Peas for canning

[Mickey328]

LOL, I knew it would be lots, but never dreamed it'd be THAT many! That's why I've never really tried it before...don't think we even have the space to put in so many plants. Still, even if we get enough for a few pints...some is better than none, right?

I don't pay much attention to dates with my canned goods either...as long as it's got a good seal and smells fine when opened we eat it.

 

[897tgigvib]

If ya trellis your peas right, you'd be surprised how thick you can plant them. I had a veritable jungle of them last year! They do like their drainable soil with lots of cool early season growing and moisture, not even one dry day. They love composty soil!

 

[baymule]

Ha! I was wondering if one of our southerners would be thinking cowpeas! Zippers, whipporwills, black eye, or purple hull.

They sure do make a flavorful chile! Me like!

And crowder, stick-ups, and the list goes on and on. What is funny is to see them listed in the catalogs as COWPEAS! We don't feed them top the COWS!!!!!

And Marshall, we don't put peas in chili. We might drain the radiator in the pot, load it up with hot peppers that would burn a hole in the hood of a truck, but no peas.

 

[baymule]

LOL, baymule...and if I say "potato" I bet you think the sweet variety too, huh?

I love to add all sorts of different beans to my chili...you name it, whatever I have around goes in there...yum!

Actually I think "taters" We have 3 distinct varieties in the south. Red skinned white potatoes are called new potatoes, brown skinned white potatoes are Irish potatoes and then of course sweet potatoes. And any good southern cook has a dozen recepies up her/his sleeve for sweet taters!

 

[Mickey328]

Must be a difference even between states...friends of ours from the gulf area of Louisianna called all spuds except sweet ones "Irish" LOL Do you differentiate between sweet potatoes and yams?

I'll have to try more sweet potato recipes...all I've ever done with 'em is bake 'em or boil and mash 'em.

 

[897tgigvib]

Bay, our old neighbor was from Amarillo way, (that's about 7 eastern states away from your part of Texas I think), and he used them in his chile. Also, if remembering right, he called them...gotta get the pronunciation right... blackahh'd cahybeenz. Mmmm, and remembering right, this is from the early '60's, he made 2 kinds of chile. One kind was only for him and dad and some of the neighbor men, the other kind was for the rest of us kids and the wiminfolk. coming to think on it now, maybe they were sheltering me too much when I was 6

Lol!

But, mom did a good imitation of it over the years...the kids and wiminfolk version i mean, but she used more chunks of tomatoes and left out the okry bits.

 

[ducks4you]

If ya trellis your peas right, you'd be surprised how thick you can plant them. I had a veritable jungle of them last year! They do like their drainable soil with lots of cool early season growing and moisture, not even one dry day. They love composty soil!

How do YOU trellis?

 

[897tgigvib]

Last year I just used my old wire fencing tomato cages which worked but was actually kind of goofy. Made things like a jungle to reach in for picking.

This year I'm opening them up and staking them down.

A short roll of 4' cheap fencing, cut with lineman pliers into the length you need, wrassled straight, and then placed on the rows before planting is one good way. Use some sticks kind of weaved through, and pounded down to hold them up. Depending on your variety. My purple podded ones can get 5 foot.

Everyone here probably has a different way. Ingenuitize and conglomerate from everyone's plan
Peas don't do the wrap themselves around thing that beans do. Peas have tendrils that grab ahold while the shoot grows up, then makes more tendrils to repeat that.

 

[Mickey328]

One of the members of our little sustainable group on FB posted a really neat idea. Two old bike wheels, with a pole (looked like metal conduit to me). Run the pole through the wheels, spacing them about 5 or 6 feet apart and then drive the pole into the ground far enough to make it sturdy. Then use twine of your choice to string between the two wheels. Plant around the bottom wheel, which rests on the ground. It makes a nice, neat round trellis. If we can scrounge some wheels, I think we'll give it a try this year.