Waiting is the hardest part. We have little tomatoes, little cucumbers, little squashes (I know this is the incorrect plural, but squashes is much more fun to say), little beans, little peppers… Beans I may be able to start picking this week, and I also might dig up a few beets to make some more of a yummy beet salad we had over the weekend. I want to rip out the peas, so the beans can get more sun, but they’re still producing, and I just can’t take out a plant that’s providing us with dinner. I would feel bad if I did.
Speaking of peas, I shelled all the others I had picked last week. Ended up with just over two cups, which we probably could get from a store for a few bucks, but which are so much better coming from something you grew. It was about 20 plants, and I’ve never done shelling peas before, so I have no idea if that’s decent production or not. The variety was Green Arrow, which is described as such: An English main crop variety and standard home and market variety. Slim pointed pods are 4-5″ long and contain 8-11 small deep green peas. Pods are almost always borne in doubles. Very heavy reliable production. Medium vines grow 24-28″ tall.
I’m not sure what heavy production means on a short plant, so I can’t really comment on that. There were quite a few pods on each plant, but the problem is, it takes a lot of peas to get any kind of significant quantity. The peas themselves seemed regular pea size, and I typically had 7-9 in most pods. They were pretty easy to shell too. And they tasted good. Better than frozen. I’m going to try to get another round planted next month to harvest before it snows, so we’ll see what happens with those.