Have you heard the gardening tradition of planting peas on St. Patrick’s day? I kept that one alive today and planted 2 rows of Oregon giant sugar snow peas. These are the kind where you can eat the pods too and I think the kids will just love them. I also planted some spinach, Georgia Southern Giant collards and oakleaf lettuce in the same bed.
I’ve decided to let the chard that overwintered stay where it is and with any luck, I’ll collect seeds from those plants this season. I also put together the slim metal arbor in the picture on the right. It’s actually way sturdier than it looks, but still probably isn’t substantial enough to support the kiwi vines I planted next to it. I am not confident about being able to dig in 4×4 posts myself and husband is sure he didn’t want me to plant it against the fence. Maybe when this arbor gives out, I’ll get some help with a better replacement support 
Today, a new FB friend of mine posted an adorable picture of a planter she made from a shipping pallet and filled with strawberry plants. She got the technique from this video on youtube and since I was only able to grab one free pallet from craigslist before we got rid of the truck, I had all the materials on hand. I decided not to put landscaping fabric on the back of the planter. Instead, I filled in the gaps with some extra boards I had in the yard. I also added a board to the bottom, but left the top open so I can plant in the top too.
I had picked up the railing pieces from the side of the road last year and thought I would use them to build a trellis, but I love them on the pallet instead.
We used some amazing blue paint like the ones at Archute which we also used from painting my son’s room and I let the kids help me paint it.
They had a great time and it was such a beautiful day to play outside. It’s drying now. Tomorrow, I’ll move it and lean it against the front of the house, fill it with straw and soil, the way she did above and plant some of the new Ozark beauty strawberry plants that came from last year’s runners.
Isn’t it cool?!?