It must be noted for the sake of remembrance that on August 11, 2014, I pulled out what remained of this year’s pea plants. I could have let them go longer. These are the same peas that I sowed in April. 4 months ago!

This is by far the latest I have ever kept the same, continuous springtime pea crop in the ground. Most years they are yanked out in July, sometimes earlier or later depending on heat and rain. Often times I pull them out in time to plant a second crop of climbing beans in their place. By mid August those bean plants are well into their best producing days.

Not this year. This year was an odd duck. Winter was brutal. Spring came on slowly. Like most years I put my peas into the ground the moment the soil was soft enough to work with a spade. And then I waited. And waited. It was at least a month or more before they made the smallest movement. By then I’d pressed a few more into the ground, just to be sure. They took their time developing. It was early June before the pea plants were large enough to consider, and some time more before I enjoyed the first fresh flowers and pods.

Since then we’ve had many cool days and some shockingly cool night time temperatures that are not typical of summer in these parts. When it rains, the sky cracks open and lets loose a deluge. Not that I’m complaining. It batters many of the tallest plants for sure, but this is far, far, far more preferable than having no rain at all as I know that many of you are suffering through terrible drought. What it is, I suppose, is surprising. Fresh snap peas and beans, together on our plates, well into August. I am somewhat bewildered.

Lesson learned. I should not have waited so long while the pea seeds sat there doing nothing. Peas are an early crop, but they need the soil to warm up before they will germinate. Most years that happens steadily without intervention from me. This year was another reminder that you can’t rely on the same old way of doing things year-after-year. Things change, and what worked the last five seasons may not work in the sixth. I was too eager for spring and I plopped the seeds in without consideration. I could have warmed the soil before planting or covered the pea seeds with plastic bottle cloches when I realized that spring was going to come late.

Regardless of how long they took to develop, what I could not have anticipated were the cold nights and how long the plants would thrive as a result. In that sense I did adapt. I let the peas keep going for as long as they were still growing and healthy, bonus bean crop be damned. Instead, we ate peas galore, snacking on fresh pods, shoots, and flowers well past their time. I made pea pod wine. I am thinking about making a fresh pea hummus or a cool pea, mint, and cucumber soup. Peas in August offer all sorts of new possibilities. I’m not yet sure what I will make. Or what will happen next.