Tuesday, May 3, 2011

A plethora of peas


The sugar snap peas are really coming on strong now, and if I can get a few days when they are not picked and eaten garden-side, one at a time as they ripen, I will have a delicious vegetable on my plate this coming weekend.  These are very good raw, but I love them best lightly steamed or sauteed, with butter and pepper (and some new potatoes if you have them).  Because they stay tender and sweet when plump, and don't have to be shelled, you get almost twice the volume of tender, sweet, peas to eat (compared to English peas, which must be shelled). 

In the last two weeks my beets, which were planted this spring, have gone from tiny and questionable to perfect sized and almost ready to pick.  Here you see them with some young bean plants in the next row.  See the withered, brown spots on the bean leaves, and to some extent on the beet leaves?  This is the result of heavy winds damaging the leaves about a week ago.  The leaves were young and tender, and the edges were broken and bruised to the point where the tissue could not recover, and so died.  The plants will, however, be fine.

My garden is really suffering from lack of water right now, so I will have to break down and pull the hose over this afternoon.  With all the big storms headed our way last weekend, I was sure we would get a good drenching, so I did not water.  Well, the storms went all around us, but not a drop of rain fell at my house.  With the rain barrels already empty (it has been dry!), I will have to resort to city water.

Finally, look at all the plums!  I wonder if they will hold on and ripen this year, and if the birds will leave them alone?  This is a very young, European type plum tree, which I pruned heavily this spring after a pruning workshop.  It has responded well, so I am very hopeful!