Every year I have more seeds, seedlings and volunteer sprouts than usable garden space. Some simply don’t get planted while others become experiments in patio container gardening. I like to think of it as “Research for Readers” (and apartment dwelling friends). But to be perfectly honest, I am dying to get my hands dirty by mid-march. Planting in patio pots prevents me from digging in the garden too early. (Not to mention, our patio tile is super fugly and I try to distract guest from the Menards 69¢ special with planters full of edibles and blooms).

Luckily, I’ve had more successes than disappointments. Greens, peppers and herbs — my biggest surprise last year was a tower of snap peas (Greengirl + Twine = Danger). I thought the fragile sprouts would shrivel in the slightest breeze, but the shoots quickly intertwined and were soon hardy enough to withstand a thunderstorm (Another advantage to planting in patio pots: A responsible gardener can move her plants out of unseasonable weather).

This year, I planted my snap pea tower in mid-April. The sprouts were a little sluggish at first, but they quickly climbed the twine.

Snap peas on May 17 (left) and snap peas in May 28 (right)

Then, this weekend I had my very first snap pea blooms!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 5th, 2007 at 6:56 am and is filed under Beans + Peas, Container gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.