Peas don't call me the fool.... oh but maybe I am - in pictures!

Happy April Fool's Day! Unfortunately I get to celebrate April Fool's by showing you the foolish thing I did last night.

Remember my Gutter Peas?

Last night was finally time to transplant them. It started off well. First I hardened them off in the hoophouse for the past couple of days (very cold days).

Then last evening I constructed a quick PVC trellis and dug a trench where the gutter peas would be planted. 

I measured how deep and wide the trench should be with an empty piece of gutter. I'm still doing fine so far.

Next comes the exciting part where I flawlessly and gracefully slide the planted peas out of the gutter. You know, the part where the whole mass slides out in one solid piece and lands perfectly in the trench?

I removed the cardboard ends and was ready. Lifted up the gutter at an angle and slide baby slide!

And next comes the beauty shot. Here is what the peas looked like after they slid out of the gutter perfectly:

Oh no! This of course is the part where I became the April fool. My great idea didn't work very well. On the bright side, part of the peas almost stayed in place though.

So what went wrong with my gutter peas?

I think they were too dry. When you harden off seedlings, you don't water them like you did inside under lights. I should have moistened the whole gutter before sliding out the peas.

So all that was left to do was try to tuck the pea plants back in the bed, water them, attach the trellis netting and hope for the best.

Of course I'm not all that hopeful. The whole idea behind planting them in a gutter and sliding them out intact is so as to not disturb the roots. As you saw a few pictures ago, the pea plants completely popped out and exposed the roots all together. Just in case these peas do live, I covered the trellis with plastic to protect them on their first cold night.

You know, if they do bounce back it will mean that I could just sow the pea seeds in peat pots or soil blocks and transplant them individually. All the garden books say you can't do that. Maybe that's what I'll try next. What's the worse that could happen? It doesn't work and I look foolish. Oh, peas no.

Happy April 1st

Comments

[Dee @ Start Dreaming]

I remember a few years back (before I learned what could be started inside and what couldn't) that I started pea plants indoors. They did okay. I did not plant as many as I should have though so that led to a low production of peas.

They did start inside super fast and moved outside somewhat okay. I was worried about them for awhile though because they did shock hard. (Even with hardening off)