Top of the crops - Peas

If our vegetable garden is like many others, there are probably a couple of crops that seem to do much better than anything else. I suspect it is due to several local factors such the soil, fertility, weather, position, pests and diseases as well as other factors such as seed viability, variety, compatibility with local growing conditions and general care, and of course the perfect twiggy pea stick.

One crop that never disappoints at La Pasera is the humble pea in it's many forms. Each year we grow 3 or 4 types of pea crop including: Mange Tout; Sugar Snap Peas; Pod Peas x 2. This year, in addition, we are trialling a purple podded pea (Mr Bethal) sent to us by a friend.

Currently we are harvesting about half a kilo of Mange Tout a day and they are delicious. We eat them raw in the main with salads and as a snack but they are equally wonderful in stir-fry, soups and curry. What we can't use we will give away, freeze, feed to some local pygmy goats or compost.

peeeeaaass...peeeeaaass...

We eagerly await the new purple podded peas to see how they shape up for taste and cropping, early signs suggest they will fare well.

What crops well for you?

The perfect twiggy pea stick

With a welcome break in the weather and the promise of bright and warm sunshine Luis suggested that we went in search for some perfect twiggy pea-sticks, well 30 or so to be precise.  Knowing that the caminos (paths) of the Camino de Santiago would be muddy in parts and that we probably be making our way back through the waterlogged fields, we opted for Wellington Boots. A wise decision.

Twiggy pea sticks are usually thin twigs of hazel (for us) that are used to support pea plants, perfect twiggy pea-sticks only exist in Luis' mind but I thought it might be fun to go along and made wiser about these things. There are many village and cliff tracks that veer off the Camino de Santiago that are heavily populated with coppiced hazel and sure enough, Wellington boots were required.

Walking along the caminos is wonderful at any time of year but early Spring with its gigantic puddles, flowing field streams, fresh and crisp new growth and neatly tended orchards is truly magical.

We found what Luis considered to be the perfect hedge in which to harvest our perfect twiggy pea sticks and we began to cut perfect specimens...

The way home across the fields was interesting with one or two instances where water was nearly compromising the tops of our boots. I had a rather enlightening experience when my head made contact with an electric fence charged up to keep randy bulls at bay. I do feel strangely brighter today.

With La Pasera in the distance, we head past the horses, through a field of bulls, cows and calves then across our neighbours newly ploughed field to be greeted by Gawber and Wentworth in their local hunting ground.

The peas are now staked and will benefit from the support as they produce a good crop of sugar snaps, mange tout and small sweet garden peas.

We managed to get our pea sticks and remembered a much cherished quote from a dear friend of ours, "the important thing about reaching your destination is to savour and enjoy the journey, it is usually much more precious". Today's journey for the perfect twiggy pea stick turned out to be precious or as Luis speculated .. perfect.