This year I purchased "dwarf" sugar snaps; supposedly the grow in a small bush and not the trailing vines. Well, they don't, and I've waited too long to give them a trellis. They are producing, but it's just a big, jumbled mess. Next year I think I'll stick with traditional snow peas and simply get someone to help me put up something for them to grow up on.
And above is my only cabbage that's getting close to an edible size. Of the five things I planted in March, the cabbage and snow peas are the only ones that survived.
Since I worked early voting, the rest of my garden became a hopeless mess. In desperation, I finally took the lawn mower to it, and put it on the lowest setting possible. The "farmer" who bought hay for the church kids hay ride last fall had still not emptied the straw from the trailer, so it's been out in the elements all winter. In other words, it's not good for eating nor bedding animals. BUT, it is good for bale farming. Bobby had read up on it online, and he decided it was worth a try and would be faster and easier than trying to get my tiller to work and prepping the garden again (especially since we had tomato plants given to us that were in need of immediate planting).
According to the instructions, you take either a weathered bale of straw (or you weather it by soaking it every day for 2 weeks, then fertilizing it for 3 days and giving it one day of rest), spread 2" of potting soil on top of it, then plant your seeds/seedlings. For tomato plants, you can place 2 plants per bale. For beans or peas, 10-12 seeds a bale. Squash or cucumbers, 2-4 seeds a bale. So I've planted a variety of peas/beans and some squash, as well as the tomato seedlings. They're supposed to be fertilized once a week, but three of the bales I used Miracle Grow soil which has a fertilizer included. I'm curious to see how this works. And as my brother-in-law said, if it doesn't work, I've added compost to my garden area for next year.
As for the seedlings we planted along the property line...the seedlings on our line have done well. I think only 2-3 haven't made it. The back row of magnolia seedlings for the property fence...they've not made it. Our little magnolia in front of the house is blooming and growing, and every time I see these flowers I'm reminded that I need to get some replacements. It's satisfying to see the growth in all the trees we planted 10 years ago. It's startling to realize anything I plant now won't see substantial growth until I'm 50. Yes, I've aged.
The crazy in me wonders if I took these pods not yet flowered and planted them, would I get a magnolia seedling?
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