My peas  I just checked the label  are Mayfair shell peas. For some reason, I like peas, flowers, and leaves, but have never developed a taste for the pods. Voles plagued my garden for a couple of years straight and my adventures with them were a running joke among my co-workers. They dug under and bit through (!) the galvanized metal hardware cloth I trenched in ... and they would go up to my mature pea plants and sever them at the base, when not gnawing through brassicas or scarfing down seedlings. I tried setting out traps, caught dozens, and still they kept coming. So I did what any sensible, pea-loving person would do. At the end of last summer I dug a one-foot square trench around the entire garden (that's 200 cubic feet, or more than 7 yards, of excavated sod, soil, and subsoil) and buried a ¼" mesh of 1/16" diameter stainless steel a foot down, a foot out, and two feet above ground, with 4' of deer fence above that. I had the mesh cut into 4' à 20' segments, and each segment weighed 85 pounds ... so that's about half a ton of steel vs. the incisors of the local voles. Worked with a helper to dig the trench, bend the panels of steel, lift them into the trench, and tie them together. Topped them with lengths of "H" channel from Lowe's, into which we inserted 4' tall galvanized deer fence. And that is how I made my garden vole-freeÂ.

Lots of rain here, too. But I'm still grateful for it, we have been at drought or near-drought conditions for 6 of the past seven years. If it keeps coming down, I won't have much of a garden, but the watertable might finally get replenished. DH's lettuce has been doing just fine in the coldbed, although an invasion of slugs made a lot of leaves disappear. I reminded him to put the coffee grounds around the plants, so the new leaves are now growing perfect. He has a mental glitch about the coffee, applying after a slug attack and then not again until another invasion and another reminder. The peas are starting to bloom. The potatoes are growing faster than I can keep the stems covered. No cabbage, kale, or cauliflower. These normally are grown by DH and this year he didn't start any seeds, and it's been too wet to seed directly. I guess I'll see if any of the local nurseries have cabbage plants. It feels strange to be in the middle of May and most of the garden still looks like winter. It's just been too wet to get it ready for the seedlings.

OK everyone that emailed me so far will get seeds. There are no more after that...sheesh, I didn't think so many people would want some! Anyway, no SASE or postage necessary. My Addy will be on the return address and if you have something you would like to share with me that would be nice. I think sending postage, paying the postage to send it is kinda silly, so If ya got something to share or surprise me with GREAT. If not, that's ok too, I would rather know the seeds are going to good use for flower lovers than worring about 39 cents. Cliff, we already got our swap going! Please give me about a week or so because I thought I had more ripe pods than I actually have and I would prefer to do a mass mailing. I will give ya all a heads up when the seeds go out. This plant is actually one of Dennis' favs. he loves the bright blue flowers peeking though our kitchen window.

You are right about pollinators happy. My neighbor on the back raises bees. The bees come to eat at my garden a lot, I don't mind a bit, we both benefit (and the bees!). In any case, i do not doubt that we have pollinators. The strange thing to me is that the snow peas appear to all have come out true to their parents. This past weekend I examined their flowers and could not tell them apart (the snow pea flowers and the sugar snap flowers). One thing I noticed different is the maturity dates, the sugar snaps are latter. Their flowers look like a replica of one another, so why only one crossed? did the bees only go for the sweetest one? but no, they must have pollen from both in order to cross them. Hmmmm.......pea mystery. The lesson to me is: interplant snow peas if you want, the seed will probably come true. However, if you want to save seeds from the sugar snaps, plant them separately! I saw that I still have some of the original seed, so I am planting them on their own trellis next winter. It is too late for us to plant peas now.