I try to have my whole garden raised slightly, just enough to drain well, but I still have a lot of work to do on it. I can quickly have enough ground ready for onions and broccoli, I still have kale growing from fall. I also have garlic in the shop that has been trying to grow in the containers where I had them stored. I think I will plant enough to see if I can get new cloves for planting this coming fall.

Drainage is the main reason we plant into raised rows too. The other reason is the raised rows warm up earlier thereby facilitating germination. We use them on slopes too, to slow down water runoff.

I have a good feeling about this season. We are planting 500 pounds of Kennebecs Saturday. We will plant 500 more March 14.

It looks great Johnny. All winter I have had an increasingly good feeling about this season too. I hope you and I are right about it being a good season because the Seasonal Drought Outlook is full of gloom and doom. (So, I am going to ignore the drought outlook for as long as I can.)

Larry, It is a never-ending job, isn't it? And that's especially true in the areas that get more rain. In wet years like we had in 2002, 2004 and 2007, my garden holds too much moisture even in the raised beds. In 2009 we had a wet spell that lasted from April till around the end of June and in order to plant, I had to make raised mounds on top of my raised beds.

Just planted 2400 row feet of snow peas. When time to harvest, I usually put one in the bucket then eat one, one in the bucket eat one... ad infinitum.

It was a booger keeping my planter on the ridge. See photo...

Just for the record, it took 1.5 pounds of snow pea seed to plant 2400 row feet.

West coast snow pack

Dawn,

Looks kinda scary out West. Snow pack is almost not there.

Guess we better not count on food from the San Joaquin Valley.

Johnny, That's how I harvest all edible podded peas too. I consider eating peas in the garden as I harvest them to be just one of the perks of being the gardener.

I was thinking about Cali yesterday when I looked at the U. S. Drought Monitor and saw what horrible shape they are in. The snowpack map is horrifying to look at. I cannot even imagine how many family farms may be driven out of business.

Last year Tim and I noticed shortages periodically in the produce section at the grocery stores and wondered if those could be blamed on the situation in California. I'm willing to bet most of them could be.

I try to raise all our own produce anyway, or at least as much as I possibly can, and I try to preserve all of it that I can for the future. It is something I enjoy but which wasn't really necessary----after all, if we have crop failures here, we just go to the grocery store, right? Well, maybe in the past. If California's drought continues, produce in grocery stores will be so expensive (not that it is cheap now) that no one will be able to afford it even when the food makes it to the stores.

That just makes the work you do to produce food for the food bank so much more important than ever before.

It is too bad the northeastern states which have snow piled up everywhere can send all that surplus to California.

So, Mr Coleman, you're saying the farmer's market is always short on peas? LOL I might be obliged to come out if I don't get enough ground covered.

Bon,
There seems to be a BIG unfulfilled market for Purple Hull Peas. I talked to a farmer North of Guthrie who wants me to plant six acres of them on his place. I have an old (but very good) JD seed planter.

We just planted 2400 row feet of snow peas. We plan to have a U-PICK-IT on them in about two months. We will try to donate most of them to the food bank. We charge $0.25 per gallon or if you donate half of what you pick, your half is free.

We planted 500 pounds of Kennebecs today. BOY am I tired. Our, John Deere Hoover model 12, potato planter worked as well today as it did when new 100 years ago.

I'd sure hope a market exists with that many purple hulled peas! your maintenance on those machines is very impressive. Only person I know who could match yours, is Bill. I'd like to come out with the kids and pick, because I can never have enough peas and I'm running out of room for all the onions and potatoes. Mainly, I'm running out of time. It'll be good for the kids to pick and share.

Bon,

We'll put you on our notification list. We will email you when they are ready to pick.

okay tx