Peas and Gardening Weather

I'm taking advantage of this great weather to get the last of my spring plants in the ground. Then I can take a break until early July when garden number two gets planted.  I planted out the seedlings I'd grown indoors - Siam basil, sweet red peppers, broccoli and tomatoes. The tomatoes are still pretty small but I put out small plants last summer and since they matured late I had tomatoes all through September when everyone else's August tomatoes were gone.

65 day peas just about on time.

The peas I planted in mid March are producing well. Unfortunately I planted only one packet. I love eating the new asparagus raw in the garden, but I love eating fresh peas even more! I like to pick the peas when the pods are plump but before the peas get too big.  Eaten fresh from the pod, raw, they are sweet as sugar.  With only about 10 row feet of plants however, I only get enough from each picking for one good serving.  Oh well, I'll try them again in the fall.

Asparagus gone to fern.

Speaking of asparagus, I've let mine go to fern. I started picking in April (which was about a month early) and picked on and off for two months, so its time to let it flower.  The ferns will get over six feet tall and form a dense barrier to all kinds of critters who might invade the garden.

Wild blackberries beginning to form.

Wild blackberries are one of my family's favorite things. Jam and jelly is good made from them but the best thing in the middle of winter is a blackberry pie made from frozen wild blackberries. Looks like a bumper crop is on the way this year.