More spring planting

After rain, wind, and cold on Friday and Saturday, the weather cleared and warmed enough to continue with spring planting at the garden. Today I planted shell peas, beets, and carrots in one of the learning and demonstration plots while several plot holders stopped by to work in their plots and drop off their donation for using the garden. Peas, beets, and carrots can be planted as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring, so these seeds could have gone in the ground several weeks ago (read more about when to plant vegetables)

The shell peas are the heirloom variety "British Wonder" from Seed Savers Exchange, which means that we can save them for seed to use in future years. Like beans, peas are relatively easy to save for seed, needing only 5o feet separation from other pea varieties for a pure strain and needing only to dry out on the vine before collecting. I planted the peas in a double trellis, which just means that the peas will grow on both sides of the support system (in this case, plastic poles with twine strung between them) rather than just one side. This is a more efficient use of space if you have the choice of whether to plant on both sides of the trellis. I scattered the carrot and beet seeds quite thickly in 3 inch wide rows (read more about wide row planting and other planting techniques), instead of planting them single file in one row. Rather than thinning the seedlings so they are spaced evenly, as the carrots and beets grow we'll harvest the largest ones first, which will open up space for the smaller roots to reach full size and will spread out our harvest over a longer period of time.

The peas should be ready for harvest in mid-June and the beets and carrots in late June and early July.