I wrote this post about planting peas and other spring projects in my new blog
The Backyard Bounty. Yesterday I set up a couple of
Wall-O-Waters in the garden to warm the soil for a few days before I plant
Burpee "Earlieena' peas several weeks earlier than normal. I've used Wall-O-Waters for tomatoes early in the season with plenty of success, but I've never tried direct seeded crop. I got the idea from talking to Bob Pfister, the manager at the
Wall-O-Water company in Kalispell, Montana when I interviewed him for an article I'm writing about early season tricks. He said his fiancee has peas growing in containers with them, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Actually, I'm going to experiment. I planted a dozen pea seeds in containers in the greenhouse that I'll transplant when they emerge, plus I'll direct seed peas inside one of the Wall-O-Waters later this week. This is a milder than normal spring, but it would be great to know I can squeeze a few more weeks of peas in the season, particularly since Sam eats them like candy.
It was blustery, but warm, yesterday so I spent a little time in the greenhouse. I need to begin transplanting - and it looks like I'll try my first grafting attempts this week - but I'm dragging my feet since I don't want to carry in the extra trays at night. Oh well, by the end of the week, I'm sure I'll have to find room for about 8 trays instead of five. It's temporary. Before long I'll set out the heat mat in the greenhouse to accomodate at least a few flats of cabbage and other cool season crops that will tolerate the nighttime temps.
I did transplant the lettuce I started a month ago in the ground in the greenhouse. The soil is so dry in there, but I doused them thoroughly and expect they'll take off. It's good that the batch of spring greens I bought at Sam's Club last week will hopefully be my last for many, many months!