In The Garden: The Karina Pea

I’ve been testing out a few different varieties of pea plants this year for taste, ability to resist heat, and to see which plants produce the most in the smallest space, since that’s always the biggest key with our small patio garden. So far this year the Karina Bush Pea has done the best of the three varieties I’ve tried out in our potted patio garden. The other two are a Snow Peas and Dark Seeded Peas.

The Karina Peas have super long pods that can grow up to 5 and even 7 inches long and are filled with super plump sweet tasting peas. Just one gallon sized pot filled with three plants is putting off a few handfuls of pea pods a week; perfect for using in stir-fry’s, salads, and the peas are delicious accompanied with the fresh mint grown in our herb garden. These particular peas make for an excellent shelling variety and the pods actually sometimes pop open when I am picking them, so be careful that you don’t lose your peas while picking. You still have time to sow these great plants outdoors, they can go into the ground as late as June!

Early Dividend Broccoli

Today I got to harvest the first florets from our broccoli plants. They’ve been growing since late August, maybe early September. And they have gotten to be absolutely humongous. I’ve never grown broccoli before, but I didn’t do anything special, except to put them into my favorite Lucky Frog soil. I bought Early Dividend starters at our local organic plants store and I’ve been so happy with these beautiful plants. One of the best things about them is that after the main head is harvested big side flowers will form. Keeping you in broccoli for weeks and weeks. I took some pictures of the raised bed so you can see how big they’ve gotten, next to them I’ve planted garlic, which will be covered with a thick layer of hay by the end of the weekend to protect the bulbs from frost.

Carrot Harvest

I was so excited to harvest my carrots last week. They’ve been growing in our raised garden bed since August,  the tops of the carrots measured more then 2.5 inches across. So I figured they would be huge. I was picturing them at least 10 inches long. So I gripped the super long greens, and pulled with all my might, and almost fell on my but. Out popped beautiful carrots that maxed out at 5 inches long! I felt sooo ridiculous! But once I baked and roasted them, oh my goodness. The flavor was increadable so intensely sweet, and more carrot flavor then I have ever tasted. I can’t wait to try again next year. And the greens made a beautiful arrangement for Thanksgiving.