Peas, more peas, lunch, and Dortmund

     It was a fine day in the garden today.  The Summer Solstice was here, the long day enabled me to do "shifts" in the garden, and I got alot accomplished.  I started out watering the vegetable beds, then pulling off the Reemay cloth that had covered and protected my new beans during their emergence (protected them from crows and blue jays).  Then it was time to weed the beds, trying to give my beans a head start on any weeds.
     Then came time for peas.  Peas are one of my favorite garden crops and we grow a number of different kinds.  Today I focused on the edible pod peas (Oregon Sugar Pod II), pulling up all the plants and taking the last of the peas off the vines.  These peas were planted from seed on January 23 of this year, and we have been eating them on and off for about three weeks now. (Click to enlarge.)

     I then came to explore my favorite "garden candy", the English shell peas or sweet peas (Knight variety) which I love to eat right off the vine or with pasta as we had it for dinner.  These plants are not done producing and I gathered about 60% of the crop today.  They will continue to produce for another two weeks or so.  I love unzipping the pod and eating the sweet peas, although I did leave some to process for our freezer this winter, and to have some for both lunch and dinner.  Here is one bowl full along with a photo of the proverbial pea patch.

After picking the peas, it was time for lunch.  We have really been enjoying garden salads on a daily basis and today was no exception.  Here is today's lunch.



After a break (to figure out whether to buy a bird bath mold kit to make bird baths with, I returned to work to open up a new bed where our old peach tree used to be on the western side of our property.  The soil is so sandy there because it has not been amended in all the years we have been here.  Here is a pic of the area I will be digging up, amending, and enclosing to make a new vegetable bed.


Plant of the day


Climbing rose Kordesii 'Dortmund" is a wonderful addition to any garden.  It color is very clear and bright with a lovely scarlet petal with a bright white eye.  It is very attractive and has done well for us in a variety of settings.  It was developed in Germany by a breeder named Kordes and can be found at many garden stores or via internet.  Here are some photos.