I harvested our first shell peas today and ended up with twelve servings. (A serving is enough for the two of us at a meal.) Yeah, I understand why many folks choose not to grow enough peas for a winter's supply. It takes a whole big bunch of pods to yield enough peas for a plate. But we both love them and they truly taste fresh-off-the-vine all winter long.
Considering I put up only eighteen servings of shell peas last year (for some reason my peas did not do well in 2019) and now I already have twelve servings in the freezer and there are scads more under-developed pods still out on the vines, I predict we will have more than enough of them to last us all winter.
I thought my yellow wax beans and green beans were ready to be picked, too, but I must not have looked very carefully as this is all I got today. The bowlful is nearly all green ones with just a few yellow ones on top. That's okay as I had plenty of peas to keep me more than busy.
But I'm sure the beans will start coming in like gangbusters shortly. Then more peas for sure. And I'm thinking there will be our second picking of blueberries ripe and ready tomorrow. When the garden starts producing, it sure does keep the gardener hopping.
12 comments:
Getting into the busy season! I agree, you really have to like peas to be willing to do all the shelling. Of course, I feed the pods to the goats, so I feel like I'm getting twice the mileage on peas!
You can grow the peas and I'll grow zucchini. 😉
Peas, how I love fresh peas eaten while standing in the garden (except for the couple that accidentally fall out of the pod and roll away). When I was little, I used to open up the pod and my dog would eat the peas. My brother has the same memory and he's nine years older than me. I guess that dog got fed peas for more of her life. -Jenn
Leigh - Papa Pea helped me shell the last of the peas late yesterday afternoon and we reminisced about how much our goats scarfed up the pods when we had them. I bet the pods tasted to the goats the way the fresh peas taste to us! I said I felt bad "wasting" the pods, but then again, they went into the compost so the nutrients will come back to us by enriching our soil.
Michelle - Darn good thing we're all different, isn't it? :o}
Jenn - Those little green orbs do have a habit of rolling away to parts unknown, don't they? I chased several across the kitchen floor yesterday while shelling them. Our daughter was here for a bit yesterday and joined in with the operation. She's always said shelling peas is one of her favorite things to do! I've heard more tales in the last few years of dogs enjoying garden vegetables as your childhood dog did. Also, stripping raspberries right off the canes!
I think I need to add another pea fence to get a better pea harvest like yours. Our beans are coming in good though (thankful for that).
Kristina - Yes, it does take a lot of "footage" of pea fencing to get enough of them! I always put up three 16' sections with peas planted on both sides of each fence. Giving them support to climb on produces a lot more peas than if they're left to crawl on the ground. Plus, so much easier to pick!
Nice haul!
I would love to grow peas but I remember Geoffrey only planting them early Spring as our summer heat doesn’t make them happy. Do you freeze the green orbs? If so how?
Goatldi - Yes, years ago back in Illinois, I had to plant the peas early (end of March) so that they matured before the weather got too hot for them. That's why I'm amazed mine look so good this year with the hot weather we've been having. I do freeze the peas; only way to go. I blanch them only 1-1/2 minutes, cool in ice water, roll in a thick towel to take as much moisture off of them as possible, then pack them in serving sized freezer bags. When I want to heat and serve, bring a small amount of water to boil in saucepan, plop the frozen peas in, return to boil, and drain. That's it. Fresh as straight out of the garden.
Yum!
How wonderful!!! Do you have to blanch peas before freezing like other vegetables? My beans are just flowering now as I planted them late and the deer topped them off so I had to cover them with netting to keep the deer away. Do you separate your yellow and green beans when freezing or just mic them together? Lots of work but what treasures when the snow is blowing this coming wither! Congratulations!
Sam - See my comment to Goatldi above regarding blanching and freezing the peas. So good that way! No, I always mix my green and yellow beans because they taste the same to me and it adds more color to the plate to have that color mixture. So I blanch and freeze them right together. Yes, this is the time of year when we gardeners feel we don't have any time for anything else but working in the garden, taking the harvests and processing them. But, you are so right. Come those cold months of winter time, it all seems so worth it! Sending good luck with your beans producing soon.
On my walk round the village this morning, I noticed a large wigwam of runner beans ( climbing beans) in full flower amongst the very well organised and weeded flowers beds. Glad not to be growing veg this year, but perhaps next year?.......
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