Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas just picked only 5 minutes ago...

What can one say about peas? Honestly I hate them, especially canned peas, disgusting. However, frozen peas are no better. There is something to be said about anything that is processed from its original state. The flavor and texture is lost, sometimes even the color. Growing up I did everything I could to rid my plate of the hideous peas. From the occasionally filling my mouth with them, then excusing myself for the restroom to dispose of them. It worked for awhile until my parents grew wise of my doings. Later in life I would tolerate them in things like soups or potpies, but it wasn't till I started to grow them myself that I gained an appreciation for them.

 

The flowers that pop up before the pods appear so just so beautiful. They are just so delicate and so pretty, that you get a feeling that something good is going to come of it. Then one day you come out to the garden and viola! there are fresh pods growing with tasty peas inside, almost like they changed overnight.

I picked some today and removed the peas from the pods. The dogs were so eager to get the shells to eat them. Of course being the mom I am I wanted to make sure they had some carrots as well. I was reading an article in my Organic Gardening magazine that said this about carrots...

"served whole, they (carrots) promote healthy teeth and gums for dogs,

since they can act as natural abrasives to control tartar".

Not too bad. Of course they all would rather if steak grew out of the ground, but what dog wouldn't. I managed to gather a good handful of pods that were ready to be picked. The peas are large and plump as you can see. As well as a nice bright green color. I am not sure if you can actually eat the pods themselves. There are still so many that need some more time to grow. Waiting for the sun that is suppose to be upon us soon.

I did manage to get a serving size of peas to eat along with the chicken I cooked for dinner. I added some butter and garlic caesar seasoning, turned out pretty tasty. I am still amazed at what I can grow and the colors are so much more vibrant (and fresher) than what I could buy in the store. Plus, they are free, with the exception of the care and love put into growing them. ;)

A convenient lunch...

Going through the fridge today and nothing really striking my interest. I knew I wanted a salad, but I had no lettuce...or did I? I'm thinking to myself, "Dude! There is romaine in the garden!". I head out to the garden with Doxie's in tow to grab some leaves of lettuce off the bunch. I see the carrots with some of their tops popping out from the ground and they beckon to me. 

 

What? Am I going to deny myself the sweet and crunchy yumminess that awaits me? Uh...that would be a no! :) Pulled about 10 of them for myself and 2 more for the dogs. They LOVE carrots and its a big treat when I pull some out just for them. Even dogs know how good organic gardening is. ;) Headed back inside the house to clean the carrots and lettuce. Made a Chinese chicken salad with a side of carrots. Pretty good lunch and healthy at that.

I recently bought a juicer because I don't tend to eat breakfast and when I do its only smoothies from frozen berries I have picked the year before. So adding more veggies into the mix can't hurt and is, I am sure healthier. I figured I can take the pulp and make some soups with it or add into meats depending on what I had juiced at the time of course. What does that have to do with gardening? Well I was thinking I should grow some veggies that I could juice. Well there is the obvious carrots and tomatoes, but not sure how well beans would juice. I know celery, spinach and cilantro are very good juicers and in a lot of the recipes. I just have to wait for some of my items to grow and do their thing so I can plant something else in their place.

There is a part of me that wants a bigger section of my yard dedicated to raised beds, but honestly there is no reason I can't grow everything and anything with the two that I have. Someday I will have my own place with a 1/4 acre dedicated to growing veggies, herbs, berries and fruit. Someday....one can only dream...

Ok, back to my lunch...yum! =)

Two raised beds, a little rain, a little sun and some much needed love....

When I was trying to figure out what to grow in my two beds it I had a tough choice at hand. There was so much I wanted to grow and with some things out of rotation from the previous year I was running into a wall a great frustration. In the 4X4 box I planted peas, cabbage (I will talk more about this later), carrots and romaine. In the 4X8 box I planted beans, sunflowers, eggplant, spaghetti squash, peppers and cucumbers.

As a gardening its so hard to plant something from seed and then realizing when its growing, that you really didn't want to grow that or it was taking up more room than you anticipated, that you end up pulling it out of the ground. Its a nightmare for me and it took many days, weeks even before I got the gall to just grab the ill growing cabbage from the ground and pull it out. I though maybe it I gave it more time, it would turn to a nicely rounded shape, but it was stubborn and did everything but. So with a sad heart I pulled it out. The spot sits empty and I just don't know what to plant there instead. Its been a week since my massacre and I do admit some guilt there.

However there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I decided to put a tomato in its place. As much as I love tomatoes we have a love/hate relationship. I love to grow them and they hate to grow for me. As always, go big or go home so I went with an heirloom variety. A pineapple tomato that's a meaty 1 pound variety. I am looking forward to enjoying some slices of these babies...maybe my luck will change this year with my battle of the tomatoes.