I found a Yarrow forest
Can’t wait until it flowers…
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Hawthorn
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Name that weed
Back on the allotment there are a few things growing happily which I am unsure of. I’m still searching for a good plant identification guide, if anyone can recommend one. So here is a pop quiz with the only prize – my thanks and a virtual cup of tea and biscuit!
Name that weed 01
Name that weed 01
Name that weed 03
Name that weed 04
Name that weed 05
Herbs I want to grow from seed (including a bit of allotment backstory)
I’ve finally begun some serious work on my allotment. Here is a pre-weeded but de-charded raised bed which will become my new herb bed. I will also be planting herbs throughout my plot as companion planting. This bed is about a metre by 2 1/2 meters.
Herb bed
I have clay soil and cultivating it has been back breaking work over the last couple of years. This is what my plot looked like last summer after I got a little distracted with everyday non-allotment business.
When nature bites back
I’ve an excellent stock of docks, thistles and bind weed. When I took the plot over it hadn’t been touched for over 3 years – A little naive, and without checking what was on offer, I said Yep thats the 10 meter squared plot for me. I enthusiastically began digging only to find solid ground and lots of bind weed and dock roots. The only way to sort this out has been to pick as much root out by hand.
In my first year I’d dug over about a quarter of the plot and managed to grow some lovely veg for the first time ever – which made me very happy. By the end of last year (year two) my veg growing was a bit disappointing, due to the distractions, but I’d dug over about 3/4 of the plot. The bit near the front has been really hard work as what you can’t see are the moisture sucking ash trees whose roots have crossed under the road and are moving in.
but it looked so innocent (October 2010)
Last year I faced loosing it (and the plot) as it or I had got out of control. I’d pretty much given up, but I knew I wanted a garden, a green space which was mine. I knew I had to put in more effort and with a lot of help I believed could turn it around. I’d dreamt of a purely organic plot, but as a sole allotmenteer who works full time I resorted to Round-up to bat it down a bit. This helped me a lot, although I felt hugely guilty in doing so and now I’ve promised my self I wouldn’t use it again. SO ITS BACK TO EFFORT!!
In the last few weeks I’ve made quite a bit of progress. My parents visited, and Dad helped me lay a few more raised beds, and built me a lovely cold frame. This weekend when I’m not at Springfield Sanctuary (excited!!) I’ll be building three new beds, weeding and digging in more of my home grown compost!
A Dad built cold frame
New and old raised beds
Oranges oranges oranges
Oranges oranges oranges
This weekend I caught up on some of my herbal apprentice tasks and filled my home with the smell of oranges in the process.
Seasonal task: Make an orange bitter
Bitters
A herb which is classed as having ‘bitter principles’ is one which has a bitter taste. Bitters stimulate and aid digestion by promoting secretion of digestive enzymes in the stomach and intestines, therefore bitters are prescribed for poor appetite and digestion (1)
(1) McIntyre, Anne, ‘The Complete Herbal Tutor: A structured couse to achieve professional expertise‘, (London, 2010)
Take 1/2 a tsp of orange bitters before eating to aid digestion.
Ingredients
- peel of 2 seville oranges
- cardomon pods
- anise seeds
- clove
- honey
- brandy
Method
Roughly chop orange and fill jar
Add cardamon, anise seeds, and clove
Add 1 tbs honey, fill with brandy and shake
Store for one month in a dark place before decanting
Inspiration: Edith Holden’s The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady
My mum is an artist, and has long had a fascination with plants both growing and drawing them. Now she’s retired she has all the time to indulge in her passion of botanical art. I will have to show you some of her drawings next time she visits. Anyway I remember when I was little there were lots of art books, sketch books and artwork on the walls in our home. We also had a copy of Edith Holden’s 1906 diary and I remember how special I thought it was. The way the book was printed as if it was original really fed my enthusiasm for all things old and interesting!
The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, Edith Holden, 1906
Edith Holden, Fruit of Hawthorn (crataegus oxycantha), p.148
This afternoon I found a copy in a local charity shop and it has totally inspired me. Her observations are simple but wondrous, her watercolours are just beautiful. Now I am not an artist, but a creative wannabe. So I want my herbal ally notebook to be like Edith’s diary. So here goes its a start anyway. Two blog posts in one day!
Hawthorn (Herbal Ally) notebook
My notebook - a beginning
Words but no pictures (yet)
Cleavers tea and nettle stings
I woke up bright and early this morning excited at the prospect of having nothing to do!! My plan for the day was to get off the concrete and brick and step onto the earth. So I wrapped up warm and packed a little bag with my camera, notebook, pencils, scissors and shears and headed out. My first stop was to check on my allotment.
Allotment, February 2012
This was my first trip this year. After an unsuccessful 2011, I always panic I will find an overgrown jungle when I’ve left it for a few months – but it doesn’t do that in winter 
My little patch was completely covered in snow. Some herbs were peaking through. Rosemary and thyme looked healthy as did the lavender. The sage and chamomile were in a bit of a state shock and the mint had returned to the soil. This afternoon I’ll finish my allotment plan which will of course feature a herb bed or two.
New ground
Grove of Oaks, February 2012
Satisfied I wasn’t neglecting the allotment I headed off into the woods. One this month’s Sancturary Apprentice tasks was to take note of what is growing. I was looking for cleavers, nettle and chickweed. I picked a small amount of cleavers, enough for one cup of tea, as there wasn’t a huge amount growing. Picking cleavers was wonderful reminder of what is round the corner as I was instantly greeted by their fresh green smell – spring! And just so I didn’t ignore them a little nettle said hello by giving me a sting – first of 2012. I decided not to pick any nettle as there was very little of it around. I didn’t spot any chickweed! Other green things I noticed included Lords and Ladies, and something which was a bit of a shock – honeysuckle! There were a few unidentified plants which I will research.
Cleavers and nettle
Nettle
Cleavers
Honeysuckle
Lords and Ladies
Creeping buttercup
Trees in Winter: UK Herbarium blog party
I love trees, I love em, I love em, I love em. I also love taking pictures of you guessed it trees. I have a couple of small point and click cameras but to be honest the camera I use the most is the one on my phone. You can get some nice apps that are either free such as instagram, or cost a small amount such as hipstamatic. For me taking pictures of trees in winter is especially interesting experience. As the winter light is often very bight combined with a low sun which emphasises the tree’s silhouette.
I thought for this February’s UK Herbarium blog party I would put up a slide show of some of my favourite photographs of winter trees.
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I am also wanting to make an Ogham set. So far I have collected branches of oak, birch, elder, ash as much as by accident really. I wanted to collect them in the order of the Celtic tree calendar but I have been unable to find rowan near me – so it will be as I find them.
Herbal Ally 2012 – Hawthorn (crataegus monogyna)
The idea of a herbal ally comes from Gail Faith Edwards in her book, “Opening our wild hearts to the healing herbs” She says
Pick a new plant each year to focus on. Be sure to grow the plant, or meet it in the wild, observe it, make different medicines and foods with it, use it in many ways, consume it regularly, or use as applicable as often as possible, and constantly observe. Noting all you observe. Keeping your own notes is critically important. Learn to meditate with plants. Learn to take care of them, learn to process and use them, one by one. Fall in love with each and every plant you work with, one by one. Recognize the living being there, the spirit of the plant. Respect its power. Open your wild heart to it.
