Garden updates

Last year I planted peas, but they never did much; I got maybe a pod or two here and there.  I planted a lot more this year, spaced the way my deep-bed gardening book said to, with netting so they would have something better to climb on.  This is what I picked tonight:

I got about enough for two people; my husband shelled and steamed them for supper tonight:

He makes the best steak.

Besides picking peas, I played with fire again:

This is all that's left of the shrubs my dad cut down for me last summer.  There was about eight times as much to start.  This has been one of my biggest motivations for playing with fire so far this summer; I wanted it gone from behind the garage.  And, well, I like to play with fire.

A few branches left.

Did I mention that I built a sifting frame?  It's a simple one; I just screwed together 2"x2" newels and tacked (with U-tacks) 1/4" hardware cloth to it, then added a stop on one end to keep it from sliding off the wheel barrow.

2'x3' sifting frame.

It works pretty well; I did some remediation on the patch where the lettuce tonight was before I reseeded it, and I took out five gallons of rocks.  Well, rocks and the occasional random weird plastic or metal bit.  I know the guy who lived here before us gardened, because the neighbors were impressed with his, so I'm just surprised at how many rocks there are in the soil.

Now seeded with lettuces, a little more mesclun mix, spinach, and the heirloom green bean seeds my mom gave me at Christmas that I had lost but finally found.

You can see in the upper corner of that last picture that I have a few tennis ball lettuces left; I picked three tonight, so hopefully they'll keep till next week.  The salad spinner we got at Ikea has turned out to be quite handy!

There are a lot more peas coming on, half a dozen jalapenos are about half-grown, and a few baby green beans starting.  Soon, tasty plants.  Soon.