Peas, Carrots and Parsnips

Two feet of snow this week - time to dig another path to the greenhouses! 

March is an important month for sowing cool weather seeds for a mid summer crop, so there is some pressure to get stuff in.  I have a row of early sown peas just coming up, but there can never be too many.  We eat the snow and sugar snaps in salads or straight off the vine.  The pod peas we consider special food as they are less prolific at this altitude.

I plant peas in the cool greenhouse; shading extends their flowering and cropping into late summer.  When the snow melts, I will plant a later crop in the garden beds.  I had sown a January cover crop of rye in the greenhouse and I simply turned the 5" purplish leaves into the soil.  Peas are planted 1/2" deep in three rows about 3" apart every way (I sow each row offset from the others to save room).  I always protect with a floating row cover in case mice and voles eat the tender shoots.

Peas
Mammoth Melting Snow - the earliest, very prolific and hardy and keeps cropping until it gets hot
Cascadia Snap - a small bushy sweet snap that did well last year when planted late and neglected
Sugarsnap Snap - our favorite, with the plump sugary pods that are just wonderful
Mr Big Pea - big pods with lots of peas that have a large pea floury flavor
Mayfair Pea - smaller bushy sweeter variety of pod pea.
I believe all pea vines need to be supported.  The bushy varieties will double their crop if they have something to climb on and will not get so many diseases.  I will talk about support suggestions later.

Peas and carrots are good companions, so I planted rows of carrots between the peas.  The peas shade the carrots a little but will be finished before the carrots are ready to crop.
Carrots
Scarlet Nantes - our favorite, very tasty, especially in the Fall
Red Cored Chantenay - a pretty-looking tasty variety that keeps well over the winter
Atomic Red - did OK last year but not a favorite
St Valery - new this year
Yaya - new this year, love the name!
Danvers Half Long - good reliable variety

Parsnips
I always plant parsnips though they can be tricky to get started; the seeds are very slow to germinate.  Harris Model is a so-so variety but often the only one available.  I found a very nice Biodynamic variety some time ago (forgot the name) and am planting my own seeds from it.  Parsnips are planted like chard and beets - 3 seeds about 3" - 4" apart and then thin out the weaker plants.