Watching my Peas (and lettuce and radishes)
It has taken me several years to understand the cycle of four season gardening here on the Gulf Coast of Texas. A week or so ago, we had frost. A skim of ice floated on top of the puddles in our driveway–there is a broken watermain underneath that constantly drips—this is the fourth time that main has had a leak; one year I had a bubbling spring in front of my house and a huge variety of songbirds used it as their drinking fountain.
But I digress.
Planting peas and radish and lettuce several weeks ago while my patient husband set up a new watering system, there is always a bit of anxiety waiting for those tiny seeds to sprout.
After delivering a bag full of satsumas–a small handful of kumquats and a lemon–not so many of those this year to our youngest son, we stopped by our garden. With all of our recent rain, we had standing water in many places but I was rewarded with lots of sprouts.
Lettuce sprouts are still so tiny but then their seeds are the size of grains of sand.
The bananas at the side of the shed did not like the freezing temperature; but they always seem to come back. I am hoping we had enough cold weather for the new pear tree to set blossoms this next spring—the apricot tree has been a huge disappointment—bought from a Master Gardener’s sale as a peach tree, we have harvested two apricots despite hand fertilizing and putting a bird net on top.
But we should have a bountiful crop of lettuce in two months and peas shortly after that. Radishes are for husband and he likes both the tops and the globes.
Sylvia Weir Art 