planting peas

Sprouted peas under the trellis

Do you remember the expression “mind your Ps and Qs?” A quick wiki search lead to several possible origins, each one plausible and fascinating.

One explanation suggests that “Ps and Qs” is short for “pleases” and “thank-yous.” Young children would pronounce them as Ps and Qs. Here are a few more:

Another origin comes from English pubs and taverns of the seventeenth century. Bartenders would keep a watch on the alcohol consumption of the patrons; keeping an eye on the pints and quarts that were consumed. As a reminder to the patrons, the bartender would recommend they “mind their Ps and Qs”.

Another origin could be from sailors in the eighteenth century who were reminded to pay attention to their peas (pea coat) and queues (pony tail).

Another possible and viable theory is after the Norman Invasion of 1066 the courts, church, and establishment were becoming French-speaking and the English dialect of the 11th Century had no qs; so one must watch their usage in court or discourse with the French Norman conquers.

Another origin of the story of “mind your Ps and Qs” comes from early printing presses. Printers placed individual letters on a frame to print a page of text. The letters were reversed, making it easy to mistake lowercase ps and qs in setting the type. – Wikipedia

Where was I?

Oh yeah, peas…

I’m happy to report that under Mighty Mouse’s watchful eye, the garden peas are up! Hurray, hurray.

No squirrels over here.

I planted half the seeds, soaking them first for 48 hours to rehydrate them. I hold a reserve for what seems inevitable: the unceremonious removal by foraging squirrels. Apparently squirrels don’t like peas. Score!!!

Not only did several come up in the curb garden, but at least half a dozen sprouted as well among the annuals on the other side of the lawn. As the annuals go to seed, the climbing peas will take their place.

Sprouted peas in the annual garden

It’s a happy day in the garden when seeds sprout and neighbor’s beloved kitty stops by to mind the peas and schmooze.

The peas look okay

The irrigation is in working order.

Now scratch my ears!!!

Peas:

Last week I mentioned hedging my bets by starting a few seeds indoors. Once I consulted the seed packet I decided to direct-sow. I soaked half the seeds in water for 48 hours, then planted them directly outdoors. I saved the rest of the seed packet to replenish the inevitable casualties.

Looking left and right for squirrels, I surreptitiously pushed several seeds into the soil around the arbor. I planted the rest amongst the still-flowering annuals. With luck, they’ll all come up and produce lovely green vines along both sides of the sidewalk.

Carrots:

I have a lot of faith in the success of the carrots, since we planted starts instead of seeds. I say ‘we’ because this year I had help from several of Jazzy’s day care children next door. The older kids planted two each; I filled in later with the rest. Planting was fun, but the real hit: watering cans. I never met a youngster that didn’t like water.

Watering

I think they’ll get a kick out of watching the carrots grow. I’ve added a carrot countdown in the sidebar to the right so we have a general idea of harvest day. Hopefully each young gardener grows at least one or two carrots to take home.

Stay tuned!