It’s January in Austin and already time to plant early spring crops. I took advantage of the tomato trellis that I used last year to support this year’s snap peas.
While cleaning out the bed, I worked around a lemon balm plant.
I’m incorporating some perennial herbs into my raised vegetable beds. This lemon balm needs to be cut back to encourage fresh new growth.
Cutting the lemon balm back to about four inches.
Once I got the bed cleaned out, I added a couple of buckets of compost and created furrows for the peas.
Sowing the pea seeds about two inches apart. This year I’m trying a variety called Amish Snap available from Seed Savers Exchange.
I use the CobraHead Long Handle to make the furrow for the pea seeds and also to pull the soil over the seeds and then firmly tamp the soil above the seeds.
I wanted to take advantage of the space in the center of the bed, so I transplanted the Chinese Kale that I had started indoors a few weeks ago. Also known as Kailaan, I’m growing a variety available from Botanical Interests.
The Amish Snap Peas are planted on the outside of the trellis and the Chinese Kale on the inside. Backwards? Yes. But the trellis structure was already in place.
The next project: prepare a space for Collard Greens and Mustard Greens. The seedlings are almost ready to transplant.
These collard seedlings will be transplanted into the garden soon.