Peas Please!

With three little granddaughters to play with I have neglected writing about the garden! The last frost date for us in Northern California was April 15, seedlings I grew indoors under lights have all been planted out, and it’s full steam ahead in the garden!

I planted peas a little late in March and we  just finished harvesting them so I can give you some tips for next year!

I  found I get a better crop from the climbing peas than from the bush peas so we built a lightweight, inexpensive frame to hold them in our 2′ by 5′ raised bed.

We used PVC pipe from Home Depot and some chicken wire (this is NOT the best option…read on….)

While that looked nice it was very hard to remove the dead pea plants once they were intertwined with the chicken wire. Also, the wire was not strong enough to hold the peas up and the entire structure drooped sadly! So, on to plan #2….nylon string:

John cut little notches in the pipe with a hack saw so the strings would stay spaced correctly – ours are 46″ high and spaced 4″ apart. This worked so much better, held the vines up very well and it was easy to pull them off when done.

This worked so well I think I’ll have one built in another bed for string beans! Here are some details:

Use 3/4″ PVC pipe and elbows

Attach it to the beds with metal brackets

It’s like cutting out Tinker Toys

 So, there you have it! Peas can go in again in the fall so now is a good time to build a support system for them! Enjoy!