Autumn is a great time of year to sow garden peas and son
has created a small garden where I can do this.
This morning I sowed a row about half a metre long (about two feet),
leaving the other half of the garden to plant in about a month. This way I am hoping to stagger our harvest a
little, instead of having everything coming ready at the same time.
I sowed Greenfeast peas, described as a “mid-season dwarf
variety that produces very heavy crops of large, even pods of excellent
flavour.” Although classed as ‘dwarf’ this
variety still grows to about 700mm so they will
require some support as they grow.
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| A rather battered looking packet of Greenfeast garden peas |
Greenfeast are a sweet heirloom pea, sometimes known as
Lincoln, that originated in England and were first offered for sale in America
in 1908 – so they have been around for a while!
I always sow my peas fairly close together, much closer than
the recommended spacing, as I find they support each other as they grow and it makes
allowance for any seeds that may not germinate.
It also means I don’t have to bend over too far, as I can simply
sprinkle them out of the packet!!
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| Peas in the trench, waiting to be covered with life-giving soil |
After sowing them son helped me to set up a cover to stop
the blackbirds from digging up the germinating seeds.
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| Our make-shift anti-bird covering |
The rest of the garden is growing well, and we are now
harvesting silverbeet and lettuce and today I pulled the first spring onion (it
was only tiny, but very sweet).
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| Dewdrops on the cabbage leaves |
For lunch today I made a Dish Salad – a bowl full of salad that
is eaten as a main meal – using our garden lettuce as a base.
In my salad I had lettuce, spring onion, celery, walnuts,
fresh pineapple, fresh oregano, vintage tasty cheddar cheese, and beetroot. I dressed it with a drizzle of cold-pressed extra-virgin
picual olive oil, produced right here in New Zealand.
Of course any type of salad ingredients can be used, normally
with some form of protein added as well.
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| A tasty Dish Salad for lunch |
As well as the peas, I sowed some seeds for Mizuna (a
quick-growing Chinese greens) and Calendula (also called pot-marigold). The garden is looking good – even the rhubarb
is beginning to grow.
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| The new rhubarb plant is finally starting to grow |
I am finding lock-down does have advantages. I have managed to meet two of our neighbours
in the last two days and chat with them instead of just waving. A bit like in the old days when I first got
married, and we would chat over the garden fence with the next door neighbour - only then we didn't have to stay two metres apart!
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| A sweet little pansy to send you a smile |
Stay healthy everyone J
Margaret.
Your garden is doing well. Peas are one of the few things I don't grow. Perhaps I should.
ReplyDeleteFresh young peas are a taste treat and they are very easy to grow - you should try them :)
DeleteThat salad looks fantastic. I bet it was great to eat. Such a variety and so fresh. With NZ olive oil!! You are lucky you can get local oil, it makes a big difference. I wish my husband would eat something like that. He does not like variety.
ReplyDeleteOur local oil often costs more than imported oils, but I like the flavour of this one. I was very fortunate with my husband as he would try anything and there were very few foods that he would not eat. I hope you still make salads, even if they are just for yourself :)
DeleteHmmm, fresh peas! I remember how we "stole" some riding our bikes to the next village! "Sweet" memories indeed!
ReplyDeleteGreat advice how to sees them, so sad we only have a small balcony.
Beetroot! Argh, I was grocery shopping today and thought, hmmm, what else could we need. Yes, that!
Hmmm, do you know Labskaus? - yummy with beetroot, too!
Mum ate it from a barf bag, steaming hot, on the ship to Helgoland to shock tourists :-)
Your garden is wonderful!
Stay healthy and keep on chatting the old way! Ixx
I had never heard of Labskaus before - what an interesting dish (apparently also good for hangovers!). I can imagine that those tourists would have been horrified LOL
DeleteThose peas will taste extra sweet when the time comes to harvest them. If you can have them with some nice new potatoes they will be even better!
ReplyDeleteAdd in some melted butter and chopped fresh mint and that would make a king's banquet :)
DeleteI really love the variety in your garden Margaret. I hope someday if I'll be blessed to have my own lot, I just want a small house but a big space to plant flowers and vegetables :) Those pansies look like beautiful sun dresses to me! Striking colors.
ReplyDeleteYour garden is flourishing by the sound of it. Good luck with the peas. I’ve never grown them.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at how many different veggies you can grow now, in Autumn. And your rhubarb is growing now; did it go dormant when the hot summer sun hit it? New peas are such a delicacy. Frozen ones taste nothing like the real thing.
ReplyDeleteWe are so lucky to live in a temperate climate as most things will grow during most of the year. No snow and no drought (well, we call lack of rain drought but it is not desert conditions like some places). The rhubarb plant is a new one - they will slow down growth during summer but keep going if they get watered. They also slow down during winter - I never cover my rhubarb like some do, just pick off stalks when they get large enough to eat. And I agree, fresh peas have a flavour of their own :)
DeleteI enjoyed seeing your garden...I have never grown peas. I am not sure why, unless it is that they were never a favorite vegetable. I can remember my mom making me eat some and hating every single one. LOL Now I don't mind them.
ReplyDeleteLikewise LOL. My mother used to mix peas and green beans together and my brother and I used to swap - he liked peas and I liked beans! Now I enjoy both :)
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