The Pea Results Are In

I picked my first snow peas today. According to the calendar I'm keeping, it took 10 weeks from the date I planted the seeds to the date of my first harvest. That's 70 days when planted in August. The seed packet says 60 days to maturity/bloom. I suppose that's about right, since they started flowering a couple weeks ago.

I just saw the first bloom on my English peas yesterday. Those were planted from seed at the end of September, so it took 7 weeks for them to bloom. I'm guessing it will be another 2-3 weeks before they have fruit big enough for picking.

So the moral of the pea story is that it's about 10 weeks from seed start to harvest when I plant in the fall. I intend to keep succession planting and see if that's the norm year-round.

Brussel sprouts are gone

Tiny gray aphids or mites got hold of them and pretty much destroyed all the tender new growth on the inside of the plants. I might have been able to save them, but I don't like brussel sprouts enough to deal with it, and I have serious problems with leafy-type plants that get consumed by teeny weeny bugs. It's the heebie-geebie factor.

Plus, I discovered after planting them that brussel sprouts are a little bigger pain than just planting and letting them go. Apparently, you've got to top them to encourage the side shoots and all kinds of things I'm not really interested in.

So, when it comes to brussel sprouts, Bugs-1 Lori-0