Hello Mesquieteman,welcome to GW . Rather than suggesting till in or reuse , I will explain the issue so that you may choose which is best for you and your garden. You are correct in not equateing the shells to wood chips. It requires about 3 times as long to compost pecan shells as it does for oak,pecan,elm,ash and other common chips. That means nitrogen depletion will not be an issue. Pulled aside and reused,they will easly last another 2 year and depending on enviormential conditions,up to 5 years. I see it as doing what is easiest but I would add leaves,grass clippings or horse/cow manure to speed the process of composting the shells. Since you mentioned concurn over N depletion,keep this simple principl in mind. The faster high carbon material rots,the more N required to support the process. The more surface area exposed,the faster material rots. A dozen 1 Lb chunks of wood buried in the ground will rot slower and have less efect on N than 12 Lbs of wood chips. Saw dust rots faster than chips and effects N more. Good luck on the upcoming growing season.

The main difference between an "edible" podded pea and a regular pea is a gene to make "vellum" which is the clear, tough,sort of parchment paper like inner lining of the pod. If you are so inclined, you can peel that away on a more mature pod, and also remove the "string" along the seam, and yield a much more edible product. However, its a lot simpler just to grow snow or snap peas, which lack this gene. If you have access to a university library, you could look up the following article and learn all about the genetics of edible podded peas -- they only give the first few pages online. No, it won't poison you -- it will just be tough to chew. Here is a link that might be useful: Genetics of snap peas abstract

Hi, I've been lurking and learning on GW for quite a while now, and finally decided I'd better post something. Harry shared the wonderful Black Jungle beans with us and they are producing delicious beans here in Northern California. Typically, we don't get limas until August/September, and this year the BJ's were first. We've had a very cool summer. We are also starting to get Gigandes (the lima, not the runner bean), Speckled Calicos, Dreer's Improved, and Illinois Giants, but haven't yet eaten Dr. Martin's or any of the bush limas, which we got in later (German Red Bush, Fordhook, Dixie Butterpea and Jackson Wonder). Does anyone here grow the Gigandes lima? It is the largest seeded lima that we've grown, and yet it seems to cook more quickly than other limas. As soon as it hits the water, the seed coat splits, and the beans I cooked tonight (from yellowing pods) were done in 15 minutes! This is the first year here for both BJs and Gigandes. Also, I wanted to mention that the German Red Bush lima is different from Dixie Speckled Butterpea. I got the German Red Bush seed from a place in Pennsylvania (http://www.landisvalleymuseum.org/2011seeds.pdf). This is our second year growing the GRs. Hope we'll get some beans to harvest soon. Glad you got to enjoy some, Harry! Jana Here is a link that might be useful: Landis Valley

Keep in mind that when vinegar is used as a herbicide, the contentration is fairly high, and you're supposed to use it when the sun is out. Many things that are fine or even good for plants are toxic at high conentrations. I've given a fair amount of vinegar to shaded weeds, and they were fine (they didn't even flinch). I imagine a little calcium acetate on the plant isn't going to hurt it. Fertilizer foliar sprays generally aren't done when the sun is out, and the concentration is very low. So, you're unlikely to kill the plant, unless you use the wrong ratio of fertilizer to water and/or apply it in the sun.