I live in a rental, and although I have a large yard, the landowners did not approve my request to dig out a garden. So I have one small raised bed on the patio, a zucchini growing in a soil bag, some things planted in the flower bed, and a couple of 18 gallon totes with cukes and crooknecks.
My thing is that I really like to grow sugar snap peas, but I never seem to be able to plant enough to get as much return as I would like to have. We are a family of four, with my in-laws up the road who don't do much gardening anymore because of being older and having some health issues that cause a lot of exhaustion and so forth. Anyway, point being, I'd *really* like to be able to grow enough for a family of six rather than a family of four.
So then I had this idea that maybe I could plant the peas in containers along the fence. They'd still get plenty of sun there, and it would free up the flower beds. How deep would the containers need to be, ideally speaking? I wouldn't really be able to plant anything else along the fence. Would it count as plant rotation if I changed out the soil every year, or would I need to also physically move the containers to a different spot? Generally speaking, does this sound like a good idea, or a flawed idea? LOL!
Oh, also, because they're both legumes, I was going to also put the green beans there too. Peas along the fence, green beans in front, like I did in the flower bed.
>>pea patch
yeah. I've got 1000 sq ft plus and I still can never grow enough peas to keep the family pea pickin' garden munchers happy....
if you have some sort of trellis, peas can be sown very "thickly" - forget the "one pea per two inch" kind of stuff.
there is a theory floating around here one needs no support for peas - just plant multiple rows and they'll "support themselves" - never not had any kind of success with that theory....
I plant about 50 linear feet of peas, thickly, for two of us. eat fresh, freeze some for Thanksgiving, it's never enough. the more I plant, the more get eaten . . . .
yeah. I've got 1000 sq ft plus and I still can never grow enough peas to keep the family pea pickin' garden munchers happy....
if you have some sort of trellis, peas can be sown very "thickly" - forget the "one pea per two inch" kind of stuff.
there is a theory floating around here one needs no support for peas - just plant multiple rows and they'll "support themselves" - never not had any kind of success with that theory....
I plant about 50 linear feet of peas, thickly, for two of us. eat fresh, freeze some for Thanksgiving, it's never enough. the more I plant, the more get eaten . . . .
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jemsister
- Senior Member
- Posts: 248
- Joined: Mon May 27, 2013 7:15 pm
- Location: Western Washington, USA
I wondered about the spacing. Some of the pictures I've seen online are so thickly sown that you can't even see between them. I planted mine according to package directions, so they are not as thickly sown as I wish they were.
Trellising them shouldn't be a problem. I've got a lot of material for that.
I was considering just lining up soil bags along the fence and planting climbing peas in the back and bush beans in the front.
Trellising them shouldn't be a problem. I've got a lot of material for that.
I was considering just lining up soil bags along the fence and planting climbing peas in the back and bush beans in the front.