26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

When I read the gospel for today from Mark, I find myself asking the question, 'who is on the Lord's side?'



Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world’s side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Not for weight of glory, nor for crown and palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm;
But for love that claimeth lives for whom He died:
He whom Jesus nameth must be on His side.
By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Jesus, Thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem,
But with Thine own life blood, for Thy diadem;
With Thy blessing filling each who comes to Thee,
Thou hast made us willing, Thou hast made us free.
By Thy grand redemption, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe,
But the King’s own army none can overthrow;
Round His standard ranging, victory is secure,
For His truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Saviour, we are Thine!

Chosen to be soldiers, in an alien land,
Chosen, called, and faithful, for our Captain’s band,
In the service royal, let us not grow cold;
Let us be right loyal, noble, true and bold.
Master, Thou wilt keep us, by Thy grace divine,
Always on the Lord’s side—Saviour, always Thine!




Happy Sunday!

The Garden of Westhill - 30

The tomatoes are fruiting well, but as yet there is no sign of them ripening.



However I have installed a secret weapon in the conservatory, and I shall be revealing it to you next week!

These tomatoes are Sungold F1 Hybrid.

The sweetest tomato ever! Richly cascading trusses of bite-sized, deep orange fruit with a very special flavour. They are also thin-skinned, and remain ripe and suitable for picking over a long period. Easy to grow indoors or out.

Happy Feast!

The Garden of Westhill - 29

I suppose that my favourite crop is my tomatoes! They seem to take over my life for around 6 months each year. It was either a dog or tomatoes, and tomatoes won!



The seed was sown on Good Friday - 6 April and took around 10 days to germinate. It cost £2.99 for 10 seeds, and 9 germinated and were potted on. Eventually the best six plants were selected for transplanting into two grow bags (3 plants per bag) - all this happened by the end of May. By the end of June the plants were well-established and during July they raced up the canes to over 6ft tall. August was the month of flowering, September the month of the fruit setting and growing, and hopefully October will be the month of the fruit ripening ready for harvest.

Perhaps a dog would have been easier!

The Garden of Westhill - 28

Here we see some Celebration runner beans - fit for the Royal Table!



Runner beans have been growing in South America for over 2,000 years, and are a popular garden vegetable in Britain too. Stronger in flavour and coarser in texture than green beans, they are also much longer and have attractive purple beans inside the pods.

Availibility
In season from June until November.

Choose the best
Look for young, crisp, tender beans which feel for firm and fresh pods.

Prepare it
Top, tail and string runner beans by carefully sliding the knife into the top of the bean without cutting right through it; if a thick thread comes away, the beans will need to be stringed. The beans can then be sliced horizontally.

Store it
Use runner beans as soon as possible after buying as they don't keep long. Keep in a paper bag in the fridge for 2 - 3 days.

Cook it
Steam runner beans until al dente.

The Garden of Westhill - 27

We have recently dealt with the potato harvest - our attention now turns to the runner beans. This year I grew the variety 'Celebration' in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.



This RHS AGM variety is particularly high yielding, producing an abundance of tender beans with an excellent flavour. The pods of Runner Bean ‘Celebration’ are fleshy, straight, smooth, and almost stringless when young. With its pretty peach-pink flowers this attractive runner bean will look equally at home in your vegetable plot or your flower borders. Height: 3m (10’). Spread: 30cm (12").

The Garden of Westhill - 26

Here we see 5 of the patriotic hanging baskets which adorn the west fence of the garden.



The petunias are in red, white, and blue/purple. I was pleaded with how things turned out, as I purchased 84 mixed plugs from Thompson & Morgan it was possible (though of course highly unlikely) that one basket would just contain red petunias, another only white, and another only blue/purple - thus ruining the plan! Fortunately, all the baskets contained a good mix of colours.

The baskets also contained Cambridge blue trailing lobelia, which seemed to perform really well this year. The empty stone raised bed is a sign of the times - it is being prepared for the 2013 spring bedding - wallflowers and tulips.

However before summer finally ends, let us relive those wonderful moments in London from 3 - 5 June 2012. I note that the patriotic flowers in Buckingham Palace were not up to the standard of my hanging baskets!



God Save The Queen!

The Gardern of Westhill - 25

This summer the walls of the garden have been adorned with 10 hanging baskets.



They have all had a red, white, and blue colour scheme in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and in celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It has been a wonderful summer (though not weather-wise) and has made me proud to be both British and Scottish.