Welcome to Day 21 of the 30 Day Challenge: How to Start a Vegetable Garden.

Now that you have planted most of your vegetables from seeds, you may have extra seeds that you were wondering what to do with. If so, check out my Day 20 article: How To Start A Vegetable Garden - 30 Day Challenge - How To Preserve Extra Seeds for some great tips on this.

Peas vs. Green Beans - A Healthy Competition

Exactly one week ago, I started another round of seedlings. It was time to start my peas, green beans, cucumbers and another set of peppers since my first set of pepper seeds didn't take too well.

I decided to plant my pea seeds directly into my raised bed and plant my green beans into my seed starter pods. I wanted to have a little healthy competition between the two plants to see who grew better under their conditions.

The winner is...the green beans. Within one day, the green beans in their indoor seed starter pods (with greenhouse cover) sprouted and ever since, they have grown an inch or two a day! One week later, my green beans are a foot tall, already have their first set of true leaves (which are about 2 inches in diameter!) and are starting on their second set. The green beans are ready for transplanting already!

The peas just started to sprout yesterday. When I checked them today, I had a dozen or so little seedlings popping through the dirt, roughly 1/2 inch above ground.

Both plants germinated well. I believe the green beans are 100% germination, while the peas are so far around 70-80% but since they are just starting to break through the dirt, I am sure this percentage will increase.

And both germinated with tremendous ease! I am completely amazed by how quickly and easily they have grown. I have the peas set to grow up a tomato cage and will be building a trellis for the green beans to grow up this week.

The picture attached to this article was taken 6 days after planting. The green beans are about 10 inches tall in this picture. The plants behind them are about 4 inches tall and are pickling cucumbers. They have also had a great germination rate and are progressing nicely!

If you are thinking of planting green beans or peas, I highly recommend it. So far, they have been extremely easy to start, just make sure to have a support system tall enough for them to grow up, as these wandering plants need plenty of space to grow.

30 Day Challenge

Please continue to follow me on my 30 Day Challenge. I am learning so much from my little garden and love researching and sharing my information with you. I hope to inspire people who have never gardened before to stop making excuses and give it a try. You will be glad you did!