It has been several years since we had a vegetable garden. But this year we want to get back to growing a bit of our food. The farmer markets are so good and I like supporting our local farmers but I also like the ability to walk into the yard and pick fresh produce.

Today I planted sugar snap peas. They are one of my favorite peas. I remember when then were first introduced in the late ’70s. One of the pathologists in the medical lab I was working at the time introduced me to the pea. We’ve grown them on and off ever since.

President’s Day is the traditional time to plant peas here in the NW. I never get my peas in that early but I’m not doing too bad this year getting them in just before St Patrick’s Day. We have an obelisk in a sunny spot so I planted them thickly around the base. I gave them a nice watering and now I’ll wait. I’ll want to watch out for slugs and cutworms also. I lost a crop one year to cutworms.

Package says they will be ready in 70 days.