Mighty Peas

This summer I decided to try a fall garden so late summer I planted another crop of vegetables. One of the things that I planted were fall peas. I knew I probably wouldn't get anything out of them since I got them in later than I had hoped, but I decided to plant them anyway for an experiment as long as I had extra seeds.

I have been amazed by these peas. They just won't quit! Late October we got our first frost so the first week of November I thought I would tell my garden goodnight. I pulled up everything but the flowers, lettuce and peas. I still didn't expect them to do much more, but I wanted to watch them anyway.

Well, after a few more frosts, we got our first big snow two weeks ago. We took the kids out to see the chicken in the snow, who we had moved to the garden for our clean up crew. While I was out there, I noticed that the peas were still going strong and had blossoms on them!
So I continued to watch the peas. Last week, however, Ethan and I decided it was time to put all of the garden fences and posts away before they were frozen into the ground. There stood my peas, still green. With December just a few days away, I decided it was time to pull their support so out came their fence.

Well, today I went out with Ethan as he moved the chickens to a new spot in the garden. Their lay my green peas on the ground. Boy were the chickens happy when they got moved on top of them!! So now my mighty peas are coming to an end . . . not because of the cold, but because of the chickens.

I think that what I learned from my experiment is that when it comes to fall peas, it maybe isn't as important to worry about the cold as much as it is worrying about timing the blossoms so that there are insects still around for pollination!