Nov 17 2011, Garden no 17

I know I said I closed the garden down for winter………..but then I thought again. Even though I’ve not had that much success, I am determined to grow as much food as I can. So…. After consulting the ‘gardening month by month books’……..I realised there are some things you can plant in November. Some things are hardy enough to withstand the winter ground frosts and ice, providing you plant them in November before the winter begins in earnest. I’ve had a couple of days off, the weather was damp, with a drizzle of rain, but it wasn’t too cold so out I went. The ground was wet and within a short time I was covered in mud. But mud is good, it’s soft and easy to dig.
I’ve enlarged the vegetable plot, and following the advice in my books, planted broad beans, garlic and shallots. At the other side of the plot I planted a few of the runners from the strawberry plants, not sure if they will come to any thing but its worth a try.
I enlarged he rhubarb plot, split the original rhubarb into two and brought two new roots of different varieties.

I didn’t realise there are so many varieties of rhubarb, I wish I knew what the original one was, that way I could do a taste comparison.
And just to make sure I wasn’t becoming too boring in my quest to grow food, I bought three packets of spring bulbs to plant in the new corner garden in between the heather and lavender.
Finally, my native shrubs arrived. I’ve been waiting for these, it’s a pack called ‘Wild Harvest’ and it comprises, Rowan Berry, Hawthorn, Blackthawn (sloe), Elderberry, Crab Apple, Plum Cherry, Hazel, Beech and Wild Rose. These are all native species and they all bare fruit or nuts that can be either eaten raw or made into jellies and preserves.
I realise some of these can grow into tall trees and my garden is small but; I’ve planted them around the edges of the garden just inside my new fence. My reasons are varied. I wanted to plant some of the native trees and shrubs that at disappearing from our hedgerows and woodland. I also wanted to replace the old privet I dug up earlier this year with native plants, and I wanted to be able to use the  ‘wild harvest’ these plants offer. These tiny plants will cause no problem for a couple of years, but they won’t offer me any fruit either. After that I am going to have to try to manage this hedgerow, I’ll need to coppice it to prevent it getting too big while at the same time trying to harvest the natural food…………..what a challenge, I don’t even know if this is possible. But; its going to be interesting and I’m looking forward to it. If I start looking for relevant books now, I should be knowledgeable enough in a couple of years when the plants are bigger.

And now……………I think that really is it for the winter, oh except….
More good news, I managed to catch one of the gold fish I put in the pond to eat the larvae, so that’s one that will over winter in the kitchen and not freeze in the pond.

Tags: plants, garden2011

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delete reply skeezicks1957 wrote on Nov 18, '11 I didn't keep up with my herb/flower garden this year very well and it is put to bed for the winter. Neat to see you planting fall stuff. I have not attempted that and will look forward to seeing what luck you have with it. I did do bulbs one year a few years back but must have either gotten bad ones or planted them upside down because nothing came up.

delete reply reneenay wrote on Nov 17, '11 looks like you have a great plan & layout. hope it all grows well for you

delete reply forelithe wrote on Nov 16, '11 You shall have to let us know if you can tell the rhubarbs apart by taste next spring !

delete reply catherinearmant wrote on Nov 16, '11 Excellent Garden strategy. Positively rewarding.

delete reply mitchylr wrote on Nov 16, '11 Good luck with all your winter plantings, but particularly with the 'Wild Harvest' plants.

delete reply artprevails wrote on Nov 16, '11 Good report, this was! I love hearing about it all. The native plant research continues and hats off to you for trying to keep the natives going. The flowers look lovely in their packets and the Champagne Rhubarb sounds festive! I envy your mud playing:)

delete reply nemo4sun wrote on Nov 16, '11 bravo :)

delete reply tismek wrote on Nov 16, '11 Well done! My garden is STILL a complete mess... :o(

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Nov 16, '11 I didn't realise there were so many varities of rhubarb either. I think it grows almost wild. Alas, haven't found any in Spain and I love rhubarb crumble. Lots of luck with your garden. You can learn by doing.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Nov 16, '11 *fingers crossed*......may all grow well, winter over happily and yield happily!

March 5, 2009, Multiply, School Herb Garden

The School Herb Garden and more.

This week I've started taking some of the pupils outside to continue our gardening projects we began last year. We have acquired two new plant containers, one for either side of the main entrance. The pupils have already filled them with compost and tomorrow we will go to the garden centre to choose plants for them.

The herb garden we planted last year has survived its first winter and is looking good.
This year, now  herb garden is established, I hope the pupils will be picking the herbs to use in their cooking classes.
Toward the end of last year we planted hundreds of spring bulbs. They are all native wild flowers, bluebells, snowdrops and others.
These are now popping up all over the place, so far we only have the leaves but I’m sure we will get our first flowers soon.
We also planted about 50 small wild hedgerow bushes. Most of these seem to have survived the winter but it will take a couple of years for them to become established.
We planted Holly, Hawthorn, Dog-rose and Dogwood.


At the far end of the school grounds is an area planted with small trees and bushes to celebrate the centenary. These trees are quite established now and last year we planted lots of bluebells among them.
It’s so nice to be able to get out into the grounds again and the pupils seem enthusiastic about continuing the gardening projects. We even have our own compostor now sitting in the corner of our herb garden.
Just as I was pleased to be able to get out into my own garden last week...............I'm very pleased to be able to get the pupils back out into the grounds.......as always, I'll keep you updated, this is just the first installment of the year.

Tags: garden, herb thursday, plants, herbs, school, trees

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delete reply djdx wrote on Mar 8, '09 Great post! I came home to find the first daffodils in bloom.

delete reply luckebabe wrote on Mar 7, '09 so fun to plant a seed and watch it grow. great work Loretta!

delete reply dianahopeless wrote on Mar 7, '09 The children are so lucky to have you teaching them about gardening. Not many have the pleasure of learning about it these days. Gardening was one of the first things I taught my children and grandchildren. Your projects look great. (I wouldn't mind finding some of those new planters. lol) In short order you will have glorious colored flowers. Don't you just love Spring?! Great post Loretta!!

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Mar 6, '09 All this industry, excellent. It will be great to see the rewards of all that. Compost is great. I would like to have one of those composting bins. My Summer vege garden, sigh, mixed success. I'm still getting cucumbers, they've been good. The tomatoes, almost a dead loss, which I think was due to neighbourhood cats liking the smell of blood and bone too much. I'm getting zucchinis but they are hard to kill. I've got a very healthy rosemary growing and everytime I cook lamb I pick some. I'd rather fresh than dried. Yesterday I bought an indoor umbrella plant for my loungeroom. It's my first indoor plant since I've had this flat. I hope it grows high, I like them when they look like indoor trees.

delete reply esoterika713 wrote on Mar 6, '09, edited on Mar 6, '09 When my kids were in public school I helped to plant with the children of each class.. I had a friend who came to the school with sunflower seedlings to use as the foundation for the Sunflower and Morning Glory House. We had the children plant seeds in between the seedlings. The idea being that if the seeds and seedling were planted close together they wouldn't need stakes so the sunflowers would stay up. It worked perfectly. The Sunflower and Morning Glory House won a Community Blooms award. We were invited to attend the flower show at Allen Gardens green house. We felt very special because they had silver carafes with coffee and tons of food for everyone. Allen Gardens even gave us some cake to take home because we were the last to leave. The kids had a great time. The night blooming flowers were great because it was winter outside but a tropical haven inside. Our school garden went defunct unfortunately after I stopped participating in it. Now, I work in the Co-op garden and I get immense pleasure from working with nature to create a beautiful place to be in. Ta.

delete reply wulfshado wrote on Mar 6, '09 This is really awesome. Keep up the good work.

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Mar 6, '09 The composter was the first thing I noticed. The other day I saw some roses in bloom. However, with this horrible wind we've been having they're probably been blown off.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Mar 5, '09 looking good

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Mar 5, '09 I am as excited as a child - looking forward to spring and summer this year. For some reason, more so than usual. I'm hoping to get both of the grandchildren interested in their family garden when I start to work in it in a few weeks. They seem to enjoy the bulbs right now. Maybe it is the quick return, plant in November, bloom in March.

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Mar 5, '09 Oh how wonderful!! You have given the children such a gift - the soil, growing, green things renewing after a winter of dormancy!! I am so sad I could not fuss in my garden before I left. I did loosen the mulch a bit.

June 17, 2008, Multiply, What is a herb 3, dog rose

I have come across the most wonderful little book. It’s called ‘’The natural guide to Medicinal Herbs and Plant’’’, written by Frantisek Stary and beautifully illustrated by Hana Storchova. I found it in a charity shop and just had to have it. The one thing that attracted me right away (apart from the wonderful illustrations), was the fact that it said ‘’Herbs and Plants’’. This reminded me of the first time I wrote about herbs and gardening, I asked the question ‘what is a herb?’ It turned out to be quite a difficult question to answer. The only definitive answer seemed to be ‘’a plant that is useful’’ which is why I like the title of this book. It recognises that plants not traditionally defined herbs can also be useful; hence the title ‘’Medicinal Herbs and Plants’’.

One of the plants featured in this little book is the common Dog Rose. I have a Dog Rose growing in the bordering hedge between my garden and my neighbour’s garden, which is why it was the first plant I looked up in my new book.  And this is what I found out;

         ‘’it is the commonest of the wild roses, mainly in Europe where it is widely distributed in the temperate regions, in the South only in the mountains, and also, but less abundantly, in Western Asia and Northwest Africa. It is an extremely variable species forming a group of approximately thirteen small species and numerous hybrids. The ripe, deep red, undamaged hips ( Fructus cynosbati, in pharmaceutical language), are the parts used medicinally. They are rich in vitamins, mainly vitamin C, vitamin A, B_1, B_2, and P and also include carotenoids, tannin,s sugars, and organic acids. The drug has a mild diuretic, and despite the presence of tannins also a mild laxative effect. It is used as a form of prevention against flu and diseases associated with chilling. Tea is made by boiling or steeping one teaspoon of crushed hips per one cup of water, which is then poured through a sieve to remove the irritating hairs on the fruit. The dosage is four to six cups per day. In diseases of the urinary tract it is recommended to drink two to three litres of the tea daily. The fresh hips can be made into puree, jelly, jam and wine, all rich in vitamins.’’

As I watched my own Dog Rose I was struck by how rapidly this plant changes as it goes through its natural flowering cycle. I walk past this plant every time I leave or enter my house, it’s so close to the path if often brushes against me as I pass. If it has been raining the leaves shed their rain drops all over my feet and if it is dry the old faded petals float away from their branch as I pass. These two pictures were taken lass than a day apart. In the first photo, just one of the flowers are open, they others remain tightly closed buds. In the second photo, the first flower is already beginning to wilt as the closed buds begin to open, changing from tightly closed buds still in their green skin, into bright pink flowers fluttering in the breeze. It’s amasing what a difference a day makes in the life of this plant.

ONE DAY LATER

Tags: herbs, plants, medicinal, dog rose, music, dinah washington

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edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 17, '08 oh Em.............I wish!!

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 17, '08 Great - dont suppose I can make anything edible from ground elder? ;) LOLOL Nos Da Loretta, catch up tomorrow :)))

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 17, '08 hi Frank really nice to see you here, funny you should say that I'm just about to post some more of her stuff. Glad to help Emma..........will be putting in a few more bits from this book over the next few weeks.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 17, '08 Jams and wines I had planned, but I didnt know about = "It is used as a form of prevention against flu and diseases associated with chilling. Tea is made by boiling or steeping one teaspoon of crushed hips per one cup of water, which is then poured through a sieve to remove the irritating hairs on the fruit. The dosage is four to six cups per day. In diseases of the urinary tract it is recommended to drink two to three litres of the tea daily" So, thank you! :)))

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jun 17, '08 This is excellent. I recognise the flower from an advert for my rose hip fortified vitamins. It always reminds me of family china from my childhood. There was such a flower painted on the china. My Grandmother just referred to it as 'the Franciscan plates.' Also, I am a major Dinah Washington fan, thank you.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 17, '08 Hi Emma.............What else?? what are you already doing with them??

delete reply octoberwitch wrote on Jun 17, '08 I love this stuff, I just started getting into aromatherapy and buying essential oils. I have a book called The Practice of Aromatherapy ; Holistic Health and the Essential Oils of Flowers and Herbs. Its very interesting. Ive been trying my hand at perfumes too but not doing very well. Anyone have any advice about scents??

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Jun 17, '08 Brilliant!! Now I know what else to do with my 2 dog-rose plants!! :)))

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 17, '08 great song! ; D

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 17, '08 Just added 'What a Difference a Day Makes', Dinah Washington, thought the title was appropriate

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 17, '08 Very interesting. I have a book that is similar, but I don't think it has such nice illustrations.

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Jun 17, '08, edited on Jun 17, '08 Thank you ladies, I do believe I have already visited sea's site and left a couple of links back to my herb pages but I would be delighted to make it a regular thing, thanks for the invite.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 17, '08 love this, thanks!

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jun 17, '08, edited on Jun 17, '08 I have some of these-why don't you join us on thursday's HERBAL THURSDAY run by Sea you can find her under my contacts okay if not I can give you the link-this would be nice to share again on Thursday.Here is her calander link she will put it up tommorow http://seanymph3.multiply.com/calendar