SENTINEL WATCH April 30, 2007 Issue

DON'T GIVE UP ON THE PEAS

ELAINE FOLLIS

WHATEVER THE SEASON, renewal and freshness are always welcome arrivals in consciousness. I learn many lessons in my garden, especially at this time of year. While I'm certainly no expert, I am persistent, and I pay close attention to what's going on around me.

Some seedlings I start indoors, weeks before it's warm enough for me to put them outside. A few varieties, however, stipulate: Sow direct. And so I do, just as soon as the last hard frost releases the earth from its grip.

Last year, I put in some seeds in late March, during a promising stretch of warm, sunny weather. Within two weeks, tiny morning glories and nasturtiums had poked their heads through the soil. Bachelor's buttons also came up. But not the sweet peas. Each week I checked: nothing. It was April, then May, and June was almost upon us. Still nothing. I began to think the seed packet must have been bad.