April 30, 2018

Harvest Monday, 4/30/18

The last harvest of pea shoots from a 48 cell tray. It's much too late to plant peas at this point, we're well on our way to warmer weather this week. They're calling for temperatures in the 80's in the next few days (26.7 degrees Celsius).
I went ahead and planted seed potatoes that were purchased from a big box store a month ago. Poor sad dried up tiny seed potatoes. These are Adirondack Blue. My husband and I had a lengthy discussion on whether the planters he dug out of the attic would be put to better use raising potatoes or carrots.
The seed potatoes from the autumn mix bag were even sadder than the Adirondacks. I do worry that I buried them too deep, will these tiny potatoes have enough energy to send their shoots up through the soil strata? We'll find out.

I have sweet potatoes making slips on the front porch. We were in Nashville last week and I found Japanese Purple sweet potatoes at an Asian/Latin market. Only the small specimens looked any good, hopefully the little Purple will be able to make slips. I do have a Beauregard sweet potato already making slips.

Please join us at Harvest Monday hosted by Dave at Our Happy Acres, where gardeners are joyfully celebrating this busy time that is spring.

12 comments:

Belinda Robinson said...

I've never thought to grow peas just for their shoots - what a good idea! I stopped growing peas as I couldn't bear to find pea moth larvae in every pod - far too disappointing! So now I grow mangetout and eat them when they're small - fingers crossed that means no grubs...

Dave @ HappyAcres said...

Those pea shoots look yummy! I'm sorry I didn't get around to planting any this spring. I think the small sweet potatoes often make good slips because they are quicker to sprout. I hope yours do so too. Does the Japanese Purple have purple or white flesh?

Michelle said...

Pea shoots are such a treat. Even if I couldn't grow peas to maturity I would still plant them just for the shoots. I like to add peas to the cover crop that I grow in my solanum bed every winter and then I cut the pea shoots to eat. Unfortunately this year the birds found my cover crop to be especially tasty so I had to keep it covered up which makes it too much of a pain in the neck to harvest the shoots.

Sue Garrett said...

We only just sowed our first lot of peas last week.

gardenvariety-hoosier said...

I'll bet the potatoes come up just fine.

Phuong said...

Hi Belinda,
Young pea shoots are wonderfully tender and they can have an intense pea flavor that almost tastes like peanuts. It's too late to plant spring peas for us, but I'm hoping to get some mangetouts and snap peas grown in the fall.

Phuong said...

Hi Dave,
The purple sweet potato has white flesh. It's amazing how much you're harvesting from the salad boxes in your greenhouse. I keep thinking to myself fresh green beans, summer squash, and cherry tomatoes aren't that far away.

Phuong said...

Hi Michelle,
Birds are my true nemesis in the garden. They can be incredibly destructive to seedlings. Your young snow pea plants look like they're loaded with pods, it's such a pretty sight. And your outdoor grown lettuce look amazing.

Phuong said...

Hi Sue,
We won't be able to plant any peas out in the garden, it's already too warm. You're managing to get a lot done in the garden even with the not great weather.

Phuong said...

Hi Mike,
I hope so, the potatoes are pretty shriveled but they're still managing to make some nice big shoots.

Kathy said...

Your potatoes should do well in the big planters. They often look quite unpromising when you plan them, but it is so exciting when they push up a shoot or two. I am envious of your selections of sweet potatoes available!

Phuong said...

Hi Kathy,
There are a surprising number of sweet potato varieties out there, and we have the heat and suffocating humidity they seem to enjoy. Your garden is looking nice and tidy and ready for planting, how exciting. It's a fun busy time of year.