen to get us by until
fresh comes in, though.
Of course, it would happen that in this time when the garden wants
consistent attention, a neighbor has gifted me with three
recently-slaughtered oak trees which must be limbed, bucked and
transported. I cut firewood to stove length in the field so that once
it's here no more chainsawing is needed. Ah, well, my old body needs
the abuse and my old ass will be a little closer to staying warm this
winter.
Have you selected a variety of ("cow", "field", or "Southern")
peas yet?

No , and after this year's seed swap I've got even more choices . I have
seed for red rippers , skunk , clay , whippoorwill , and purple hull peas .
We really liked the red rippers last year ... I'll probably plant 2 kinds
again this year , RR's and one other but I haven't decided which .
I'm sitting here enjoying the aroma of the pizza sauce I just made , it's
been simmering on the stove for an hour or so . Started with 3 cups of San
Marzano's from last year's crop that I froze . A can of paste , chopped
onion and garlic , spices , and a dash of red cooking wine . If the smell is
any indication I think I've found my sauce recipe - been tweaking this one
for some time now .
--
Snag