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Tuesday, March 16, 2021

March 16, 2021 Shamrocks and Peas

Hi Gardeners

This week has brought home to me so clearly how short and sweet life is.  Early Saturday morning we lost our 25 year old granddaughter Ashley to a car accident. Her fiancée was killed with her. It’s the unexpected blows that hurt the hardest. The spring light has dimmed for me.

Time is so precious. Things can change in the blink of an eye. Flowers bloom and then they are gone, sometimes before you have a chance to appreciate them. Tell someone you love them today.

This week I recycled some older articles. Hopefully I’ll feel more like writing next week.

Shamrocks

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and shamrocks will be everywhere. But what exactly is a shamrock? Well, they are a leaf from a plant some people call clover. True shamrocks usually have 3 leaflets, although they are sometimes portrayed with 4 leaflets.

But what plant family do true shamrocks belong to? In the late 1800’s a debate raged among botanists in Europe and America over this very important question. Some believed firmly that shamrocks were wood sorrel or Oxalis and others that they were of the clover or Trifolium family.  Both plants grow well in Ireland. 

A clever botanist by the name of Nathaniel Colgan carried out a survey in 1893 by asking residents of Ireland to send him pressed samples of the plant they considered a shamrock. The survey found that the Irish overwhelmingly chose a clover, either Trifolium dubium (Lesser or Hops clover) or Trifolium repens (White Clover) although a few wood sorrel leaves arrived also.

But for most people the shamrock they are going to see around St. Patrick’s Day, especially in stores, is usually an oxalis. Oxalis are small plants, with a bulbous root. The leaves have 3-4 leaflets, sometimes heart shaped. Most oxalis have small, 5 petal flowers that open flat in the spring, although some species have funnel shaped flowers. Oxalis or wood sorrel species are common throughout most of the world.

The species sold as “shamrocks” are usually tender perennials and won’t survive outside in a cold winter. Keep them in a bright window and keep them moist but not over watered to the soggy point. A light fertilization once a month with a fertilizer for flowering plants will keep oxalis blooming for long periods of time, although they will take occasional breaks from blooming. Well cared for plants will become larger and live for several years. The tender Oxalis can make great container plants outside during the frost-free months.

There are also a few types of oxalis that can be planted outside. When looking for oxalis to plant outside look in bulb catalogs. They may be called wood sorrel, a common name. The bulbs are quite inexpensive for most species.

Oxalis stricta, wood sorrel

Shamrock legends and customs

Nobody really knows if St. Patrick used a clover or shamrock to teach about the holy trinity or whether he used shamrocks to drive out snakes or whether he even wore shamrocks on his blue, (yes blue) monks robe as is so often depicted in pictures. But somehow the shamrock got associated with him and with Ireland in general.

In Irish culture true shamrocks are worn in the labels of coats or on the hat on St Paddy’s Day through the drinking and parades. Then they are put into the last drink of the day, there is a toast, the drink is downed, and the shamrock thrown over the left shoulder for luck. This is called drowning the shamrock.

Since 1952 it has been a tradition for the Irish Prime minister to present the President of the United States with a bowl of shamrocks in a fancy Waterford crystal bowl on St. Patrick’s Day. (It’s unclear whether that custom will be performed this year.) Unfortunately, security protocol demands that the shamrocks immediately be destroyed after the ceremony and photo taking. The crystal bowls have various fates- President Reagan used one for jellybeans.

The shamrock also appears on Montreal, Canada’s flag as a symbol of one of the four major ethic groups which made up the city’s population when it was founded. It’s hard to think of Montreal as being part Irish, but it’s nice that all immigrants were honored. Almost everywhere the shamrock is seen as a symbol of good luck.

Clover, Trifolium reptans

 

Peas please

In the spring nothing tastes better than fresh green peas whether you eat them fresh from the pod or cook them.  Peas are an easy garden crop for gardeners and grow early enough that the garden spot they grew in can be used for another type of vegetable later in the season. You can plant peas as early as your soil thaws, many older gardeners plant them on St. Patrick’s Day.  April is also an excellent month to plant peas, but you can plant them until about May 15 and still get a crop.

There are two basic kinds of peas, those you shell to eat the peas and those that you eat the pod with the peas. The edible pod peas are often called snow peas or oriental peas. Shell peas are often called English peas. Another type of pea is the sugar snap pea, in which you eat both the pod and slightly larger than snow pea size peas inside.

Good shell pea varieties for planting include Wando, Lincoln, Thomas Laxton, Karina, and Legacy.  Edible pod varieties suggested are Oregon Sugar, Mammoth Melting and Sugar Sprint.  You may want to purchase inoculated seed or buy a package of inoculant. Pea seeds can be inoculated with a naturally occurring soil bacteria that helps them convert nitrogen from the air and gets them off to a faster start in cold soil. It is a natural product and won’t affect any organic growing plans that you have.

All types of peas are planted the same way, as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring.  Don’t worry about frost coming after you have planted them- peas are a cool season crop and will do just fine. You can speed germination if you soak pea seeds in warm water for a couple of hours before planting. Plant your peas about an inch deep and 3 inches apart. Any type of soil will do, as long as it drains well.  A sandy loam area works better in the spring than heavy clay if you have a choice.

All peas need something to climb on, (there are so called bush peas but they flop over and also need support), so add some kind of trellis for peas when you plant them. Traditionally small branches are stuck in the ground, called pea brush, for the vines to climb. Branches at least as big as a pencil in diameter and 4 feet high are needed. These are stuck into the ground around the peas so that they hold each other up.

If you want something a bit neater looking use a piece of wire fence attached to posts, with the peas planted in front of it.  You may have to wind a wayward vine into the fence at the beginning of growth, but most pea vines will readily climb onto a fence.  If you have a fence around your garden, you can plant peas in front of it.

How many peas to plant will depend on whether you just want fresh eating peas or if you want to can or freeze peas.  For a family of 4 who just wants fresh peas a 6–8-foot row or 20 -30 plants is probably enough.  Double or triple that amount if you want peas for canning or freezing.

Peas have nodules on their roots that take nitrogen from the air. Fertilization isn’t generally needed for peas.  They will appreciate regular watering if spring is dry. If an inch of rain doesn’t fall during a week, they will need you to water them. After the peas are 3 inches high mulch them with straw, chopped leaves or compost to keep the soil cool and moist.


Peas

Peas will begin blooming 6-8 weeks after they come up, depending on the weather and variety.  When you see blooms start watching for pea pods as they form and grow quickly.  Pick edible pod peas when the seeds inside the pod are barely visible bumps and the pods are still flat. You can shell the peas and eat them like regular peas if you let them get too large. 

Pick shell type and sugar snap peas young too, when the peas inside are still tiny and tender. Split the pod with your fingernail and use your thumb to push the shell peas out into a bowl. 

Keep all kinds of peas picked and don’t let pods get large and start to dry out.  If too many pods start maturing the pea plant will stop producing peas.  If you keep the pods picked while they are young, and the weather is cool and moist you will probably get a month of harvest time.

Peas have few insect pests or diseases. They are favorites of rabbits and deer however and may need to be protected.

Pick peas just before you want to use them or freeze them. After they are picked the sugar in them quickly starts to turn to starch and your peas will not be as tasty as truly fresh peas. If there are more than you can eat, freeze the excess.

Peas don’t like hot weather and will naturally die back when the weather starts getting above 80 degrees every day.  When that happens, pull the vines and put them on the compost pile and plant something in their place, like cucumbers if you leave the trellis up or even corn, which will appreciate the nitrogen the peas left in the soil.

If you didn’t get enough peas in the spring, you can plant a fall crop of peas. Plant this crop about the end of July. They’ll start maturing as the weather gets cooler.  Make sure to keep them mulched and watered at this time of the year.

Seed starting tips – for all plants

Always moisten your planting medium before filling your containers for seed starting. Trying to moisten it after usually ends up with seeds being washed out of place or the medium fails to absorb enough water.

Put the planting medium in a bowl or bucket, add water a little at a time and mix with your hands until it feels moist. It should stick together but not be so wet that water runs out when you squeeze a handful. If you get it too wet either add more medium or spread it out on newspaper and let the paper absorb some of the water.

Rather than poking seeds in the soil in containers, fill the container nearly full, then tamp the potting medium down lightly, (don’t pack it down firmly). Next put the seeds on top the planting medium and lightly cover them, either with more planting medium, or some vermiculite. Remember some seeds need light to germinate- look up your seed’s requirements. Don’t cover those seeds.

Until the seedlings have a couple sets of leaves it’s best to water from the bottom- pour water into a tray that the seedling containers sit in. Your containers must have drain holes for this to work unless they are paper or peat pots. 

You could use open bottom pots set in a tray also. You can make these from toilet or paper towel rolls cut into pieces, set into a tray and then filled with potting medium.

When you transplant seedlings always handle them by the leaves, never by the stems. If you damage the stem the seedling is likely to die, it can replace leaves. If seedlings are very tiny you can use tweezers to lift them by their leaves. 

Don’t pull seedlings out of the soil, gently dig around them and lift them out, trying not to damage the roots or stem.

The plastic “sporks” you get at restaurants actually make a great tool for picking seedlings out of a flat or pot to transplant.  You can also use a tiny spoon.

Don’t mist seedlings.  This is likely to cause dampening off, a fungal disease that is fatal.  Also, if you have enclosed the seedlings in plastic or glass “mini greenhouses” you must open them in the afternoon if condensation builds up inside, so it dries off by nightfall.

March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice.” ― Hal Borland

 

 Kim Willis

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And So On….

 

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