i've actually had much better luck with peas (all kinds, including the flower sweet peas) by planting them fall until about now, allowing them to come up, leaving them lay on the ground and covering with leaves or reemay if necessary, which only happens if it's going below about 15. then when it's reliably more temperate (not below 25 or so), lift them up to their trellis or support and they'll go gangbusters. if you wait too late to plant, it gets hot here really fast in april or may (low 90's and 80's are common) and then they just don't have time to produce well before they want to quit. unless we have a protracted slow spring, which is rarely the case. thing is, our winter temps here are comparable to the spring temps up north. i've found this to be true for anything that's traditionally an early spring crop or cold tolerant up there- ie: cole crops, peas, spinach, lettuces, asian type greens, carrots, radishes, beets, chard, etc . so you're a-ok. that late frost last year was awful, and given the 80/90 degree temps a week or 2 ahead of it, there was really nothing that could be done to protect stuff. fortunately, tho late frosts aren't uncommon here, one of that severity is.

Over the years I have had many different insecticides. The vast majority of them have been tossed; while I have used just a tiny tiny fraction of the material treating plants. So, I am cautious and careful. To get rid of the backlog of dangerous and outdated items I filled two black plastic trashbags and hauled them up to the hazardous waste facility. I had to make an appointment and everything; but the disposal was free (thank you, current state law and San Mateo County). I felt really good after I had gotten rid of all those old toxic items; but, still needed something for each of my potential pests. My theory is that I need an appropriate treatment for each of the bugs that I am likely to get. Nothing works on everything anymore--the good old days of mega-powerful, mega-toxic treatments is long gone. So, for all those typical sucking insects I have Marathon. For insidious mites I have Avid. The hole in this theory then would be........(everyone, come on, in unison:)......thrips! I have heard great things about Conserve. But, before I heard about that one, I bought Knox-out, which was being discontinued. I had floral thrips on my outdoor growing streps last summer, and cleaned them up after two sprayings. Another reason for getting the Knox-out was that I have a couple of scale like infestations on some of my greenhouse plants and outdoors on my cacti. The inside pest is a dry white scale that gets onto orchids and bromeliads. Outside, the pest is a cactus spine scale (or mealie), that overwinters by making an unsightly white thingie on the spines. This spray, because it has residual action works to rid this pest. Since orchids are growing in bark, it would be difficult to get the Marathon into them. With the cactus the scale is on the spines, so I'm not sure how well Marathon would work on them though I am guessing that they have a more active phase when they are on the plant body, but I can't see them. I just remembered a fourth class of pests--catapillers and cabbage moth larvae, which eat holes in foliage and eat out the insides of flower buds before they open. For them, I use the bacillis spray (formerly sold as Di-pel). I guess I really don't deal with many fungal problems though--but I use Lysol on mildew. I think that covers just about everything.

About the only thing you can grow in a 2 foot by 2 foot area is lettuce. They should be spaced at least 6 to 8 inches apart. Strawberry plants are about the same size, but you would need 30 to 60 of them to have a regular supply of ripe berry's. P.S You can grow a bunch of other things like green onions or radishes in the same space. But that would require a custom built hydro system, not a store bought system.

It is easy so I still wonder how I messed up three previous batches? Maybe it was because it was too warm outside? I forgot to try mine last night - today I will. Funny thing, same thing happens when I make mayo. It only turns out every three to four attempts. Frustrating.