Sainsbury Pea Purchase

 

It will be another month before the homegrown peas will be ready for picking. A notion for peas and mint sauce did therefore necessitate the purchase of a bag of garden peas from, "Sainsbugs." This did rather go against the grain as I do try to be more or less self sufficient as regards vegetables, dipping into the freezer to use frozen surpluses whenever the garden is in low production mode.

 

The pods in the selected bag looked to be well filled, albeit the pods were not particularly long. Still I told myself it is quite early for British grown peas. The price demanded for this bag of produce proved to be £2.00! Unfortunately Sainsbury's packaging does not provide weights in proper units. They insist on using the cross channel gramme. My purchase contained five hundred of these foreign units. It transpires that my purchase actually weighed 17.64 oz. So just over a pound.

 

Unfortunately I have to report that the pods were not filled with tight rows of perky peas. The peas were quite small and unfortunately many of the pods were, if not actually blind, tending to the spectrum of mangetout. The bag produced four and a half ounces of small to tiny peas.

 

The lessons learnt are continue growing my own and freeze more peas.

 

Tiffin at Ballymaclary House

 

I decided to indulge in a taste of tiffin at Ballymaclary House at Magilligan today. It has recently reopened as a bijou b & b as well as purveying morning coffee, light lunches and afternoon teas. A conservatory has been added to the original house and this addition now provides the entry to the establishment as well as providing space for some sixteen covers. Existing rooms provide further accommodation. It is a pity that this addition to the building has not been designed and executed in a more sympathetic manner. Why aren't the windows fifteen paned? Why is the render not the same colour as that of the original house? Presumably this architectural faux pas is the responsibility of the owners and or the architects and or the planners.

 

What then of the comestibles? Well I only consumed a latte and a scone so I can't provide very extensive views. The former was of a commendable size and temperature. The latter was somewhat crumbly and the consistency of the butter curls tended to that of concrete. My wallet was denuded to the tune of £3.70.

 

Potato Update

British Queens - 26th June 2013

The recent mild weather has certainly brought on the early potatoes apace and thankfully there is no evidence of leaf blight to mar their growth. I would hope that I will be able to start digging them by the middle of July, so about one hundred days from planting. The haulms on the main crop potatoes are almost as tall as those on the early potatoes despite having been planted some four weeks later.

Maris Piper and King Edward

Rampant Runner Beans

It is just over a month since I planted out my runner bean plants, (25th May). In that period they have twined their way skywards over six feet. An average, daily growth rate of over two inches. It will not be too long before I have to pinch out the growing tips. It may be tempting to let the tendrils continue growing, but I know from experience that the extra top weigh is likely to cause the bean wigwams to keel over, most particularly in the wind.

They are just about to start flowering with the flower buds beginning to show red. When the flowers on this variety, (St. George), are fully out they will show red and white. A welcome dash of colour to the variations of green which tend to make up the palette for the vegetable patch.

BBC Annoys.

The European Team Championships were held in Gateshead this weekend. Two afternoons of international athletics and the entire competition was being televised on BBC 2. I really enjoyed yesterday's performances and was looking forward to this afternoon's coverage. The programme listings told me that I should point the remote control in the direction of the television at 2.30pm and that the action would continue until 6.30.

 

The wind was gusting outside and throwing the rain at the windows so I was more than happy to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon watching my favourite sport. Stretched out on the settee I pointed and clicked. But I wasn't seeing Gateshead International Stadium. I wasn't seeing the familiar oval with straight sides. This was not athletics. I grabbed the television listings. Yes there it was, BBC2 - live athletics, 2.30pm. Then the awful truth dawned on me. The BBC had done it again. This was another of those annoying, "Regional Variations." The small print at the bottom of the page confirmed the situation. I was only going to be allowed to watch the athletics from 3.50pm.

 

The BBC had in its infinite wisdom decided that I was not to be allowed to watch the entire programme. ITV are just as guilty of this dictatorial behaviour. Why can't the national channels be just that,- national? I am not against the notion of regional programmes, but there should be either designated slots in the national programme when all parts of the UK deviate from the national programme, or alternatively and preferably there should be a regional BBC station, where each of the regions broadcast their parochial offerings.

On the Riverbank

 

The midges were hovering in large, dark swarms over the river. Occasionally a hungry fish broke its surface, the ripples echoing across the glassy waters. Silence prevailed save for the occasional blackbird. I had Castleroe Wood to myself. That was what I had hoped for. That was what I had.

 

I ambled upstream along the riverbank, looking idly at the empty moorings on the opposite bank. Finding a bench overlooking the river I sat down to read a few pages of the book I had brought along with me, a rather weighty tome dealing with pre-1914 Europe. I managed to concentrate my way through ten pages before my concentration began to wane. A pleasant day. The healing solicitude of silent solitude.

 

Orange Blossom Time

 

Quite a late flowering of this deciduous azalea, but not surprising I suppose bearing in mind the late spring. I must try a few heal cuttings of this particular specimen. It definitely brings a splurge of colour to the flower bed.

I must remember to dead head the daffodils and deal with the weeding!