My peas!

I hate peas. They are probably the most disgusting food on the planet besides fish, which wins by the slimmest of margins. My husband also hates peas. So you may ask- "Why on earth are you growing peas?" I guess taste is not inherited and our daughter fucking loves them. If given a choice between french fries and peas, she would pick peas every time. Weirdo. So I'm growing peas.

I love gardening, particularly vegetable gardening. I've been doing all the gardening for the family since I was thirteen or so. I've tried many things over the years, some successful, some not so. Every year I try to come up with "the best" way to train my vine and climbing crops. I've made A-frame trellises for cucumbers and gourds that worked fairly well except they were large and bulky to store in the winter and they fell apart after two seasons. I made two T posts strung with wire and twine in a V shape to the ground that started out well but I didn't have the posts deep enough in the ground and as the beans grew, they weighed down the wire and made the whole system sag. This year, I think I have it. It's going to be awesome. I'm utilizing the picket fence (set in concrete and not going anywhere) and some twine and garden staples.

So here's how I did it:

• Weed the peas. (Don't you judge me, weeding is a June project)
• Tie twine to fence.
• Run the twine to the ground next to the first pea plant.

• Secure it to the ground with a garden staple. Push it in at a slight opposite angle to the way the twine will be pulling.

• Bring the twine back up the the fence and loop it around a picket. 
• Gently guide the plants around the twine. Peas send out tendrils to climb so in a day or so they will all be attached to the twine. 

• Continue down the line.

When you get to the end, tie off the twine around another picket and job's done! It's a thing of beauty. If you like gardening that is.

When climbing plants have support, they really take off. I expect in a week or so we will have much bigger pea plants. My lil fella will be thrilled.