Pea Management and Blueberries

I lost a large bougainvillea from the December rain.  Well, I didn't lose it, I had to make a choice between it and the wall it was tied to.  The wall won.  When you remove a 35 year old anything from the garden, it leaves a large opportunity to put in something else.

I chose blueberries.  This time, I'm putting the blueberries in pots so the soil is easier to manage.  They are very fussy plants, with expensive soil and fertilizer that must be applied every couple of months.

Eventually, I want to take out everything inedible along the back wall and make it all artichokes and blueberries or another perennial.  This is part of a larger plan that will eventually replace the lawn and pond with raised beds so I don't have to water anything that doesn't feed me.  I'd also like some fruit trees, probably fig and pomegranate, but one thing at a time.

This is my third time growing peas, and I'm finally getting the hang of it.  As usual, I figured out what I should have done all along purely by accident.  I snipped off the tips of the vines to put in some tofu wraps and they responded by bushing out instead of only growing up.  That's what I've always wanted them to do.  So, like basil, regular trimming seems to be the key to a larger yield and not falling over from their own weight.  I'm getting there.  Pea shoots are now a regular part of my salads.  People pay a lot in restaurants for that kind of delicacy, and I get them as garden trimmings.

Not in the title of this post, I've decided to grow tomatoes again this year.  I started three pots inside six weeks ago, and they are just about ready to transplant.  I normally don't bother starting things inside, but sprouts in my garden have been getting chomped this year.  Some kind of bug is getting them before they are strong enough to hold their own.  I had hoped they were all drowned in December when the pond flooded for a couple of days, but they must have fled for higher ground.  I also started a new round of spinach, which came up beautifully.

I was going to sell a long window planter in my next garage sale, but now I have other ideas for it.  If I'm going to grow tomatoes, I'll need to find somewhere else to put this summer's pickling cucumbers.  I'm going to plant them in the long box and run chicken wire up the now-bare wall for them to grow on.  Before that, I'll use it for the new spinach.  And next fall, I'll use the setup for the peas so they can grow as tall as they want, protected from the wind.

Crossing my fingers the blueberries succeed this time.  I won't have a decent crop for a couple of years, but a few handfuls would be nice to start.