Funny - I thought Bijou meant small

This year, from the Garden Organic Heritage Seed Library we went for peas. I chose varieties with coloured flowers or pods. It's been great to grow some good old fashioned vigorous types. Apart from the Salmon flowered they have all reached the 7 foot mark.

The best for eating is a variety called 'Bijou' - I expected these to be compact but they reached the top of the 7 foot sticks and then flopped over. Bijou is unsurprisingly an  old French variety, The flowers are nicely marked purple and the pods light green, slightly wobbly Mangetout. We ate some tonight with Sunday din and they were first rate; sweet and a really nice texture. The rest will have to be left to ripen, this is a variety well worth saving our own seed. I guess 'Bijou' means jewel or perhaps gem in this context.