Garden 2012 no18.

Garden 2012 no 18

Oh my poor garden. Hospital says I can now ‘resume normal activities’ (while taking care) and the eye is healing nicely. Therefore; this weekend is going to be a gardening weekend. I’m still getting fresh spinach leaves every couple of days and they are good either steamed as part of a hot meal or fresh as part of a salad.

 My lettuce is almost gone, I’ve another two or three and then that’s it. I am still picking spinach leaves, the last of the nasturtium leaves and the last of the spring onions to make up a bowl of salad every couple of days and I have the last of the shallots drying out ready to be spiced and pickled.
I’m a bit upset about the lavender and the tansy. I usually make up bowls of potpourri for the house with these. Unfortunately this year they flowered and died of in the couple of weeks I’ve been unable to get out there. I’m quite cross with myself for leaving them, they were ready to be cut a few days before I went into hospital but I decided to leave them until that weekend. Now I wish I had harvested them when I had the chance. But at least these will flower again next year and there is no real harm done. The more lasting damage is likely to be around the edge of the garden in amongst the wild flowers and hedgerow. I’ve always been very careful about removing deep rooting invasive weeds as they appeared. Particularly the thistles, dandelions, and those big tall dock leaves, they all have roots that quickly go deep and are a real problem to get out. I’ve taken a walk around the edge of the garden and there they all are, happily growing, spreading and depriving my plants of space and nutrition. This weekend it will be a war on those weeds. Its not even that I have any particular grudge against these plants, they are all part of the natural habitat and, in their own way are quite attractive, its just that left unchecked the garden would be full of these and little else. 

Another regret is the way my herb collection has gone to seed and is past its best for harvesting. But I still have quite a lot of frozen herbs collected last year and if I cut the herbs back now they should all grow again next year and I’ll be able to collect them then. I bought Mace for the first time this year and didn't even get to save a little. It smelt wondefull, harvesting my first Mace will be something to look forward to next year.

The dainty little purple flower growing in the midst of chaos is…….actually I don’t know what it is. I think it was part of the mixed wild flower seeds I sprinkled there. As you can see.....the wind was getting up and the little flowers were waving wildly in the wind.

This yellow flower is another attractive but unknown addition to the garden. It has grown tall and flowered in the couple of weeks I’ve been away from the garden, and now I’m busy looking up pictures of yellow flowers and trying to identify it. 

This is something I am pleased with. I brought back a whole load of Mullen seeds from my last visit to my sister and this is where I sprinkled them. At this point I’m not sure if these new plants are self seeded Digitalis (foxglove) or, if some of the Mullen seeds have started to grow.  To my non-expert eye, Mullen and Foxglove look too similar to decide, but which ever it is, I’m happy with it.

June 23, 2009, Multiply, The Weather is wonderful

The weather here these last few days has been so hot it's sometimes difficult to remember we are actually on the North East Coast of Scotland overlooking the cold North Sea.

This weather is quite unusual for this area, it's a bit of a mini heat wave but nowhere near as hot as it has been in other places. I spent a whole hour one morning watching a Heron at the waters edge but unfortunatly........with only my mobile you can't see it.

I love the summer, I love the sound of the birds singing, the feel of the warm breeze on the skin, the sight of the grasses swaying and walking along the beach at low tide. There has been plenty of that these last few days and the only little blip on my happiness is my lack of a decent camera.

Even that I am getting used too, I’m learning to make do with my poor quality mobile phone and becoming very thankful for the camera that went every where with me over this last year. I have a good stock of decent shots that will take me forever to sort, edit and file, I’m trying to be very positive about this and be thankful for the year I spent with my camera rather than mourn the loss of it now.
I’ve started walking the cliffs again, I don’t go there in the winter, it can get quite dangerous in the bad weather but at the moment it's a wonderful place to be. Shear Red Sandstone cliffs dropping into a swirling foamy sea, all to the ever present din of the squawking sea gulls.
For the first time this year I’ve spent time on the beach with the grandchildren.

 I’ve walked along the cliff path counting the number of wild flowers in bloom,

 I’ve collected pebbles from the beach. They were picked out of rock pools and while wet, they had vivid colours, stripes and patterns.

 Once they dried out the colours dulled, but all it takes to bring back the colour is a quick splash of water.
I have my daughters dog for the week while she is in Spain and every day I've come home from work and walked the dog along the park overlooking the beach. Today it was so hot I stayed indoors untill almost 7pm but still  there was a heat haze over every thing. Then the haare  (sea mist) came in from the sea and swirled around over the  beach and fields like a rapidly moving fuzzy pale shadow.

 It is fascinating to watch and I tried to take a photo of it with my mobile phone, unfortunately you can’t see the full glory of the Haare with my little mobile.

 It is now well past midnight and the house is hot. My windows are all open but the air is still and heavy, soon I will have to try to ignore the heat and sleep. Work again tomorrow and I think it’s going to be just as hot tomorrow as it has been today.

Tags: environment, seaton cliffs, walking, sea, beach

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delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Jun 24, '09 Lately I've been watching some travelogue shows on tv on Britain and some of it has featured Scotland -boats and harbours. It is so picturesque. What you've been doing sounds very peaceful and restful, which is good for you after all the stuff that was happening at your place with your renovations. I especially like the picture of the wildflowers on the hillock with the sea just below there.

delete reply artimisia wrote on Jun 24, '09 sorry you dont have your camera....r u getting one soon?...thanks for the view into your world this summer

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jun 24, '09 Very lovely pictures and I especially like the one with the flowers overlooking the sea. I am curious how hot it does get up there - if you would like to share. Sleeping in the heat is quite an ordeal - we did it until I got into my late 40's then could not take it and installed central air conditioning. We rarely use it, but when we must, we do. Yesterday it was 32C here - well no one can sleep in that except a cat.

delete reply eggpainter wrote on Jun 24, '09 Grandchildren can be such fun and what a beautiful place to take them. Thank you for the pictures. I enjoyed seeing them.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Jun 24, '09 thankk you for taking us on your journey. ; D

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 24, '09 As you know, I'm not a profesonal photographer so these are nice photos to me. You can imagine how hot it is here. Hope your daughter enjoys her holidays here.

delete reply sandycaar wrote on Jun 24, '09 very nice post loretta, even without a digital camera,,you've managed to get some pretty good pictures,,they're very nice,,and your grandchildren certainly looked like they were fully enjoying themselves

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jun 23, '09 Wonderful post loretta.Send us some of your heat for we are having an English June rain and more rain and chilli.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jun 23, '09 Very nice post and makes me miss the days on the beach with my daughter when she was a child.

June 29, 2008, Multiply, Wild flowers

How many wild flowers can you name?

Today has been a happy day, my computer is returned to me, de-bugged, installed, connected and behaving moderately well. The only minor hic-up I am left with is the mysterious and total absence of all sound on any imported video or music. This is most odd since I am able to play CD’s and DVD’s on the computer. But, after being computer-less for more than a week I can cope for a while longer without YouTube. And so, knowing I would be able to sit here happily playing on my computer tonight, I decided to have a bit of a walk along the cliffs and maybe bring back some nice photos to share.

 

It was a gloriously hot and sunny afternoon  with strong blustering winds. The gulls love those strong air currents they ‘sit’ in the air allowing them selves to be taken higher and higher with out moving a muscle, just relying on the power of the wind. Then they tumble sideways, releasing themselves from the air stream and glide back to the rocks below. Just before they hit the rocks they change angle, their feet come forward, outstretched at 45 degrees below and in front of the body and the wings fold behind them, pointing skyward. It’s at this angle that the birds land on the rocks. It’s quite amazing to sit at the top of the cliffs looking down onto the outcrop stacks where the gulls nest. This is a place that looks as if it should be quiet and peaceful but it very rarely is and today it was noisier then ever. The gulls screeched, the waves crashed and the wind howled. Despite the strong winds I managed to walk quite a way along the cliff top path, and in doing so could not help noticing how many wild flowers are in bloom at the moment. As I walked and took photos and walked some more and took more photos an idea began to form. I thought to myself,

    ‘I wonder if I could find all the names to all these wild     plants.’

And then I thought to my self,

   ‘I wonder how many people actually know what these plants are called.’

All of which is quite sad really, if I were a child walking this path 100 years ago not only would I know the name of every plant I would also know what it could be used for. I would know which plants were edible, which were poisonous and which had a medical use. I would know how to pick these plants, how to store these plants and which part of the plant was useful, the flowers, the roots, the stems or the leaves. All this knowledge that was once so common, known to every one, is now lost to all but a few.

So…… here are all the photos, how many can YOU name??, answers in the comments box please.

http://forgetmenot525.multiply.com/photos/album/64/The_Wild_Flowers_of_Seaton_Cliffs_29.06.08

http://www.flickr.com/photos/forget-me-not5275/sets/72157605884414459/

Tags: walking, environment, wild flowers, seaton cliffs, arbroath, scotland

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delete reply brendainmad wrote on Jun 30, '08 When you said it was noisier than usual, I thought you meant human noise pollution. The noise of the wind, waves and gulls can be relaxing. Sorry I'm a city person. You're right about it being good to know about plants, because, as you say, some can be poisonous - probably the most beautiful ones. I know in the Pyrenees there are fantastic plants that I've never seen before and of which are mostly poisonous. Thanks for this lovely description. None of them would be your famous thistles, would they?

delete reply starfishred wrote on Jun 29, '08 oh lorretta the walk was wonderful ty and yes it is sad that we don't know much anymore about our botanical world.

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Jun 29, '08 Fantastic walk and view. Thank you for sharing this with us.

delete reply msowens1 wrote on Jun 29, '08 this looks like such a wonderful place! I would have to spend the day outside! I too just got my PC back from having the hard drive blown clean and everything reinstalled.... got it home and reinstalled the printer, but can NOT get the speakers to work! what a pain.... but just so glad to have it back... will settle..... welcome back.....

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Jun 29, '08 Well, I did my best, you can tell me how many I was right on. I am sure some have many different names. It was beautiful to walk along the sea.