The beans, peas and lettuce have just sprouted. I planted them seven days ago.
I’m growing a pretty heirloom pea called ‘Golden Podded Pea’, the seeds of which come to us, apparently, from an Indian market. I’ve never grown peas myself before but I do remember picking them, when I was about six, from the jungle of a veggie patch my parents nurtured in the scorching north west of New South Wales. Going by the photos in my seed catalogue, the peas have a magenta and mauve flower, and, true to their name, golden yellow pods: a celebration of composite colours. Perhaps I should serve them (the pods can be eaten raw) with eggplant, to celebrate the colour scheme.
The lettuce (‘Australian Yellow Leaf’) and the beans (‘Italian Romano’) are also heirloom varieties. (‘Heirloom’ means they are different to the standard genetically modified types we buy off the shelf in Coles. By planting these seeds, I’m helping to preserve a few of the thousands of heirloom vegetables that may otherwise disappear altogether, from disuse).
I’ll admit that my preparation for the task was wrought with hesitation. Even though I laid out the seed packets on my desk, writing in pencil on each where in the garden they should be planted – cross-referencing my plans with numerous books and guides – I stalled at the planting. I felt the weight of responsibility to do the right thing by each seed. And I also felt an ominous thought hovering near the plastic yoghurt container where I stored my seeds, whenever I neared: they may not sprout. But the thought of my own hard-earned crop hovered closer and my seeds have turned into seedlings.
Be careful not to over-water your peas and beans, say Fabian Capomolla and Mat Pember in The Little Veggie Patch Co. or they may rot before they make it to the surface. I resisted splashing some their way but was secretly glad for the rain that fell yesterday. And now we have Lift Off. I’ve calculated that we’ll be eating the beans and lettuce mid November, the peas on Christmas Day. A good yield means we could be celebrating Christmas with home grown veggies.
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