Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Peas in winter



I was in the bedroom yesterday when a movement caught my eye, and made me look up. Through the skylight I could see green.

Que?

Peas! I had forgotten about the roof farm, and had not been up to check on it since leaving for South Africa 13 days earlier. I shot straight up. Within moments I had foraged a giant handful of tender, sappy, sweet pea shoots. And fava bean leaves, and purple mustard. In the middle (nearly) of December. Holy moly.


Some of the fava beans even had rows of their pretty white and chocolate flowers, so I left those stems, just to see what will happen. The stumps you see below are from the last time I picked tender shoots, a couple of weeks ago. 


And this was just weird. Nasturtiums. Still blooming.


The peas and fave went into a duck sausage sauce for pasta, wilted in at the last minute - a soft green incorporated salad, for those too tired to chew hard.



8 comments:

  1. The Direct TV flowers are doing beautifully as well! (had to say it, sorry!). :)

    The only thing living in my Jersey garden are my herbs, and it's only because we have them in the garage!
    xo

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    Replies
    1. Direct Tv is exceptionally hardy. But I think that one may be dead.

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  2. I think your roof terrace must be in a parallel universe - or else very sheltered.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The terrace is sheltered yes, but the roof is very exposed. Peas and fava beans and mustard greens like cold weather. Can't account for the nasturtiums, except to say that it has not been freezing!

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  3. one winter my pea plants were just getting bushy when we had a terrible and cold rain. after the storm i discovered that the slender delicate green stems (they look like green drawn glass) had broken and they were just heaps of broken stem where the pea plants lay. I was disgusted and swore them off. Didn't go out into the garden for some time - a week? 10 days? - can't remember...but when i did i couldn't believe my eyes: peas pods were everywhere. That day I picked a heaping colander of peas - so sweet and delicious. some times the peas like a storm

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  4. Ha! I still have strawberries ripening, if you can believe it. And lots and lots of winter greens + mesclun mix + kale. My stoop gets real warm during the day with lots of direct sun, so I'm not terribly surprised.

    The nasturtiums, though -- that's bonkers!

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  5. Definitely that parallel universe thing!

    ReplyDelete

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