Peas peas and more peas

My toes are being warmed by the sun streaming in through the window. It's a nice day for a change.

So Sunday was 'Pea Day' at the Lottie. We did other things too, but Peas seemed to dominate. Sweet Peas and Eatin' Peas. I'll start with the Sweet Peas, seeing as this is my blog and I grew them from seed and I planted them out. Yeah! I rock.

Peas; Part 1

I choose 'Cupani' because of the delicious colours they are, they remind me of my bridesmaids' dresses, they were aubergine satin with a layer of cerise chiffon on top and a layer of grape chiffon on top of that again. Lovely. In fact here is one of my lovely girls showing it off to perfection......

They germinated perfectly in their loo rolls (the sweet peas not my bridesmaids, haha) and had brilliant root systems. I planted 3 on each side of the little arch, which I am desperately hoping stays put in the wind. It is gale force down at the Lottie on a good day! I am hoping for a beautiful, colourful, fragrant arch of them, so fingers (and toes) are crossed. I've never grown flowers from seed before!


I had a few more left and Andrew erected a nice obelisk for me (very fiddly, I would have lost the plot) and pushed it into the middle of the larger bed. So, I got 4 more in there at the base of the uprights. That was them all used, up bar 2 which are out in the patio waiting to go into a pot with another obelisk in it. Until, a friendly Lottie folk lady gave me some of hers! She too had used the loo roll technique and Andrew planted a few of the strongest ones on the inside of the same obelisk - so hopefully I'll have loads and loads!!! There may well be cut flowers in my house for a change, which reminds me....I need to buy a vase.

I also planted out the 3 Lupins Bill had given me, at the back of the larger bed. I have no idea what colour they'll be but we think they grow pretty tall, so with a bit of luck they'll continue to grow strong. I love the way water sits on their leaves ~ so pretty.

Peas; part 2

As I was busy with my Sweet Peas I didn't get to document this whole process, so sorry......

Andrew took the 1st lot of Eatin' Peas 'Kelvedon Wonder' in their guttering out of the cold frame. The seedlings looked good and healthy so he wanted to get them in the ground. First he dug a trench the same length and width of the guttering and then just slowly eased them out into it. They didn't slide like I think they're meant to because the roots hadn't grown and knitted together as a cohesive unit, but they all went in with a little nudge. Next time will be better.

Here they are in the ground, we have put some pea sticks (dogwood stems) beside them now but we may resort to the netting me used last year, not sure yet.