Hurry Up Peas!

I visited the garden today after getting most of my housework out of the way. They were predicting temperatures in the 90's and I managed to be there at the apex of today's highs without my trusty water bottle. Sweating and slightly overwhelmed by the sun, I tended to the patch at my own peril.



Everything is enjoying our little heat wave. The Mortgage Lifter plant has its first flowers, the beet greens are now closer to braising greens than salad greens, and that lovely curly green leaf lettuce is living up to expectations by thriving in this heat. I corralled most of the sunflowers to the fig side of the trellis and tried to encourage the peas to climb that instead of everything else in the garden.

Besides muscling their way up my other plants, the peas are also really slow in producing this year. I don't know if it's the variety I chose, the unpredictable weather, or if I planted them too close to the beets and sunflowers. They aren't growing up as much as they are growing out and the space I had allocated for them is definitely vertical. Yes, there are flowers and pods. Yes, they are tasty. No, I probably won't have enough of a crop to have peas as a side dish for dinner this year. Alas, I will have to get my pea fix at one of the farmer's markets around here.

I promise to take some pictures of my apartment side pepper and herb pots soon. So far, cayenne is a very effective squirrel deterrent.