“Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.”--Robert Frost, “Putting in the Seed”
In the latest issue of Gardens Illustrated, there is an article titled “Tools of the Trade,” whichasks gardeners to name the tool that is most important to them. Fergus Garrett, head gardener at Great Dixter in England, responded: “Boards…total protection comes from boards. These spread your weight and allow access…without putting too much pressure on the ground.” I need to follow his advice. I am guilty of squelching through the garden when it is still a muddy quagmire. After seeing snow-free soil, enthusiasm overrules my brain, and believing I can plant some early seeds, I enter the beds only to have my boots sink with a sucking sound.
After some drying out and with the use of boards to prevent compacting the soil, it is time to plant. Here in Ashfield, we can’t follow the old saying about peas, “plant by St. Patrick’s Day; harvest by the Fourth of July.” Our gardens are either covered in snow or frozen solid in mid-March. Even planting in early April can result in failure. Last year, a week-long deluge of rainrotted my newly sown peas before they sprouted.
The field pea, Pisum sativa, is one of the first plants grown by humans. There is evidence of cultivated peas as far back as 9750 BC in southeast Asia. Peas unearthed in Iraq have been dated to 7000 BC. By 300 BC, vendors in the streets of Athens sold hot pea soup. A Roman cookbook from 25 BC contained nine recipes with dried peas. By 1300 AD, Italians cultivated tiny peas, piselli novelli, for eating fresh, not dried. When Catherine de Medici married Henry II of France, she brought these peas with her, which became the new petit pois vogue in France.
Snow peas, with flattened edible pods, have been popular in Chinese cuisine for centuries. Variations of snap peas have also been grown, but it wasn’t until the late 1960’s that a commercially popular variety was developed. Calvin Lamborn, a breeder of peas, was trying to improve snow peas and accidentally created the sugar snap pea. Now as popular as shelling peas,they are a treat to snack on while working in the garden.
Planting peas is an event that marks the real start of the growing season. In rich, limed soil, rows are hoed and the seed is deposited. Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd observed that peas should be“very firmly planted, and perhaps nothing is better than a foot newly naked to the warmth of spring and the feel of the living earth.”
There is more that can be planted early. The brassicas, or cole crops, are a large family that includes cabbage, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi. The health benefits claimed for eating brassicas might make one assume that immortality will result. Anti-oxidants, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, lipid-lowering characteristics are all here, along with bountiful vitamins and minerals.
Humans aren’t the only creatures that eat the brassicas. You know that they are the first crops to disappear if you have ever had a woodchuck invade your vegetable garden. Those charming white butterflies that flutter by as you are weeding are Pieris rapae, the cabbage butterfly. They lay their eggs on the underside of brassica leaves and hatch into green caterpillars that chew the foliage. Wood ashes sprinkled on the leaves help to deter them. A bacterium, Bacillus thuringensis, can be sprayed on the plants to eliminate the pests. Cutworms, the larvae of a number of moths, are nocturnal feeders and enjoy cutting through the stems of young plants. The herb tansy is said to keep them away if planted nearby. Sprinkling eggshells, coffee grounds, or diatomaceous earth (ground siliceous sedimentary rock) around each plant will deter the cutworms. Clubroot, Plasmodiophora brassicae, is a virulent fungus that causes roots to become swollen and misshaped, and the plants to be stunted. Massive doses of lime will change the pH in the soil and keep clubroot under control.
Arugula and mustard greens, peppery additions to the table, are able to withstand early April frosts, as well. Arugula can germinate within two days, assuring the gardener that spring is truly here. Many annual flower seeds can be sown when the snow melts. Calendulas, bachelor buttons, nigella, poppies, and larkspur are quite hardy and stand up to late frosts. Lay down your boards. Stay off the mud. Start putting in the seed.
How love burns through the Putting in the Seed
On through the watching for that early birth
When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
The sturdy seedling with arched body comes
Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.
Robert Frost, from “Putting in the Seed”
April 2019