Kick Off Your Garden Conversation With a Handful of Peas

Plant peas for their pods, for their greens, and to keep your finger on the pulse of your garden

When that first handful of peas sprouts, it’s game on for planting season. Hryshchyshen Serhii/Shutterstock

Gardening is a conversation with the earth. The gardener does something, and the earth responds via the outcome. If you plant a tomato seedling upside down, for example, the earth will happily swallow it, thereby ending the discussion.

A new dialogue starts every time the gardener sows a seed or does anything to disrupt the status quo, even something as mundane as digging up last year’s beds. Like any language, a garden dialectic grows to reflect the landscape, complete with regional variations.