Berry Go Round

Just a quick note to let you know that the Berry Go Round plant blog carnival is up at Foothills Fancies

I've only got a little way in with reading through the posts, but have already found beautiful plant photography and a lovely little piece on the Scarlet Pimpernel. Enjoy!

Weeds and Wildflowers

I always intended Earth and Tree to be a repository of information and resources, a kind of 'bringing together of interesting stuff' relating to a more natural and earth-centred way of life. To this end, I spent some time (more than I anticipated!) yesterday organising all the blog links on the side column into categories so that we can find things more easily.. if your site has fallen off, please let me know as it won't be intentional! Some of the wonderful blogs could have been listed under several categories but I just went with what felt right at the time .. hope you will find it useful?

Speaking of bringing together interesting stuff...

Its a good time of year for Backyard Herbalism with all the weeds and wildflowers in abundance, including the dandelion .. if you're wondering what you can do with them, check out Greenwoman's post on making a Dandelion Salve and Yolanda's post on making a Soup with the buds.



And if you liked yesterday's post on the Cowslip, you should also see the Wiggly Wigglers post on Cowpats and Cowslips which has more interesting information for you.

Cowslip

The use of Cowslip (primula veris), known as ‘herba paralysis’ and ‘palsywort’, for spasm, cramps, paralysis and rheumatic pain was once widespread, and dates back to at least the medieval period. Also called ‘Key Flower’, an association with keys from a link with the pagan goddess Freya was later christianised, giving the names ‘Our Lady’s Keys’, and 'Herb Peter'.

The young leaves were formerly eaten in salad and mixed with other herbs to stuff meat, while its ‘somewhat narcotic juices’ were utilised in Cowslip wine.

A home-made infusion is useful for coughs and bronchitis and the flower tea soothes headaches (only the yellow part of the flower is used, all green parts are carefully discarded). Indeed, Cowslip is a rich source of salicylates (aspirin-like compounds) and has the reputation of being second only to Betony for relieving head pain. Cowslip is also used internally in modern herbalism for asthma, arthritis, restlessness and insomnia and applied externally to treat sunburn.

A sedative, expectorant herb which relaxes spasms and reduces inflammation.

Flowers April – May
NB: No longer collected from the wild as has now become rare.



CAUTION: Skin irritant and allergen; Do not use in pregnancy, if sensitive to aspirin or taking anti-coagulant medicine such as Warfarin

PLEASE NOTE: These notes on the history and use of herbs have been compiled for general interest and are not intended as medical advice, for which you should consult a professional herbalist.

BIBLIOGRAPY:
‘Herbs and Healing Plants of Britain and Europe’ Dieter Podlech (1987)
'A Modern Herbal' Mrs M. Grieve FRHS ed. Mrs C. F. Leyel (1973)
'The Herb Society's Complete Medicinal Herbal' Penelope Ody MNIMH (1993)
'RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses' Deni Brown (2002)

Tree Tribute

There have been some wonderful tree posts lately on the blogs that I visit and I really wanted to pull them together for everyone to share .... and then I found out that it was just 'Arbor Day', what more fitting time to do so!

First up is my favourite ever tree post by Cheryl (aka wonderwoman) at My Wildlife Sanctuary. She is talking with great empathy, wisdom and reverence about a friend of hers, who happens to be a tree.. I found it a very moving experience.

Another tree tribute I love is by an etsy friend of mine who blogs at What Does the Golden Mean? She visited some very ancient trees, and her words and pictures convey their powerful presence and the feelings this invoked.

I was captivated by Mark's collage of buds at The Greenfingered Photographer .. an inspiring image, full of hope and promise. How satisfying to have planted these trees and then see them come to life like this!

There are so many more I could include, maybe I'll do a monthly tree tribute post? Show me your links, if you've written or read a good post lately.

Radish

My first EVER radish ...

Chelsea Physic Garden

Many thanks to Dave for reminding me to look up the opening times for Chelsea Physic Garden, a fantastic secret walled garden tucked away in central London (a few stops on the bus from Victoria station). It was begun in the 17th century as an apothecary's garden in order to train apprentices in plant indentification and promote the study of botany in "physic" or the healing arts .

I can confidently assert that anyone who finds this blog interesting will love it!

As its open more often this year, I'm hoping to go once a month as there is so much to see and of course it all changes! If anyone is planning a trip to London, it would be well worth fitting it in.



2008 Season: 19 March - 31 October
Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 12-5pm
Sundays 12-6pm
Bank Holidays and Good Friday, 12-6pm
Last admission 30 minutes before closing

Extended Opening Information for 2008
The Garden is open from Monday to Friday 12-5pm during Chelsea Flower Show week 20-24 May inclusive (Please note that on Thursday 22 May the Garden will not open until 2pm.)
In July and August the Garden is open until 10pm on Wednesdays, last admission at 8:30pm. The cafe will be open until the Garden shuts.

Wildflowers

Here in London we had a lovely warm day .. and I visited a local nature reserve, the WaterWorks in Leyton, East London. It was so peaceful there, and it was great to be amid nature in all her glory. Today I saw a heron, red admiral butterflies and lots of enormous bumble bees!

There are little hides to watch the birds on the old water filter beds and a nice place to have a picnic. Also, they are having a wildlife open day this weekend .. if anyone is interested and in the area, these are the contact details:

The Waterworks nature reserve, Lea Bridge Road, Leyton, London E10 7NU (020-8988 7566). Open daily, 9am-9pm. Entrance free. Nearest tube Walthamstow; nearest railway station, Clapton. Buses 48, 55 and 56 stop outside.

I didn't gather anything, of course, but some of these plants are valuable medicinally and have interesting uses .. and as they are growing wild within 2 miles of home, I like to 'learn' them by watching them grow, seeing what wildlife they attract and looking them up when I get home.


From top:
white deadnettle, red deadnettle, cowslip, speedwell, hawthorn

Earth Day

So tomorrow is Earth Day and people all over the world will be attempting to focus their leaders' attention on the plight of the planet, as well as re-visiting how they themselves can take positive steps to make a difference.

This is the Official Earth Day site and I've collected a couple of interesting links to peruse on Earth Day, if you're having a perusing kind of a moment (!)

The Nature Conservancy Earth Day info including details of their Plant a Billion Trees campaign

Wear Blue on Earth Day to Vote for NO COAL

Earth Day Gallery at Love Earth which has some stunning images of the Earth viewed from outer space.




Earth Day isn't such a big thing here in the UK .. but I'm not going to let that stop me joining in! So I will be donating all proceeds from tomorrow's sales at Hedgewitch to Friends of the Earth. Please spread the word if you can, and help me raise some funds for a good cause!




I usually mark the day by quietly appreciating the earth .. and I will be doing this tomorrow the best way I know how, by getting outside in the fresh air to commune with nature, either visiting a local site or on the roof in my garden with my sleeves rolled up!

------> GET INVOLVED: How do you celebrate Earth Day? What does the Earth mean to you?

Ladybird

Since its been so cold and miserable, thought I'd post a photo leftover from sunnier times this month!

Remember I found lots of baby ladybirds on the clary sage? I was just reading somewhere that each ladybird eats somewhere in the region of 5000 aphids in their year-long life.. a good friend to have in the garden.



But I also saw a report about the invasive Harlequin ladybird on Gardeners' World on Friday night. This newcomer is becoming a threat not only to our native ladybirds but also to other insects, as it eats their grubs. Next time I'm up on the roof I will be making a careful examination to try and see which types I've got .. apparently it can be difficult to tell them apart.

Useful Links:

The Harlequin Ladybird Survey
UK Ladybird Survey


UPDATE:
I just went back and zoomed in on the photo so I could count the spots. I think it is a Harlequin, you know .. decidedly orange and looks like about 17 spots to me. Will have to measure the length next time, as the Harlequin should be significantly larger than the native ones.

Mystery Peas

Ok, here are my mystery peas ... if you think you know what they might be, I would be very grateful for some help in identifying them?

They are the ones I picked up from the North London Organic Gardeners' Society stall last week .. all I know is that they're heritage varieties.



Not a great picture, I'm afraid (best I could do on my phone camera today!).. I will take more photos as they grow .. will be fun to see what they turn into!

Garden Update

I was excited today, to discover that my mini-growhouse is working!!!

You remember my 3 heritage dwarf beans ? Well here they are in the growhouse, reaching for the sky...

Its had something of an initiation ordeal, as the weekend I assembled it, it got snowed on and then on Friday it had a fairly decent storm to contend with. Spurred on by its success, I've put my Brandywine tomato seedlings in there as well today. And I don't think I've shown you my sunflowers...










I sorted out my coldframe too, today, by removing all the paraphenalia I'd been storing in it and actually clearing some space for plants. Here are the first batch of herb seedlings awaiting transport from the kitchen to the coldframe on the roof..


















... there are dill, borage, clary sage, marigold .. and some sweetpeas, which I adore, and will be a surprise as a friend collected the seed so I've no idea what colour they'll be.

Forgive my over-enthusiasm .. I'm still new to raising plants from seed and so whenever something grows, I'm afraid I'm just an overgrown child jumping about with glee!

Sunset

Sunset over Tottenham ... I just love when you get those lilac and peach colours together in the sky

Stop Global Warming

I just visited this website and found a list of tips for reducing carbon emissions. The list is long, but I have picked out things that are do-able for me and my lifestyle (or are, in fact, things I'm already doing).

I have always felt fairly powerless to make significant changes, as I live in rented accomodation so cannot do the major things our house needs like double-glazing or draught-proofing etc. But I was amazed by how many of the things on the list didn't apply to me in a POSITIVE way.. for example, the fact that I don't use a car or a dishwasher. And we don't have central heating. So it turns out I'm doing better than I thought, after all, which is heartening!

One day I'll hopefully live in an eco-house with solar panels, but until then, here are my little contributions..

Use Recycled Paper
Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.

This is something I've been working on recently .. I have found an affordable supplier and from now on all Hedgewitch information sheets and newsletters will be printed on 100% recycled paper.

Buy Products Locally
Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your store.

This is a tough one in the city, but I am planning a visit to that local farmers' market I found so that hopefully I can buy less food from Tescos. I already get my fruit and veg in a box, which is delivered by van, but I know they source things as locally as they can within the UK.

Buy Minimally Packaged Goods
Less packaging could reduce your garbage by about 10%. Save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide and $1,000 per year.

My fruit and veg box comes in a cardboard box which you return for re-use the following week. I re-use the corrugated card dividers to pack the ceramic pieces in Hedgewitch parcels and I re-use the string for tying up plants in the garden.

Am generally horrified how much packaging everything comes in! I recycle all the card sleeves and re-use the plastic trays for plant saucers and incubators. But finding places to buy less packaged products is something I really want to work on.

Reduce Garbage
Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

You know, since I've stepped up my recycling/re-using/composting, we've been amazed how little garbage we are putting out now. One black sack a week, rather than one every other day.

Plant a Tree
Trees suck up carbon dioxide and make clean air for us to breathe. Save 2,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

Hmmmm.. maybe I could think of giving the gift of planting a tree via The Woodland Trust for special occasions?

Unplug Un-Used Electronics
Even when electronic devices are turned off, they use energy. Save over 1,000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $256 per year.

I could (and must) do this!

Buy Organic Food
The chemicals used in modern agriculture pollute the water supply, and require energy to produce.

I do as much as I can, for health reasons, but this is an added incentive.

Bring Cloth Bags to the Market
Using your own cloth bag instead of plastic or paper bags reduces waste and requires no additional energy.

I was given the most fabulous cloth bag by friends of mine for Christmas.. it is tongue-in-cheek and features 'typical London wildlife' (a one-legged pigeon, a large rat etc!) Its great because it folds up small and weighs nothing, so I just keep it stashed in my handbag for any shopping I pick up while I'm out.

Ditch the Plastic
2.5 million individual plastic water bottles are thrown away every hour in the US. Start using a reusable water bottle and just say no to plastic!

I could DEFINITELY do this, as I do sometimes buy small bottles of water when I'm out. I need to drink more water .. I'm really bad at this. I think I will fill a bottle with tap water each morning (whether I'm home or out) for use during the day. When its hot in the summer, I sometimes fill a water bottle with tap water and add a couple of ice-cubes with lemon balm or pineapple sage leaves in them, which is really refreshing.

Capel Manor

Today I went to Capel Manor Gardens for their Spring Show. It is a horticultural college and has 30 acres of beautiful themed gardens, including Sunflower Street - a series of spaces designed for the front and back gardens of normal houses. My favourite was called Rustic Garden and influenced by Tuscany..
















I loved this one, too, which had a formal area with a willow screen in front of a great space for growing veggies with a green house and shed...






And then this garden is just plain pretty..




There was a 'step towards Greener Living' marquee, which was great! I met a wonderful lady from the North London Organic Gardeners Society who pressed a packet of heritage peas collected from her own plants into my palm in return for my meagre 50p donation! How exciting.. she thought they would be OK on my roof and I could pinch them out once they were thigh-high without them minding.. watch this space.



I also picked up a moth and butterfly identification poster and some interesting information about making your garden friendly for wildlife. And I left the marquee with a letter to send to the Secretary of State for the Environment objecting to GM crops and a flyer for an open day at the national collection of hyssop and thyme garden in June.. not a bad morning's work!


















Here are my treasures from the Herbal Haven stall ... I thought I was very restrained, to be honest(!) I got another lovage plant, because its a favourite. I got a chicory, which I have never tried before but hope to use as a salad leaf. I got a bronze fennel, because its SO beautiful and I'm thinking of using the fronds as foliage in vases of cut flowers. And I got some Southernwood - the fragrance is amazing and I'm planning to use it to pack some punch in my herb sachets this year.





If anyone's in the UK and fancies going along, its on Saturday and Sunday this weekend and I'm putting the link here ... there's a real punch & judy show, sheep-shearing and a brass band at the weekend!

Chicken Out!

For anybody wondering about the noisy chicken wandering about at the bottom of my blog (!) ..

its a badge I added after signing up for the Chicken Out campaign. Those of you in the UK will have seen Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver (TV chefs) and their series of programmes highlighting the miserable existence of ultra-cheap supermarket chickens. They are campaigning for free-range farming methods. Their website is great, as it has ways to get involved and information and recipes and all sorts.




I don't usually have the speakers on when I blog, so I was completely unaware of the sound effects till the other day when I'd put the sound on to watch a u-tube clip someone sent me. Got the fright of my life when my blog page opened!!

Herbal Haven

A little bit of herbal wisdom .. the Herbal Haven spring newsletter

I'm hoping to visit their stall at the garden show at Capel Manor horticultural college tomorrow (am excited!)

Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) has been cultivated for over 2000 years and has a long history as a bee plant – the Romans placed sprigs in their hives to attract swarms and the name ‘melissa’ is from the Greek word for ‘bee’. The name ‘balm’ is an abbreviation of ‘balsam’ which denotes sweet-smelling oils.

Its therapeutic uses were promoted by Arab physicians of the 10th and 11th centuries and many writers praise its ability to reduce swelling and close wounds. However, historically, greatest praise is reserved for its supposed ability to revivify or renew and was a favourite ingredient in medieval elixirs of youth.

A relaxing restorative for the nervous system, this herb is also credited with strengthening memory and relieving melancholy. Nowadays and infusion made from the fresh leaves might be taken for depression or nervous exhaustion, as well as indigestion and nausea, and a pad soaked in the infusion is still used to relieve painful swellings. The leaves are used externally to treat bites and stings – and the ointment will also repel insects.
The herb induces a mild perspiration, and makes a cooling tea for feverish patients in catarrh or influenza.

An aromatic, cooling, sedative herb with carminative, diaphoretic and febrifuge properties. Cold and dry in character. Cut the plants as flowering begins.



PLEASE NOTE: These notes on the history and use of herbs have been compiled for general interest and are not intended as medical advice, for which you should consult a professional herbalist.

BIBLIOGRAPY:
'A Modern Herbal' Mrs M. Grieve FRHS ed. Mrs C. F. Leyel (1973)
'The Herb Society's Complete Medicinal Herbal' Penelope Ody MNIMH (1993)
'RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses' Deni Brown (2002)

Elsie

I was photographing for my etsy shop this afternoon, and she was so determined to get into the shot, that I let her have a couple of her own to star in!



This is the slightly disgruntled expression she wears most of the time.. she has plenty of personality!

Snow

They were right about the snow, then ..



It is extraordinarily beautiful ...



.. but I am very worried about my poor plants!

Gardening

Despite the weather forecast for extreme cold and possible snow even as far south as London this weekend, yesterday found me on the roof in a tshirt in glorious sunshine!

This was my first visit to my garden this year.. and I spent several very happy hours making a tour of inspection, tidying up, and re-aquainting myself with old and valued friends.

I was so excited to see nearly everything looking green and verdant and full of life and potential. I lost my rose-scented geranium and my thyme this winter, but that was entirely my fault as they should have been got in .. they're not hardy enough to tough it out up there.

I also had a great time building my self-assembly mini-growhouse which I got very marked down in a sale at B&Q! I'm usually pretty DIY in my garden, making cloches and cold frames out of anything to hand rather than spending money on purpose-built things (watch out for my shower-cap wearing carrot troughs later this month!) But I'm glad I rescued this from the 'unloved' shelf at B&Q .. I'm so please with it and it means I can put out my taller seedlings for acclimatising. One of the problems of gardening on the roof is that it can be pretty blowy.. I'm continually amazed how some of my taller herbs stand up to it! But the new guys need a little help ... so my sunflowers and dwarf beans are zipped up safely in their new home.

I was particularly pleased with the lemon balm and yarrow and have been able to get some really good leaves for ceramic impressions. I'd never had much luck with getting yarrow to grow before last summer, so I was so pleased to see it looking healthy .. and I found its little babies everywhere too! And Lemon Balm is a big favourite of mine because its a lovely tea, you can put it in cooking and I make and use the tincture, which is invaluable.

Another lovely surprise was finding that the little clary and sage seedlings of last spring are now enormous healthy plants. I'm a proud mama! I can't believe how well they've come on and they are both in bud. The clary is a particular favourite of mine .. I only grew it once before, from a plug plant I bought at a herb stall. It just took off!

It had these amazing huge leaves and then threw up a great strong spike which was covered in purple flowers which exuded the most incredible scent (its where the essential oil Clary Sage comes from, which is a favourite of mine). I have really missed it from the garden, so I tried growing some seed last year and am really pleased I did.

I noticed a ladybird on the clary when I went up into the garden, and later discovered loads of little baby ladybirds (or I should say BIG baby ladybirds, because the grubs are a lot bigger than the adults, which always amazes me!) So they must like this plant and this bodes well for the year, as you can never have too many ladybirds in a garden.

When I first go up into the garden each spring its always nice to find the rosemary in flower to welcome me. I like how there's always something happening and something new flowering and this is the first thing in the chain. I was also happy to discover little edible things! The kitchen garden area was looking pretty good and I should be able to put together a nice salad with chives, garlic chives, sorrel leaves.. I also appear to have a life-time's supply of parsley .. don't understand it, because I can never keep parsley alive for longer than 5 minutes in the summer, but found 4 pots of it looking fresh and appetising. Think the judicious use of drip trays may have helped enormously.












This morning I had the great pleasure of going up first thing and seeing how it was all looking (I always have a quick chat with my plants and ask them how they're doing!)... happy Hedgewitch.

Backyard Herbalism

The wonderful Greenwoman has started a series of posts which explore the use of all the wonderful weeds around us under the tag backyard herbalism.

I am itching to join in the fun, though it can be difficult in a 'gritty' urban environment..

When I was out and about this week I saw beautiful great clumps of gorgeous dandelions in full flower on my way up the high road. But I couldn’t pick them .. they were all along the verge by a small green space maintained by the local council and if they hadn’t been sprayed with chemicals by the gardeners then they will definitely have been sprayed by passing dogs (and humans, I’m sad to say). When I got home, though, I looked out some dandelion wisdom from a fab old book of country cures I picked up recently in a charity shop.. this book always has something to make me chuckle, but I'm sure there is innate wisdom in a lot of the practical, cheap and common-sense advice it contains.

For example, the simple statement that 'for many ailments and conditions, all that is really needed is for the body to be well and truly flushed out ... one of the most effective plants for this is the Dandelion, which can be found in most gardens growing as a weed'.

Abel and Cole

I love opening my organic fruit and veg box each week and seeing what treasures are inside ....



.... and the website has lots of helpful recipes for what to do with various vegetables (click title to visit).

I would like to go to a local farm shop ... but there aren't any in London! Have just found out about a new farmers' market not too far from me, though, that I might try out this weekend... UK farmers' markets