Nothing says, “time to plant!” like a good, old-fashioned cold snap. Between the arrival of seed catalogs, plummeting temperatures, and a respectable layer of crunchy snow, the folks at Plants on Deck found themselves a little stir-crazy.
And after a nearly unsuccessful expedition along ice-covered South Philly sidewalks/pavements (detouring to climb a treacherous Mt. Herron) to the local garden store for potting mix, supplies for pea shoot planting were procured.
Step 1: Unearth shallow planting receptacle from storage facility (AKA: the nasty, garden-equipment-strewn basement)Step 2: Task assistant with pouring pea seeds into special sprouter. (AKA: little stir-crazy hurricane and Festive Fiesta bowl.)Step 3: While the peas soak for a day or two in 60-70 degree water (rinse and re-soak them in fresh water every 8-12 hours or so), dump potting mix into your pot. (Note the high-tech bag: it took both ingenuity and a round of “Nope, I’m not paying that for that” to buy soil from a GARDENING STORE.)Step 4: Gently smooth and lovingly tamp the soil down. (AKA: play in the dirt – it feels good.)Step 5: Scatter pea seeds on top of the soil and cover with about 1/4″ of soil. Water. Wait. (AKA: the “Are they ready yet?” phase. Also: evidently whole, not split, supermarket peas work just as well, but the grocery shelves were bare and all these gardeners could find were last spring’s leftover Tom Thumbs. In other words, for sprouting purposes, feel free to pack ’em in way tighter than seen here.)
