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Box lids, that's a good idea; do you mean shoe boxes
@flowerbug? Sometimes I troll the grocery aisles looking for those shallow can or dry goods box bottoms left empty, and I use black marker to write the names on the bottom and fill with pods. Sorta similar to your set up. But now that I increased the number of pea types, it's easier to mix up pods that way if a box falls or gets bumped by kids or a dog and pods fly. The bags close them up a bit.
yes, i'd see where that would be critical i don't have agents of chaos here other than Mom and myself so i can cross stack 10 box tops as they are drying. i also don't have much space so i have to be creative. on the off season i have a stack of box tops in the corner of my room plus we keep stacks in the garage. i should not really be calling them box tops as most of them are flats or item containers from the big box store like Sammy's Club or Wally's World (Wal mart). the ones we use the most in daily life here are the peanut butter jar boxes, but there are many others that are useful and as we are shopping we'll pick up a dozen or so which will get used in so many ways. i have a bean shelling box with a nice edge that i've taped up (to keep dust and dirt from escaping the corners) that comes from under some supplement bottles in that section, but where i get them from is bins that are along the checkout and exit aisles where the odd sizes and flats are tossed for people to pick through or they end up in recycling. i also do have some shoe boxes that are used for groups of the bean collection so those are kept on my bookshelves. i really shouldn't call them box tops, i guess flats is also another good way to describe them, but they do have anywhere from an inch to a few inches of edge so the beans or other items don't roll off. that edge also works out well for cross stacking them so there is air flow and i can see what's in them.
box bottoms is also a good description for many of them, but i call them box tops or flats instead. haha!
since i am tight on space if things come into my room i usually have to find room by getting rid of things. old papers are getting shredded and used for worm food in the worm farm so i've cleared two shelves by getting rid of junk, consolidating and paring things down. it is strange for me to have empty shelves as i am a horizontal organiser. clutter doesn't bother me as long as it isn't left-over food or packages from food or actual garbage like that which i am good about not letting stack up. after seeing what someone else did to their place (a real mess and smelly place) and also having to deal with roaches living in a poorly built apartment building down south i never again had any doubts about wanting to not live like that. but a bit of dust or things around on the shelves or counters or floors don't bother me at all. my favorite way to dust the floor is just to change my socks.
etc. Mom is also dusting and doing things in the rest of the house fairly often but my room is off-limits unless i ask her and supervise (which almost never happens because i know how she is) when she is cleaning if it isn't "Glued, Screwed or Tattooed" it may get thrown away or moved and for me who remembers where things are by where i last put them having someone else move things is a disaster. um, so i've wandered off track here but the drying box tops are also used for sorting and organizing if needed and when i've been growing a lot of different beans and also want to keep some selections apart then it becomes more important.
my main two things to work on for selecting within a variety are potential crosses and also to select for earlier production so i often have two to four box tops per variety planted until they are dried and shelled and i can consolidate into small containers in a single box top.
If you are looking for a pea variety that withstands heat well, I found Taichung snow pea mega heat tolerant and productive. But I never tried shelling those to see what they taste like. How are your peas doing?
mine continue to flower and put on new pods so i'm very happy with how long these are holding up in spite of the heat. i need to get out and check them today for new drying pods and also to pick some for eating (along with some beans). there are some which curl and the curls hold water so they can rot if i don't pick them before that starts to happen, but the pods themselves are quite edible for a long time which isn't usual for most of the peas i've grown in the past. i'm still not eating a lot of these so it's hard to resist but the seeds are coming along pretty nicely. it didn't rain much at all yesterday and i last watered them a few days ago so once the dewfall dries off there will be some in there ready to pick.
the self supporting double row is kind of flopping over now from some wind and i'm not propping it up - i just let them do their own thing and pick the pods that aren't in the dirt and rotting or such. the ones with a little dirt on them can be rinsed off or left to dry completely (the worms in the worm farm can take care of those pods - a few extra bits of mineral won't hurt them for sure).
hmm... yes, a bit off track and a long reply, but i guess i like to talk about beans and peas.
p.s. shoe box tops are very good small quantity item stackers for continued drying but i don't have too many extra of those but perhaps a shoe store would have extras if asked.
c'est la vie...
