Peas Please

I love peas and the thought of home grown peas, fresh from the garden, is so tantalizing that I took the plunge and planted some yesterday (March 21, 2009).

Because we have so much clay in our soil and last Fall I didn't plan for a vegetable garden, I decided to try container gardening.  Debby showed me the "self-contained gardening system" which is similar to the Earthbox(TM) containers.  Well, after running to the local big-box hardware and general merchandise stores, I came home with two 18 gallon storage tubs, a pond basket from the on-line "you can buy everything here" web site, and some odds and ends from our cellar.  

The directions on josho's web site were easy to follow.  I built the self-contained gardening system in less than 30 minutes.  Then we went outside to plant.  The photos show the planting process.

The photos show the empty gardening container.  Inside, you can see the pond basket which, when filled with dirt, acts like a wick to bring water from the lower section to keep the soil in the upper section moist..

Once the container was filled with dirt, I covered the top with black plastic to keep weeds down and help warm the soil.  The plastic is held in place by the original storage tub lid with the center cut out.  Rather than cut holes for each pea seed, I cut two slits, ca. 1/4" wide, in the plastic and planted my rows.  Then I put some more dirt (really potting mix) on top of the plastic to help hold it down in the wind.

Filling the tub with water was easy - that's the purpose of the fill tube.  You can't over-fill the container with water because there is a weep hole or overflow in the side.  That hole is just below the bottom of the dirt.  

Now, in 67 more days, if the package is accurate, we will be picking peas from our own plants.  Somewhere along the way I'll have to rig up some stakes and lines for the vines to climb.  But I expect that it will be a couple weeks before I have to do that.

Along the way I'll keep you posted on how the peas are growing.  Since these storage tubs go on sale frequently, I may even make a couple more.