Harvesting and Preserving Peas

 We just came through the hottest temperatures ever recorded in western Washington state. The rare heat dome actually effected the entire Pacific Northwest. I thought my peas were goners, for sure. I was wrong. Not only did they pull through, mostly unscathed, they are still blooming! For whatever reason, I've always been able to grow amazing pea and bean crops...or such that they are in containers and raised beds.

This was just one bucket of peas. I believe this was the Oregon Sugar Pod variety. Next year, I plan on planting triple to quadruple the amount that I planted this year. We like our frozen peas, for sure. I also use the immature pods in stir fries, which I missed out on because of my dogs fighting and resulting in me getting bit.

I started out with a full strainer of peas that I had picked. 

That's the thing about peas. It takes a lot of them to get anywhere. I don't grow these to save money, that's for sure. I can buy a big bag of frozen peas for around a buck at any supermarket. I grow these because I like to grow my own food...as meager portioned as it is.

Get a pan, fill it with water and give it a few shakes of sea salt. I know that a lot of people swear by kosher salt. I have kosher salt, but I prefer pink or grey sea salt. 

I can also see that I need to desperately clean my stove. Bob has been doing the cooking these past few weeks.

 Bring the pot of water to a rolling boil. 

In the meantime, mark your freezer container/bag with the contents and date. 

Once the water is at a rolling boil and the salt has dissolved...

add in the peas. Bring the water back up to a boil and blanch the peas for 2 minutes. 

You'll read all sorts of recipes and guidelines that tell you to drain the peas and plunge into ice water. That's too much rigamaroll to go through. Just drain them in a strainer and run them under cold water. It's fine. You don't need to dirty another bowl. That's ridiculous. 

Viola! You just started your journey into growing and preserving your own food. Seriously, though, preparing any vegetable for the freezer is the easiest way to get your feet wet in the preserving world. Use this same method for green beans, carrots, celery (yes, frozen celery is fantastic!), corn, tomatoes, etc.
All those peas that I picked? Well, after shelling them, I got about a cup or so of peas. I'll be picking them again in a few days. Pretty soon, they will be kicking the bucket and we will be pulling them up to make the buckets ready for fall/winter greens.
Oh, before I forget!! I found a gem of a YouTube channel. Bob and I have sat and watched this person for hours during our heatwave. I hope you enjoy her as much as we have. We, especially, love her dog. Her channel is called Dianxi Xiaoge.
Enjoy!

End Of June Garden Update

 I was posting every day and then it stopped. If you follow me on social media, you'll know that we have rescued our last two Australian kelpies. They have decided that they do not like each other and have started to fight. I wound up getting bit on my finger and I have a severe open wound that is going to take quite a while to heal. I can't cook because I can't get it wet. It's my index finger and it's on my right hand and I just really use that finger a lot. 

So, for now, I wanted everyone to know that I did not abandon this blog. We have paid for training sessions with the dogs and hopefully, we can get back to normal soon. That would be great.
In honor of my husband's birthday today, I'll share a garden update as I have made some changes and planted something new.

Cranberry and Arapaho Fish Hill beans

The peas will probably not produce much after the heatwave we're predicted to have this weekend.

Parisienne Market Carrots

Orchard Baby corn

Golden Delicious apple tree, first year.

Fuji apple tree, first year.

Oregon Spring determinate heirloom tomato

Purple Emporer nasturtiums

Concord grape vine, these have always been container grown until this year. The pair of vines are 8 years old and this will be their first year in a container with no bottom. We've put them into their permanent spot.

The other Concord grape vine.

On the very top tier, I seeded in Snow Princess calendula. The next tier down is Bright Lights cosmos and the bottom, I seeded in Love in A Mist. On the bottom two tiers on the backside I seeded in Italian giant parsley.

Another view of the for-fun flowers I'm growing.

Peppers and eggplants. I have 2 Sweet Italian peppers, 1 Jimmy Nardello sweet pepper, a Black Beauty eggplant and a Casper (white) eggplant. None them are impressing me all that much.

Pretty tomatoes, all in a row, on their trellis.

The walkway behind our outdoor living room.

Flood pole beans

French lavender. I use it in culinary applications.

Another view of that back walkway.

A view up through the peas.

Spring Blush peas

I like taking photos of peas.

A view, through the fence, of the back garden.

My raised bed garden aka the front garden.

Cucamelons

My oddities corner. I have Purple Podded pole beans, Jerusalem artichokes, nasturtiums and rosemary.

On the top are Blooming Prairie bush beans. They are act more like a half-runner and they have grabbed onto the fence to grow up. Under those are Dragon Tongue bush beans. Dragon Tongue are a staple in our garden. On the bottom, I have a nasturtium and a Contender bush bean. 

And even more peas!

Egyptian Walking onions that are starting to propagate aka "walk".

Jibai Shimoshirazu cucumber

I can't remember if this is the pink or the white dandelion. I'm growing both of them.

In thi sbed, I have some Red Romaine lettuce, mixed Bachelor Buttons and Strawberry Spinach.

There are 3 types of beets in here: Chioggia, Yellow Mangel and Golden and I also have some Longue Rouge Sang carrots seeded in. The carrots are a French heirloom variety and are super colorful.

In this bed, I have cilantro, Sword lettuce and I just planted some sprouting garlic to see what it will do.

Cilantro and Sword Lettuce

This is my Pink Plume celery and Longue Rouge Sang carrot bed.

In this bed, I have Lacinato (Dinosaur) kale, Drunk Woman Frizzy Head lettuce, a few Parisienne Market carrots and fenugreek.

Fenugreek

Lemongrass

A whole lotta onions goin' on in here!

One of the colored dandelions

Spaghetti squash. My neighbor, apparently, doesn't realize that they put tags into the starter plants for a reason and she thought she was buying zucchini. I'm more than happy to grow (and enjoy) her mistakes.

Tanya's Pink Pod and Maxibel bush beans

In the front are Peppermint Stick zinnias and behind those are collard greens.

In front of the potatoes, I have 2 big pots of Chioggia beets. One of them, I seeded in Bouquet dill as a companion plant. In the other, I added purple coneflowers as the friend. These are experiments. I don't know if they jive or not.

These potatoes will be ready to harvest in a few short weeks. I have 3 bags of Kennebec reds (a north eastern variety) and 2 bags of Red Gold. I also have 4 bags of Yukon Gold growing elsewhere.

Red and Green Yard Long beans. These will go up the trellis.

Baby spaghetti squash. I've been hand pollinating these to ensure that they produce. It's easy to tell female and male blooms. The female blooms have a small fruit behind them. The males are just on a stem. If the female doesn't get pollinated, the bloom will wither and die and the fruit will fall off.

Baby spaghetti squash.

They are growing like crazy!

Yukon Gold potatoes. Yellow potatoes always throw out purple flowers. Red potatoes and russets produce white flowers. When the plants are in the flowering stage, that's how you can tell that they are forming baby potatoes.

The supposed yellow zucchini that the neighbor thought she was getting when she bought the spaghetti squash. I'm not gonna lie. It looks like it's on it's last legs...and I could care less if it is. Zucchini is not one of my favorites and I'm ok with just buying one or two a week from the store.

Blue Beauty and Paul Robeson heirloom tomatoes. They are starting to perk up but I can't say as though I'd buy starter plants from the Master Gardeners again.
Maybe one of these days, I should look into getting my Master Gardener certification...
Any thoughts on that idea?