Tasty Herbalist

The quiet lull

No tea today unless you count the builder style extra strong brews which have fuelled the garden clean up. Visiting relatives meant I got a few hours of dedicated gardening time. No 'one eye on the baby' gardening, which involves everything taking ten times longer to complete. Every weed in the two vegetable plots removed: the couch grass, the lady's mantle, the welsh poppies, docks, shepherds purse and, did I mention, more couch grass. Yes, all the weeds are medicinal but I can live with removing them from a few small patches.

We started with one vegetable plot (the one on the right) and last year, with a ridiculous amount of help and hard work, we managed to create a second plot. I'd hoped we would have a third plot this year so I could start some proper crop rotation but it's not to be. The wood shed needs moved back as well as a few tonnage of wood which cant be seen. We'll slowly move it all this year so that by next year there will be a third plot. 

The area to the right of the vegetable plots will be my temporary herb nursery. The horehound, mullein, marshmallow and nigella have all gone from leggy little seedlings to sturdy plants and are desperate to be planted out. They'll sit in that sunny patch until I find permanent homes for them...that might be a few years from now though!

I'm savouring this quiet lull in the garden as I know that the next few weeks will start that explosion of activity of planting out my vegetables, putting the 'glass' back in the greenhouse, potting up the chilli and tomato plants,daily weeding, wild harvesting nettles, sticky willy, dandelion, young meadowsweet (and finding ways of creatively using them and storing them without taking over the whole house)...

Two tea Tuesday: peppermint lemon balm and black tea with blackcurrant leaf

Fresh peppermint and lemon balm

Cover the cup while this one brews to keep in all those oils that will just evaporate off otherwise. It's a fresh, reviving, uplifting, zingy tea. It's also a cooling tea so suitable for those few hot days we get. 

Tasty? Yes. It's a herbal tea that isn't too...herbally. 

(It's possible to buy both peppermint and lemon balm plants at the garden centre. Keep them in the sun and in a sheltered spot and they'll keep growing back each year...to be honest the mint will grow everywhere regardless of what you do!)

Black tea with blackcurrant leaves

(I brewed this one in a pot and just put the blackcurrant leaf in the cup to make it look pretty)

An assam teabag brewed with 4 or 5 blackcurrant leaves. Fruity but with the astringency of normal tea and nice for trying out herbal teas without going all out.

Tasty? Unusual but not unpleasant. I think the blackcurrant leaves would work better with a stronger black tea

Tea Tuesday- The cold edition

Today's tea is brought to you by a streaming nose and chills so lemon, ginger and cayenne tea it is.

Just the juice of half a lemon, many thin slices of ginger and only a couple of slices of cayenne. The lemon is for the vitamin C, the ginger is for peripheral circulation and the cayenne for that feeling of being chilled to the bone. You could easily add a pinch of cayenne powder if you don't have fresh on hand.

Tasty? Past experience tells me yes! Tasty! But right now? Who knows! My taste buds are shot to hell.

Horse chestnut ointment

I whipped up a quick ointment today and it felt so incredibly good to be back in making mode. To give you an idea of how easy it was I made lunch, did the dishes and entertained the little lady while it just infused away.

There were just two ingredients for this simple ointment: coconut oil and horse chestnut leaves. I use coconut oil because it solidifies at room temperature (in this climate anyway) but melts easily enough with body heat. It also really suits my skin type (dry but prone to angry inflamed patches).

The oil sat over a Bain Marie so that it warmed it rather than causing it to boil. I want whatever I put in it to gently infuse and not deep fry. A fierce heat would destroy or alter the constituents in the plants (as well as in he oil). To about 75g of oil I packed in as much leaves as the pan will take. They'll start to wilt down. Eventually the leaves will start to go crisp and brown and when there is no hint of vibrant green left that's when you know it's done. Squeeze the leaves out using tongs and then let it sit and cool a little. This will allow the bits of debris and any moisture to settle on the bottom of the pan. Carefully pour into a jar making sure the debris and water droplets don't go in. While I'm not too concerned about bits in my ointment I definitely don't want water in it. That's it!

Really I should have removed the first lot of leaves and repeated it all again with another big handful or two for a much more intense ointment but I'm happy enough.

(This ointment will get used for varicose veins and thread veins on my legs. It's not one I'd use on my face at all)

Fennel fronds

(This is another post that was supposed to be scheduled to post a week ago (see a pattern?)...and when I say scheduled to post I really mean it was saved as a draft and I completely forgot to schedule it.)

It had slipped my mind how much fennel was in the garden. Two more than I originally thought. I should have been more observant as I always leave the old growth to die back which acts as a flag reminding me where potential plants will grow up. I have a tendency to leave plants well alone until they are shrivelled up and then cut them back. As a little girl I was told that daffodils should never be cut back until the flower and the leaves have wilted. Somehow I have attributed this to all plants. My mother would tie up the daffodils which edged the lawn so she could mow tidily around and I between them. I don't.  I must use the fennel more productively this year but even if I don't I adore those fluffy fronds that call out to be touched. It will be a long wait for the seeds to appear. 

An assortment of leaves

(This was supposed to be scheduled to post a few weeks ago...and when I say scheduled to post I really mean it was saved as a draft and I completely forgot to schedule it. Here it is now, a bit out of date)

(Sometimes it's possible to really see where the thorn in Hawthorn comes from!)

The last few weeks have seen me holding my breath waiting for those first tender young leaves to suddenly burst open. Just before the leaves are ready I am convinced the trees take on a purplish tinge which intensifies until there is an explosion of green. The horse chestnut is the first to succumb as if it can't contain it's excitement at the arrival of spring. Once those leaves have fully unfolded I will pick a bag full and macerate them in oil for rubbing on the varicose veins that never used to be there.They aren't the only leaves I'll be harvesting. Hawthorn leaves can be steeped in vodka, for medicinal purposes of course,( or put straight into salads and tabbouleh) and the youngest beech leaves will end up in a vat of gin purely for my delectation.

(Horse chestnut leaves shouldn't be eaten. Keep them for external use only)

watching the seedlings grow

The germination and unravelling of a seed never ceases to amaze me. There is all that energy and potential stored up in a tiny dried up container...it all seems so unlikely. Yet, there they are. The lettuces, marshmallows and marigolds were first to sprout and the rest? They're just taking things easy...I hope.

I find myself slightly anxious as I wait for that first hint of green breaking through the soil. What if it doesn't grow? Its a disappointment rather than a disaster but there is something sad about a pot of soil containing no growth.

There was almost a whole week of sunshine here (up until todays snow) which is unheard of. We get a lot of rain. A ridiculous amount of rain in fact. The sunshine has been a genuine daily surprise. The baby has been enjoying eating soil and playing with plant pots as I continue the never ending battle with the couch grass. It should come as some consolation that the rhizome can be used for urinary problems where something lightly soothing is required, such as mild cystitis, but it's not. It is just everywhere and leave the smallest piece behind and it sprouts back up in days. I dig and riddle, dig and riddle...I can't think of another way. The worst part is that being up against a field means that it just creeps through the fence once a patch is cleared.  I tell myself not to let it bother me but it chokes the smaller plants and out competes any seeds I plant. So frustrating. Barricades will be the only solution.

Don't overlook the blackcurrant leaves

Blackcurrant leaves are probably overlooked by most people. They aren't,on first glance, the most exciting part of a blackcurrant bush but crush a leaf gently between your fingers and you will be pleasantly surprised. The fragrant blackcurrant leaves will join the nettles in the teapot for a surprisingly refreshing cuppa. I do enjoy both best when made into a cordial though. Don't be deceived, the light colour does not give away the intensity of the flavour. Think blackcurrants without the tartness. A jug full topped up with sparkling water, ice and slices of lemon should be a compulsory part of any sunny day. Perhaps this will be the year I experiment making a blackcurrant leaf aromatic water. I imagine the fragrance would be mind blowing.

nettles in the garden

The nettles, almost too small to see, have stung my feet and ankles repeatedly. It's what I get for gardening in flip flops I suppose. Of course we have all heard that the best remedy for nettle stings is to rub a dock leaf on it...but it doesn't work,and no wonder. Rubbing a nettle sting is the worst thing to do. Best just to leave it and pretend it hasn't happened. With children, who will automatically rub, chewed up plantain spat onto the sting will simultaneously sooth and gross them out. Once the nettles are large  enough they will go in the pot. Soup is always good but nettle pies are better.  This year I also plan them to be a sneaky addition to pasties, frittatas and quiche. I'll dry some of course  but there will also be juicing and distilling. They'll end up in all sorts of unusual guises I'm sure.

They are such wonderful plants but rather than repeat myself you can read their actions and uses here.

 

 

The deep joy of a sunny spring day

 

 

All week I was searching for that window of opportunity, that fragment of time, when I could get some seeds planted. Im not confident enough of the weather to plant outside yet, for that I'd rather wait until April, but pots and trays? Yes please. Yesterday  was such a glorious, joyous spring day and so full of vitality that I decided,at 8am, that it would be a seed planting day. Baby had to  help so cue much clattering of pots and attempts to eat potting compost. Salad seeds were sewn along with packets of medicinal herbs that made me feel quite giddy with excitement and anticipation. Curiously the majority of herbs planted are respiratory herbs: Elecampane, Malva, Verbascum and Marrubium. They also all happen to be very beautiful...but then I think that of nettles. Other plants nestled in the soil are basil, teasel and nigella. I watered them well and sat them in the sun to warm up the soil so that their welcome was not all darkness and cold water.

In the end it felt a thoroughly productive day. Plants  got divided, repotted, transplanted and moved around. The rhubarb crown rescued from a neighbours garden and which has been miserably surviving in a spot by the compost heap for the last  two years was finally moved. Every year young leaves start to grow but it is soon out competed by the nettles and cleavers before the last of it is consumed by the slugs. It didn't help that it was in the darkest part of the garden and was sat in the shallowest soil. It looks so perky and happily pink in its rich and fertile pot but I'm sure the slugs will seek it out yet again.

Not to be content with all of that the buzz and hum of the village lawn mowers called to me to unearth and liberate the mower from the stack of ladders, gardening tools and bicycles which  bury it every winter. Mowing our lawn is never easy. A dog who chews sticks and plant pots and showers the lawn with stones and soil while digging means there are always treacherous objects under the long grass waiting to grind and clatter their way through the blades. I wince at the sound. I have to pick over the lawn, front and back, by hand...a laborious task...and of course I miss too many bits. Still, the lawn looks more subdued but in desperate need of a good raking. However, with the current ratio of moss to lawn I do believe there would be mostly bare soil if I really went for it.

There is something energising about the combination of spring and sunshine. The upward flowing energy of this time of year applies as much to people as plants. It is now that personal plans and goals for the year ahead should be unveiled. Last years newsletter talked about this so I won't repeat myself again. I love it though, this time of year...bare feet on warming soil, delicate unfurling leaves, those first signs of shoots pushing out of the earth...what's not to love?