The Errant Crowder Peas!

Michael and I were so careful about our placement of the Crowder Pea seeds in the garden.  We made sure that they were spaced just the right distance apart and right down the middle of the row.  Pop would have been proud!  He would always tell us when we were planting.."Make sure you get them in the row and plant them far enough apart....not too far but far enough!"  I am not sure how I was to interpret that last part but I obviously did pretty fair spacing the seeds as I was assigned that job more than I care to tell!  Those words always ring through my head whenever I am planting a row of seeds.."plant them far enough apart..not too far but far enough!"  I actually repeated this order to Michael as he was sowing the seeds!   Later, when the seeds sprouted, I was quite pleased with our nice, neat rows!  The seeds were spaced uniformly in the five rows!

Today when I was out and about, I inspected the pea plants.  Sure enough there are a goodly number of peas that should be ripe in a day or so.  The pea plants have flourished and are bearing well.  One thing that puzzles me a tad is the fact that although we planted "bush peas" these have long vines.  They are covering everything from each other to the tops of the peach trees!  I scratched my head as I pondered just how we were to pick the ones in the tops of the fruit trees!  Those will require either a ladder or some fancy maneuvering of the vines.  As matter of fact, I was still thinking of possible pea-picking-methods when I rounded the house and made my way into the Rose Garden.  Then the conundrum!

On top of the rose arbor, I noticed a vine.  At first, I thought that a wayward Morning Glory or Moonflower had decided to use the arbor for support.  As I drew near, I began to have my doubts that this was either.  Something made me stare long and hard at the vines on top of the seven foot tall arbor. Those sure did not look like Morning Glories nor did they resemble Moonflowers...THOSE are PEAS!!!  Somehow, a pea plant came up in amongst the roses!  There on top of the arbor were peas just waiting to ripen and be picked!  How in the world am I supposed to pick those?  And to think, I was having doubts about picking the ones in the peach trees!  I stared at the arbor..yep...those sure are peas up there with the roses and jasmine...now what???  Later when I showed Michael the peas, he assured me that he could pick them for me.  "You pick the lower ones, Mom, and I will get all those that you cannot reach."  With that he patted me on the back and made some remark about how he would get anything higher than about three feet off the ground!  Grrr.....I am not THAT short!!!  Still, those errant pea plants need to be reprimanded and directed not to get out of the garden to which they are assigned!