Last spring I decided it was time for me to get down to the heart of the matter when it comes to snap peas, variety and the question about adding inoculant at planting time or not…  But before I get into my findings of a year ago there’s obviously a small disclaimer here: these results are for my soil conditions, my planting techniques and the very wet year last year.

So with that out of the way – I have a rather sandy soil that actually holds a lot of water (yes – should not be – but it is).  I also have lots of naturally growing white clover all over the place…  so that suggests my soil is already rife with N-fixing bacteria (although they are different spp.).    But – on to the results.

Last spring I planted 4 distinct test patches: classic Sugar Snap and the more resistant Super Sugar Snap – both with and without inoculant.  Both of these seeds were untreated as it seems treated seeds and inoculant are intuitively opposed to each other (a lot of treatment is anti-fungal not bacterial so this statement depends on treatment) .  I also planted a patch of treated Sugar Snap (Thiram as the treatment – a fungicide).

So what did I discover?  Well – first and foremost you stand there after you plant your seeds and wait…  and the seeds treated with thiram emerged sooner and in greater numbers.  What I should have added to the test was treated + inoculant as thiram has no effect on Rhizobia nodulation¹.  I also noted that after you watch these guys grow until late June – the “more disease resistant” crop of the Super Sugar Snap fellows were not so “super” in terms of production.  They had lots of good growth but just didn’t set peas like Sugar Snap.

Now – the last column is important to note – we had a wicked wet spring and summer last year.  Somewhere in June we got 5″ of rain in a 24 hour period…  so these peas had to deal with drenching rains and cool damp disease conditions.  Here – it was very clear that the Super Sugar Snap peas that had been inoculated did the best (likely because they could uptake more nutrients - had more root surface area to get oxygen from the flooded soils and have the bred in disease resistance).

So what am I going to do this year with my data and insight?  Well – if you read here – I’m going to do a face-off between two different untreated seeds and see how things grow.  Ideally – I’d be planting thiram treated Sugar Snap peas – but I didn’t want to order just those from one place and pay all that shipping…  so I bought what I could and we will watch for the outcome.

There are several obstacles challenges in consistently providing fresh and yummy veggies to people (or even yourself in your own garden), aside from disease, weeds, deer, weather and everything else…  One of the most daunting challenges is ensuring that you have a steady supply of veggies throughout the season.  And the very honest fact of the matter is – the produce section of your local store isn’t exactly “like nature” at all.

So – one of the best tools we have when growing (because we control it completely) is to watch the starting times of seeds and to pay attention to the length of time it takes for a plant (or seed) from when it’s planted to when it’s “mature” for harvesting.  And – again – unlike the bin of greens in the produce department in the middle of January – we don’t get to spray the plants with a preservative to make a crop that’s ready one week early “last” until we want to bring it to market the next week…  we don’t get to simply “source” our plants from another region or country…  we don’t get to turn off the weather…  and we sure can’t turn up or down the heat!

Now – in a perfect world we could calculate all those dates – start all the plants when we need to – and sit back…  but, if you have ever been to a farmers market over the course of a summer you will see how each farm has different things that are ready at different times…  the soil – the weather and all the other things you can and sometimes CAN’T think of can conspire to move those dates around.  All we really can do is plan – plant a plan – and build into that plan buffers that can hopefully absorb all the miraculous challenges nature sometimes throws at us.

And if you are wondering – here I’m starting Celeriac – also known as celery root – it’s AWESOME when mashed up with potatoes. Off to my right there are several other trays full of 6 packs like what’s in front of me – FULL of the same.

I kinda scooped this post with my tweet this morning here. I admit it – I have been having some very seedy thoughts lately… Likely because that magical “8-10 weeks before transplant” wording on the outside of several packets is coming to pass… it really is only 8-10 weeks before June 1! Which means – it’s time to start planting the seeds in the basement. Which I have been doing – sorta.
The onion seeds and the celery root seeds are going. Over the next week or so I’ll start some of the other guys that take a long time and then by April 1 I’ll have just about everything that can’t be sown directly in the ground going.
That of course means I’ll need a trip or two to the garden centers to get get the potting soil… and some additional pots and trays… All those extra seeds too – the ones you knew you were not going to grow but you find at the store and just can see life going on without them!

At any rate – these are the plans on and off over the next several weeks – more pots – more plants – more soil – more work. And before you know it – this lone tray will be surrounded by his (it’s) closest friends of the green variety.

(now – if only I could hook the seedlings up to Twitter – like this)