Hedging My Bets

I'm thinking of changing the name of this blog to "Overdoing It" and it's only FEBRUARY, people.

We've had 2 days of sun in a row and third promised in tomorrow's forecast, which of course has me climbing the walls and finding every excuse to go outside. I pulled back the plastic tarps on the rows of peas we planted before the ice storm, and there's not much going on over there. A few sprouts here and there, but also some duds. It's still a mud pit, too.

So I decided to go on a wintersowing spree. Well, not so much decided as just couldn't stop. I planted another jug of Red Malabar spinach and then started a jug each of Little Gem, Flame, and Gotte Jeaune D'Or lettuces. Since my cauliflower seedlings have been doing so well, I decided to pot up 4 more soda bottle greenhouses to add to the windowsills. Then Joe and I went outside to play around in the sunshine and the next thing I know, I'm planting a flat each of dwarf phlox and snapdragons. There's something wrong with me. My kitchen table is nearly completely covered with a variety of flats and plastic containers and I don't own grow lights, people! For now the sun and 2 CFL lamps are doing the job, but I think as the temps continue to rise, some of the bottle greenhouses will be kicked outside.

You thought I was done? You thought wrong. By the time evening rolled around, things were looking a little drier in the veggie garden, so I pulled up the plastic sheeting altogether. Then I got the itch.

I blame the Farmer's Almanac online gardening calendar for my itch. Today's entry says: "16th-17th. Plant Peppers, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, And Other Above Ground Crops In Southern Florida,

California, And Texas. Extra Good For Cucumbers, Peas, Cantaloupes, And Other Vine Crops. Set Strawberry Plants."

That word--peas--called out to me. How could I let this extra good day go by without getting some more in the ground, especially knowing that the ice storm killed who knows how many, and that my dogs probably took care of a good number themselves. Besides, this time around I was armed with my newly-ordered legume inoculant to mix into the soil. So, I went ahead and planted another row of early peas and a half row of Oregon Sugar Pods II. Then I emptied what was left in the packet of early peas on the rows that I'd already planted, and lightly mixed in some inoculant, just for good measure. Am I overseeding the peas? Probably. Will I thin them out later? Probably not. The prospect of a huge stash of frozen peas is much too tempting.