Hi Tom!

Your peas look great! I was going to ask you if you were growing the super magnolias and you just read my mind,lol.

I am growing them too and I like them and I just notice that the tendrils on mine are different than yours and different than the sugar snaps.

Here is some pictures that I took some weeks ago

Sugar snaps

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Your dinner looks yummy and lean, perfect for the new year!

Silvia

Those looked yummy. I never thought about roasting them. I just put in snow peas, it's been so warm here I was afraid to plant them yet.

I've all but giving up on my veggie garden, the racoons are tearing it up. We just got a BB gun, but haven't used it yet. I hate to, but I can't grow anything this way. They've torn the tomatoes right out of the pots.

Very cute. Where did you buy them?

Hi Kathy - Sorry to hear about your racoons problem, maybe you can grow something in your lanai like Tom does? And you can always grow sprouts indoors if you like them. But probably your best solution would be to get rid of the racoons asap.

Pat - I have to go and look where I bought them...

Tom - Did you see the purple cabbage looking thing by the peas? it is mini flower kale that grows like brussels sprouts, soon I will get the sprouts and then I will eat the big leaves too.

Silvia

I'm growing the same variety. I planted them in an eartbox with a yellow kind. I'm actually hoping they do cross pollinate because some woman in England crossed a yellow and purple pea and came up with a pretty red color! Maybe I'll even try to do it myself. I haven't cooked them yet so it's nice to know that they hold that color.

Silvia, I noticed the tendrils are different too. It makes it easier for me to tell the yellow vines from the purple.

Oh, Tom, thanks for showing us your pea pods and how you cook them. I had thought about growing the purple pea pods that you and Silvia are growing but I didn't. Now I'm regretting it. That was a wonderful idea to mix the two colors. I think that it looks better than each by itself. I had never baked pea pods before, but I surely will in the future.

Kathy, Sorry to hear that you are giving up on a garden but it does sound like you have a tough problem to deal with.

Silvia, I was noticing the beautiful purple plant in the raised bed photo. Glad that you told us what it is. Hopefully you will show us the sprouts on the stem when they form. Stunning plant!

Hi Amber! I am glad to hear from you and that you are growing the purple snap peas, yours are pretty and tall. This morning I went to pick some peas and the ones on top I could not reach so I took outside a small ladder to pick them up before they are too mature.

Christine - They are already forming the flower sprouts, I am looking forward to eat them, another plus on this plant is that has absolutely no bugs and never been sprayed with anything.

Snap peas are very tasty, purple and green. I harvested some this morning.

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And made them for lunch, if any of you have not tried wild rice from MN, you should. But not the farmed one, get the one that native americans have been harvesting for a long time, the smell and taste are so good! And I am still getting tomatoes.:)

Silvia

Amber - It appears that it is harvest time for you too!

Looks like a nice lunch Silvia. I'm still ripening tomatoes picked just before the freeze, in a paper bag. Mine are all red, not so colorful as yours.

Can you give us a little more information on how to find this native wild rice? I have been really enjoying purple sticky rice (from Williams-Sonoma) and black rice (from Whole Foods). I like wild rice too. I'm sure that I would like the one that you had for lunch.

Christine

Your purple kale plant is pretty definitely in the brassica napus family from the look of it, the so-called russian kales as well as rutabaga. I didn't know that they had created a cultivar with a brussel-sprout type growth habit, that would be nifty.

Silvia - Those tendrils are definitely different, I started mine too early, too warm, or it might just be my humidity since they are only 8' from the water/lake :-( Those are so tall, how do you keep them from breaking over? I get so much wind here off the lake that the tops would be toast if they got that tall.

You know how I like purple in fruit; I can't wait to see how that kale turns out.

Kathy - You'll love them roasted, I like them rather al dente with a little sea salt :-) Sorry to hear about your raccoon problems, like Silvia I've had virtually no bugs and no critters. I would not consider bringing tomato plants inside the pool cage as both the squirrels and raccoons would eat/break through the screens to get to them. I only grow parthenocarpic cucumbers inside the pool cage as the critters have no interest in them and I can control pickleworm with little to no spraying.

Pat - Sorry about misstating the name, it's Sugar Magnolia.

Amber - Great looking plants! I've never grow snow peas but this year I picked out a yellow variety and it's growing 3' from the trellis with the purple sugar snaps, but the seeds are also the last in my fall succession and just starting to flower now :-( Sure would be nice to see a different color on either :-)

Christine - You'll love them when you try them, you know I'm a sucker for any vegetable that is NOT the traditional color :-) They can be either baked or broiled but the trick is to NOT over cook them or they will dehydrate and flatten out.

Silvia - Beautiful presentation with the tomatoes! You know I'm a simple fellow, garnish will never be my strong point :-(

I Pulled out 25 of my 28 tomato plants last weekend and potted up my seedlings to set in the garden this weekend since it's a three-day weekend and I can watch them to make sure they don't get scorched. I gave away about 100lbs of red and green tomatoes this week, this is what I have left.

Other than these, which I picked tonight. The three plants I left were two new surprises this year that are strong and still very productive, Amy's Sugar Gem, and Silvia's Smarty F1. Smarty F1 has definitely become my favorite red grape, I'd swear it's been crossed with Everglades, it's put out at least 500 fruit, Nugget crapped out last week and probably only put out 200 fruit.

Tom

This post was edited by tomncath on Tue, Jan 15, 13 at 19:29

Christine - I got the wild rice as a gift and it is very different from any rice that I tried, I have all sorts of different colors and varieties of rice. When I am finish with the wild rice, I will start to look for sources...

Pat - The kale is very tasty on its own but the novelty are going to be the flower sprouts.

Tom - Great looking tomato harvest! I am hoping that I can finish eating mine soon, the new season is almost here and I have to take care of the seedlings.
I agree with you about the Smarty, it is my favorite too, it is always pumping tomatoes.
This season I am growing for the first time a Greek tomato that my friend shared the seeds with me, everyone that tried said is very productive and tasty, let's see how it does for me and the community garden.
The strong tendrils on the purple pea are keeping them tall, this morning I needed a tall man to harvest,lol. I was having problems even with the small ladder because I couldn't step on the lettuce. On the other hand the other regular snap peas are bended. I planted 2 containers of peas in a pot for Tiny my dog, he eats the peas and the tendrils. I told him those are his and leave mine alone but today I saw him looking up at the other peas and thinking...I put veggies for them at dinner time anyway.:)

Silvia

Oh I must try growing those purple sugar snaps. Where do you buy the seeds? I know I will need to grow them very late in the fall, but boy-o-boy I must try! They look yummy.

Sharbear, here is the source but unfortunately they are not in stock till 2014

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: purple podded peas