The Perfect Pea

The Perfect Pea

The perfect pea grows in perfect early Spring weather. Cool, wet, fresh and delicious air. Soil still wet and cold. Heaven for cold weather crops ie peas, chard, spinach, onions, lettuce, radish and all others that have the good sense to sprout early and grow before the heat and bugs descend upon us.

Those of us who have it together to prepare the Spring beds in late Autumn would like to believe that they are going to find the Earth bare and weed -free for Early Spring sowing. Unless you use weed poison, and whoever would put such poison on the Earth and in our food, the weeds will find away. Next year I'll heap more straw mulch on the beds and hope that I have found a solution.

Cleavers is such a little creep(er) who has completely covered over the beds where I went today to sow pea seed. They are great little herbs for use as a diuretic but that is the last thing I need, so out they go. They make great compost, so they will eventually find their way back to the garden beds in a far more useful form.

Springtime in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country is a brief affair. It can be an abreviated interlude of up to one week, unfortunatley. Cold for three months, cool and fresh, for a few weeks and then temperatures can ascend to 90 degrees and stay there for months. Quite unfriendly actually. I haven't lived in this region long enough to sort out the best way to manage such capricious and unreliable temperatures. Any advice?

To give credit to our Founding Fathers and their ancestors, Philadelphia is blessed to have a Springtime floral renaissance second to none. They planted enormous allays of cherry trees, pink and white, as well as many varieties of Magnolias, and Forsythia that line the river banks. Narcissi and daffodils, by the millions, grace the land below them.

Later in the Spring the air is perfumed by Lilacs. Every yard and walkway, it seems, is edged with Azaleas and later blooming Rhododendrons. Only Washington, DC can compete. The noble dogwood deserves recognition as well. If you are planting one, be sure to use the Kusa variety, to protect it from disease.

Not much more to report at this time. Off to feed the neighbor's cat and turtle while they are in Florida. I wouldn't trade this gorgeous Spring rain, and cool air for anything, anywhere.
Ho'oponopono Create the balance.