Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome with Peas on the Side

I haven't used this blog in almost 2 years.  But I'm going to attempt to get back at it, much like my gardening!

2019 Garden-Like my guardian owl?  I've been moving him strategically around the garden to keep the other birds out. 

My last post regarding Lyme Disease was not the end of it for me.  I have Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome which is what most people refer to as "Chronic Lyme Disease".  I have bouts of fatigue and weakness in my hands and feet which has made gardening the past few years difficult and blogging about it, well, less important.  I have seen, pretty much, every specialist known to man, and really none of them have been able to provide me with any "cure".  What has helped extraordinarily is CBD oil.  A few drops in the morning and a few drops at night over the course of a few months and my hands (while not as strong as they used to be) no longer ache every single day.  This is the first year I was able to truly enjoy putting my garden in.

I'm even attempting peas again this year!

Pea Teepees!

Last time I attempted peas I chose a really poor location.  We had only been in the house for 8 months at the time and the part of the property I chose ended up being extremely wet.  We're talking massive puddles in the yard.  The majority of the seeds rotted and the remaining plants following suit.  I had one pea all season!

This year I planted them in the main vegetable garden and instead of a house like structure with chicken wire I made bamboo teepees wrapped with garden twine.  All things considered, I really like how these look in the garden, but more importantly the pea plants seem to like them and have already reached the first rung!  

Setting these up was super easy but a little time consuming.

I used 5 bamboo canes per teepee.  After staking them into the ground I secured the top with zip ties.

I then used garden twine (I like to use something biodegradable but will also last a gardening season) and wound around the canes making a loop around each one.  Make sure to make these as tight as possible!  If they are not tight enough they will start to sag and fall.  Mine have been up for almost a month through some pretty torrential rainfall and still look great!

Once the peas get a little taller I will utilize plant clips (orchid clips) to help train them up the teepee.  

Weeding in the center of these teepees has been a bit challenging.  If I were to do anything different I would put down landscape fabric or mulch in the middle. 

How do you grow your peas?