Winter garden

Time has flown by; the hop plant flourished, flowered and died back. Unfortunately, it was infested by greenfly and creepy crawlies when I tried to dry the hops, and I ended up adding them to the compost. I more successfully harvested tomatoes, and learnt how to make chutneys, salsa and stews with the unripe, green ones (all were delicious!) The chilli plants produced tiny chillis, the beans in their pots survived the slugs and produced gorgeous veg. I had a bumper crop of gooseberries and rhubarb, but alas the blueberry is still adjusting to being moved from the last garden and didn't fruit.

Next, foraging! I discovered a bumper crop of elderberries by a little visited crag, and made several bottles of elderberry cordial. Elderberries are packed full of nutritional goodness and are also reputed to have an anti-viral action. I make my syrup with ginger, cloves and cinnamon, and have it diluted with hot water as a delicious winter drink, perfect to take with me in a flask for a day on the hill. I didn't make it to the rose hips before the snow came in, but I do know where there is a superb crop to pick from next year. As I ever, I pick a few and leave plenty whenever wild harvesting.

Garden herbs...

I've been working in our new garden: we spent the winter clearing the overgrowth and now it's time for the fun part! It's the first time I've had a garden sized blank canvas to plant up, and I'm trying to take my time to plan it properly. Days have been passsed watching the sun track across the garden; I've thought about prevailing winds, soil moisture and proximity to shelter; I've rejoiced in having a greenhouse!

The garden is built on a slope and we have multiple terraces and rockeries, with a path and disused stream winding down to the greenhouse, drained pond and bottom patio. There are two level beds; borders along the path and disused stream; a gritted area and a 'woodland' area (where I have decided to manage undesirable weeds but otherwise leave to its own devices, at least until I get the rest of the garden under control!) We are hoping to reinstate the stream and pond at some stage: at present, we are using the pond as a much needed second compost heap.

First to go in were the hardy perennials: lavender, rosemary, thyme, chives and sage. I was horrified to find slugs chomping on my common and golden thyme: what kind of super slugs do we have here??! Marjorams have gone in near paths, for fragrance and easy picking. All the kitchen herbs are in places where we can pick them easily throughout the year.

Next: a treat! I've planted a hop plant to climb up a sunny wall. We will be able to see it when out in the garden during the summer, but it will be out of sight from the house when it dies back in the winter.

In a sunny, sheltered bed by the greenhouse I am planting fruit: so far, strawberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants. We were delighted to discover a thriving rhubarb plant in this patch!

I'm on a learning curve with preparing a vegetable bed: it is already overrun with established annual weeds and I will need to double dig it in the autumn.

Meanwhile, I am a slave to weeds. Hours fly by as I pull and dig them up. A warm, wet day and once again cleared areas are bursting with new growth, much of which will be unplanned and of that, the majority will be weeds!!

Autumn berries!

The leaves are turning red, gold, brown, yellow; there's a crunchy carpet of them to scuff your feet through as you walk through the woods - must be autumn!

I had my first go at mushrooming last weekend; unfortunately the only edible ones we found had already been chomped. It seems that edibles in the woods are like the first day of the Harrods sale!

More luck is to be had with the berries. I'm spotting alluringly ripe hawthorn and elderberries just about everywhere I go, whether it be woods or Abbeydale road. Elderberry syrup is a delicious way of fending off winter colds; the berries have an anti-viral action. I pick a whole load - using a metal fork to strip them off the umbels - and cook them up with ginger, cinnamon and sugar (honey if I'm feeling rich) to make the syrup. You can have some neat (delicous drizzled over icecream!) or dilute it with some hot water. I once tried making hawthorn berry brandy but it didn't go quite right. Maybe I'll have another go this year..... Hawthorns berries and flowering tops are proven to benefit the cardiovascular system.

Late summer...

The days are getting shorter; more of the plants in the garden and hedgerows have finished flowering and are producing fruit or seeds. Every time I pass an elder tree I glance up at the umbels of ripening fruit: this year I will make elderberry rob! It is a delicious syrup that has the added benefit of being anti-viral. Traditionally, small amounts were taken daily as a prophylactic against winter viruses. I can recommend it poured over vanilla ice cream, and it is also delicious when diluted with hot water. There are many different recipe variations; I like to add cinnamon and maybe ginger to mine.

I am also busy stripping the lavender flowers off the stems I left to dry. I'll use them up over the next year, mainly in teas. Unfortunately the slugs decimated my hyssop; the dried flowering tops are a favourite of mine for chesty coughs. Hyssop relaxes the chest, is anitmicrobial and also stimulates the mucociliary escalator. In my opinion it is a pleasant alternative to the more powerful thyme.

Cornwall in full bloom!

I enjoyed a wonderful long weekend in Cornwall, which I mainly spent with my nose close to the ground and my plant key in hand as I delighted in the mass of flora. Just on one headland, I found wild carrot, sea carrot, thrift, red valerian, purple loosestrife, tormentil, cinquefoil, wild thyme, stonecrop, sea and red campion, seaside centaury, rock samphire, sea aster, sea plantain and hawkweed. The habitats varied dramatically as I walked along the coast, from hedgerow conditions, to exposed cliffs and hillsides, to bogs. It was the first time for me that I noticed meadowsweet, hemp agrimony, horsetail and hedge woundwort on a cliff path! Foxgloves were everywhere, as were the ample clumps of flowering wild thyme. Along the path to St Ives was an abundance of betony and self heal, forming a yellow and purple patchwork with the kidney vetch and birds eye trefoil. I found a tiny hypericum and miniature galium: I am not sure which ones they were. The wood sage was on the verge of flowering. 

What an extravagant abundance and variety!

As I walked, I could hear the seals singing to each other. Once, I caught a close up of one as it drifted past, casting an inquisitive eye over me as I scrambled over the rocks where I had found the sea plantain. 

The Cornish coastline is a magical place, as indeed are so many parts of our coastline. Walking out to see the sunset; scrambling down to beautiful, deserted beaches; sitting against the warm granite on Zennor Head, gazing out to see and watching the butterflies chasing each other. Happy days!

I am currently languishing on the sofa , suffering with tonsillitis. The traditional remedies for this include sage: gargling with a strong infusion. I have made up a tincture that contains sage, amongst other herbs to stimulate the immune system. Other herbs used for pustular conditions include wild indigo and Berberis vulgaris, and I like to include lymphatic cleansers such as cleavers in any condition where the glands are up. I have also been taking marigold tea, as in addition to its effect on the lymphatic system it is also antiviral and stimulates healing. Ginger and lemon tea, made with fresh ingredients, is also soothing.
Tonsillitis is a symptom rather than a diagnosis. The problem with conventional treatment of tonsillitis is differentiating between a viral and bacterial infection; to do this, a swab needs to be taken and analysed. Antibiotics will have no effect on a viral infection.

Herbs for Children

Following on from my herbal talk last week which I very much enjoyed giving, I was asked if I do talks on herbs for children's illnesses and health problems. The answer was that yes, I do. I will be setting a date for late summer: keep an eye on the blog and website education page for further details.