Karen Ramage - SFEMG Member

I am happy to report that my pea vines have begun their vertical journey as they reach up to the sunny Santa Fe skies. I use row cover overnight or in high winds, using bricks to hold the material in place as needed. The peas seem to be growing steadily. I added a DIY pea trellis this weekend using  materials excavated from the garden shed and adding some twisty branches that I found on a walk about on our land. I stabilized the branch trellis with garden twine and wooden garden stakes. 

On April 20 I directly sowed two rows of Champion Radish and one row of Bloomsdale Spinach seeds into the raised bed and already have a few radish starts with tiny shamrock shaped leaves.  The sad news is that the carrots I sowed on the 8th have not yet sprouted.  It snowed after I had initially planted and although I had the bed well covered with both row cover and plastic the carrots may not have germinated. As a seed beginner this type of gardening seems like a very slow process, but I do have plenty of time this year to watch, wait, and learn. I learned a garden tip for next time:  plant the radish and carrot closer together so I can more easily spot the little carrot tops as they sprout.