Back into the woods

hardening off peas and beansDone. With the help of two strapping lads (of the nephew variety, our favourite) we have cleared the east forest of wood.

It took most of the day to get the wood from forest floor and into the barn ready to dry out for winter.

I started the day, as usual, with hauling out the peas and broad beans for a spot of hardening off. It was drizzly today, but not freezing.  They do need a few more days  of exposure before I am ready to plant them out.

Meanwhile, back in the forest I did a lot less hefting and a lot more stick collecting. I now have a mountain of them ready for chipping. pea pole building

But my mind was on something a bit more creative. Pea supports.

I collected a lot of sticks from the forest with branching shapes, thinking I could use them to support the soon to be growng peas. But they don’t look right.  (I can remember when I first started gardening what on earth these ‘pea sticks’ were which people were forever pushing into beds to support growing peas. Were they spent peas? I had no idea.)

And now I know  They are just sticks.  And I am going to eschew them in my new look potager.I need something beefier.  I have cut the pea supports to size and tomorrow with the help of the boys, nail them together. Wish me luck.