Today I started digging up 1 of 3 garden beds. I had planned to dig up at least 1 section of a raised garden bed where snap peas luckily successfully grew this year. Out of simple curiosity I wanted to know how far the roots "really" went down. I dug and dug carefully at first, then quickly because the rain was dropping on me and I'm afraid I might melt. The "Sugar Lace" snap pea root that was the biggest root of them all grew at least 9 inches down. It could have grown deeper, and I'm almost sure it did because the root tip looked a bit broken off. It was hard to be sure with mud on it. Oh well, at least it seemed to do okay in the 12" deep bed.
I was wanting to find out if the root went down into the poor excuse of dirt that is under the good expensive dirt the box is filled with. First of all I wanted to know because I'm planning on trying to grow snap peas in containers - and have the containers be deep enough, yet no more deep than absolutely necessary. Second of all I wanted to know because I have very horrible dirt in the backyard where I had built my 1st ever raised garden boxes this past Spring. I had been a bit worried that deeper rooting plants would be thrilled with the soil I had bought from the local nursery dirt delivery service, and then just wilt & die once the roots hit the "real" dirt underneath.
The rain and thunder working in cahoots with the setting sun forced me indoors with only 1 sugar lace snap pea unearthed. I don't know yet if I'm curious enough to dig up another one of these plants if and when the rain ever stops before Spring. Digging in mud does not appeal to any of my senses in the slightest. But I thoroughly enjoy digging in good moist dirt with every fiber of my being & soul.
I remembered a rule I found on the Interwebs about not planting peas or beans in the same dirt 2 years in a row (maintaining healthy garden soil). Granted this was the first year I attempted to grow either, but just in case I kept dirt separated as I dug it out & filled up many different types of indoor pots. The ideas I have about planting things indoors this Winter are the only things keeping me from being depressed while I practically destroy the nice little garden box areas I worked so hard on this past Spring.
It was a sad day at the end. I am already thinking more seriously of greenhouse ideas & practicalities. Temperatures are under 40 at night, the true sunshine is all but gone with the sun's changed orientation hiding the direct sunbeams behind neighbors' tall trees, peas and beans are done producing edibles, seed pods have been collected for next year, the rain has started and probably won't stop until next May, and there seems to be little chance of the last bunches of tomatoes ripening. Oh how I will miss working in the backyard. I miss it already.