Pea Planning

The veggie plot – yes, lots of spinach – it’s good for you!

love how this circle fits right into the shadows of circles

short panels

long panels

where the protected area will be

waiting for spring

Love in the mail

I love grids. There’s something calming and organized and structured and just plain sensible about a grid. Grids are useful in just about everything we do, from driving to drawing to planning a garden.

Digging a new bed or plotting annuals in an old one is the perfect place to implement a grid. Rows of squares and clusters of circles all nestle together to fill the space. Moving plants around on paper is so much more efficient – and healthier for the plant. Grids solve problems before they become problems as we can consider eventual plant height and width while they are still seeds.

I also love seed catalogs. There’s something about the arrival of these publications, filled with eye-popping flowers and vegetables beaded with clean raindrops, that make the dreariest, coldest, bone-chilling-est, windiest, most miserable days seem like a moment of warm sunshine.

Getting the newest Burpee catalog presents problems. Do we flip through quickly, read through slowly or just turn to the pages we know are of interest for our particular garden? I couldn’t decide, so I did all three. The first read-through was a quick scan, just enough to see how the catalog was arranged. The second reading was done page by page, with careful mental notes made of seeds that sounded promising. Then, ah! the third reading. With pen and paper in hand, I turned to those pages I knew were important and wrote down my wish list.

Today, I bundled up in winter coat and gloves, grabbed a tape measure and headed to the veggie bed. The bright sun belied the cold bite in the air; my cheeks felt raw fairly soon. A garden ornament left standing caught the sunshine and popped bright blue against the snow. It’s round and walking up to it, I noticed that the shadows from the tomato cages (really? I didn’t get those put away?) made a pattern of circles, like the Olympic rings. The ornament fit right into those shadows – how very charming. The tree stump was dusted with snow, the fungus bright white.

Last fall, I had an epiphany: I could use the existing tall wooden fence as one of my Damn Rabbit blockades and use all the wire panels to create a longer protected veggie bed. I measured the fence panels and measured the veggie bed and realized I could plant spinach, lettuce, beans, peas and brussel sprouts in a 23 foot x 3 foot space – double the size of last year’s protected bed. Even in the cold and the snow, I could visualize spring sprouts with panels in place straight and neat, Damn Rabbits salivating on the outside, pea hopes dashed and spinach dreams destroyed.

In the house, toasty and warm with Griffey snoring on my feet, I created a grid on paper, one square for each foot of space and plotted in my vegetable choices. Vertical supports will be built for the peas, cukes and beans, made of piping tied with biodegradable netting. I see this garden more clearly now, a rush of pedestrian vegetables. My enthusiasm for seeds and for grids doesn’t carry over to my family’s eating habits; they are very modest and safe in their vegetable choices. It is planned, the seed order just needs to be placed.

Now, spring is that much closer. Sunshine and warmth is that much closer.Digging in the dirt, planting something new is that much closer. Sweet crisp peas fresh from the garden are closer now.

I love that too.