Chicory

Continuing the 'blue skies' theme, the first chicory flowers opened yesterday.. I haven't grown this herb before (you may remember I bought one from Herbal Haven at the Capel Manor show) so it was with great delight that I found it in all its glory.

Dave from Osage and Orange posted a beautiful piece in defense of chicory a while ago, in which he mentioned that the flowers only open for a day. So I grabbed the camera immediately! The plant has thrown up a very tall spike which has many many buds, so although the two blooms from yesterday may not last, I am hoping for more to come.

Blue Skies

We've had fair weather and blue skies this week and I'm reminded how soothing it is just to look at the sky and the clouds drifting by. I've been in need of calm and fresh air .. so here is a little post dedicated to cool, blue, fresh air and calming skies.



Vervain just coming into flower, silhouetted against the summer sky.



Sky-blue borage blooms against slate roof tiles.

Garden Update

Just an update on what's happening in the garden today... some purple-podded mystery peas



and a lovely bowl of heritage dwarf french beans for my tea tonight!

Summer Solstice

Today is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere .. the longest day. The day when the sun which warms and energises us reaches its finest hour in our part of the world. Many cultures have revered the sun, often as a powerful 'Father' figure.. and it feels appropriate that we celebrated Fathers' Day last Sunday, in the same week. And many religions have some kind of festivity or celebration around this time towards the end of June.

I am in the habit of having a little barbecue in the roof garden one evening around the time of the longest day, and hope (weather permitting!) I might be able to do this over the weekend. Usually a very simple affair using one of those little disposable barbecue trays. I just enjoy being able to sit and eat outside in the evening, and stay for a while enjoying the light and warmth. Its a great opportunity to appreciate the garden in its full flower and be grateful for the sun's energy which brought it all to life.



Astronomical explanation of the summer solstice

Twenty facts you didn't know about the summer solstice

Produce

I am happily harvesting produce from my little vegetable garden in the sky. Granted, there is no danger of my vegetable-growing supplying anything like our total household requirements! But that was never the point of the exercise.. rather to be involved with the life-cycle and changing of the seasons. But at present, I'm finding that there's nearly always something fresh to add to each meal: a strawberry or two to slice on top of my morning cereal, a sprinkling of radish and spring onion to garnish my lunchtime salad and a handful of carrots to enjoy with my main meal in the evening. And this is just from a couple of window box containers.. which means anyone anywhere can grow their own fresh organic veg!

Sunflower

Native to Mexico and Peru, the sunflower (Helianthus annus)was grown by native peoples for 3000 years before its introduction to Spain in 1514. It was much revered by the Aztecs, whose temples to the Sun had priestesses adorned with sunflowers and contained representations of sunflowers wrought in pure gold.

The herb has been used widely for medicinal purposes in Russia since a Siberian woman healer successfully treated malaria using the stems and heads macerated in vodka to stimulate perspiration. Another folk remedy describes the same effect being obtained by wrapping a patient with malarial fever in sunflower leaves under a cloth moistened with warm milk.

The seeds have diuretic and expectorant properties and have been used to treat bronchial, laryngeal and pulmonary disorders as well as coughs and colds (including whooping cough). They are traditionally prepared by boiling in water, straining and combining with equal parts of gin and sugar then taken several times a day in teaspoonful doses.

Externally, sunflower is used as a base for massage oils and liniments for rheumatic complaints and muscular aches.

A nutritious herb which lowers cholesterol levels and soothes irritated tissues.

Sow seed thinly in March and pot on when 3 or 4 leaves have formed. Grow on in gentle heat or a cold frame. Harden off gradually for planting out in May.




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)
'RHS Encyclopedia of Herbs and Their Uses' Deni Brown (2002)

Strawberry

Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is a helpful herb for the skin and digestive system. The astringent properties of the root and/or leaves are useful in diarrhoea and the fruit is recommended for feverish conditions and as a cure for rheumatic gout.

Culpepper suggests strawberry as a cooling remedy for wheals on the face and hands, which is supported in the traditional practice of running a cut strawberry over the face straight after washing to whiten the skin and remove slight sunburn.

A cool, moist, astringent, tonic herb with mild diuretic and laxative effects.

Gather the leaves in early summer and dry for infusions.
The roots can be lifted in autumn for use in decoctions.




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)

Herb Garden

So much is happening in the herb garden at the moment - it is such a joy, because every time I go up onto the roof there is something new to see. So, today, here are photos of two old friends opening their flowers and turning their faces towards the sun...





Top: Feverfew, Bottom: Yarrow

Mystery Peas

Stage 1 of the mystery is solved! One of my mystery peas has flowered and is now producing its very first pod.. beautiful lilac petals and then a lemony-yellow pod! Many thanks to Rebsie at Daugher of the Soil for identifying it as Golden Sweet.. its colourful and beautiful, as well as historical, and I am looking forward to tasting my very first homegrown peas.





Now for stage 2! A second pea plant has a stunning first flower.. a really beautiful two-tone purple bloom.




I'm thinking this one might be purple-podded.. I will be checking regularly to see!

Sage (Salvia officinalis)

The name ‘salvia’ comes from the Latin ‘salvere’ (to save) and indicates the many curative properties of this herb, also giving rise to the well-known saying ‘why should a man die when sage grows in his garden’. The Romans used sage to increase fertility and Italian peasant custom was to eat sage to preserve health –many country people eat the leaves with bread and butter.

A cup of strong infusion should relieve a nervous headache and can be applied to the scalp to darken the hair. Fresh leaves rubbed on the teeth will cleanse and strengthen the gums and dried leaves smoked in pipes have been used as a remedy for asthma. A home remedy for sprains is to bruise a handful of leaves and boil in vinegar for 5 minutes, before applying in a folded napkin as hot as can be bourne.

Sage is good for the mouth and throat – an infusion used as a gargle is especially useful for an ulcerated throat and used as a mouthwash for bleeding gums. It is used for delirium in fevers and for nervous excitement accompanying brain and nervous diseases. It is helpful for women, taken internally for night sweats in menopause and excessive lactation, and is also used in anxiety and depression. It can be used externally for insect bites, as well as the mouth and throat problems cited above.

A pungent, bitter, cool and drying herb with many properties: stimulant, astringent, tonic, carminative, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, anti-depressant, oestrogenic.

CAUTION: Toxic in excess; Do not use if pregnant or epileptic

Leaves are picked before flowering and dried for infusions and tinctures.
Harvested May-Sept (leaves picked at midsummer considered the best).




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)

Green Fair

A wonderful thing - I've just been to the Better Haringey Green Fair which was held just over the road from our house this afternoon.

It was so nice to see the green space outside Tottenham town hall being used for such a great purpose - it used to be behind railings, overgrown, full of litter and only frequented by vagrants and winos. But a year or two back the council put money and effort into sorting it out, opening it up and adding broad paved access paths and lovely old-fashioned street lights to make it safer. It is used a lot now and looks great.

But I digress! Back to the Green Fair ... lots of stalls with local campaigning, wildlife and recycling groups. I chatted to some lovely people, including the local Friends of the Earth group who had a bloke dressed up as an orang-u-tan to launch their campaign about Bio-Fuels: the EU is proposing a directive requiring 10% of petrol and diesel be made from biofuels by 2020, but using land for palm oil is causing food shortages and accelerating rain-forest destruction .. find out more here and contact your MEP about blocking the proposal.

It was great to visit the stalls and I signed petitions and MP letters on a number of issues and picked up lots of leaflets.

Thought I'd share some of the info and links, in case anybody's interested?

I got a wonderful 'STOP! Don't bin it, recycle it!' sticker which I'm going to stick on the lid of our kitchen bin to remind everyone to think twice about whether something can be recycled. This was from Recycle for London whose website tells you where to find your nearest recycling facilities and has lots of info on more ways to recycle kitchen and garden household waste.

At the BBC Breathing Places stand I was given a free CD 'tune into the dawn chorus: audio guide' which has the songs of different birds on it plus a quiz at the end.. brilliant! I can only recognise one or two, and would really like to learn some more so that I can listen out for them. We have a pretty good dawn chorus here, despite being in a built up city area. There's a little booklet to go with it which has pictures of all the birds and advice on encouraging birds into your space. You can hear and see some of them here and also download a beautiful kingfisher screensaver. Apparently, once a year in May there is an International Dawn Chorus Day.. shame we just missed this year's one, but definitely something to get involved with in 2009! Some more bird links you might like are British Trust for Ornithology and the RSPB.

I was also given a 'tree party' pocket guide - which has tree-planting tips plus spotting tips for common local trees. You can download your own copy here and, if you have kids, you might be interested in the Tree For All initiative, too?

Well, I hope you found something to interest you somewhere in all that! I'll add the links to the side bar in my continuing quest to develop Earth and Tree as a sort of resource centre for information on all these earth friendly types of thing.

Bees

The herb garden is at its finest, with a whole host of flowers opening and doing their thing. We had glorious sunshine yesterday afternoon, and the bees were busy working away on all the blossoms.. I've never seen so many. And I'm glad I put a pot of chives on the kitchen windowsill, because I get to see the many bee visits at close quarters while I'm cooking or washing up!











Also, this year, the valerian and sunflowers are about eye-level height.. so I can get a really good look at the bees (who don't seem to mind as they are so busy in the flowers!). I've seen big fat bumbles, but also longer narrow bees and I've decided to try and find out a bit more about the different types of bee that might visit an English garden.

Buds

There's a lot of budding going on in the Hedgewitch herb garden right now! And as we go from May to June (and from Spring-ish to Summer-ish) it feels as though we are also changing colours: in May the garden hosted purple blooms, the sage flowers and chives, then more white appearing with the elderflowers and valerian. The thyme is currently in flower with pretty pinky-white blooms and the yarrow is fit to burst, too.





Now, as the daylight hours approach their maximum the yellow flowers are opening to greet the sun: the calendula blooms are opening, the rue buds are turning from green to yellow, and it won't be long before the St John's wort flowers to mark the longest day.

Companion Planting

I've been tagged by two wonderful bloggers, Greenwoman and Yarrow, to reveal six unspectacular quirks of mine.. but I've been having trouble thinking of them! Its not that I haven't got any, of course, its just that I probably don't notice them? So here, instead, are 6 little 'ways I like to do things' in the garden (some of which might be considered 'quirky' by some!)... I hope no-one minds my subverting the meme! Instead of tagging more bloggers, I'd like to throw it open to anyone and everyone who wants to join in and declare the ways THEY like to do things in the garden?

...................................................................................

I do look things up in books, but I like to mostly learn by doing and finding out what happens .. I have learned a lot this way!

I like companion planting and want to do more of this in future.. I currently plant my carrots with equal quantity of dill in their trough and I include calendula with my tomatoes.

I'm not looking to grow the biggest or most perfect vegetables ever known to man(!) .. I know my limitations, and am happy if my plants are healthy and treasure any little offerings they produce.

I think that plants know better than me what they want, so I try to learn from them (as well as about them)

I like to use a homemade kneeler for gardening on the roof (which is covered in gravel, so not comfortable on the knees!) .. I got this tip from my archaeological days: a couple of folded newspapers inside a carrier bag

I like being on my own gardening.. its not that I'm anti-social, and I enjoy showing others around my patch, but I like the peace and quiet of it and being lost in my own thoughts

.....................................................................................









Speaking of companion planting, this is my trough of carrots and dill, looking all lush and feathery! And a shot of my brandywine tomato plants building up to a first flower (the calendula in this pot is tucked away out of site but has some nice fat buds nearly ready to burst).

-----> GET INVOLVED: have you got any tried and tested plant-companions to share?

Orchid

A wonderful weekend! And an especially wonderful Saturday, which I couldn't wait to share with you all. Beautiful weather - endless sunshine and picture postcard blue skies. We were on the Pembrokeshire coast in the very south-west of Wales, in the national park and on the coastal path. We discovered a very special place at St Govan's Head, which is a rugged headland teeming with wildlife and has spectacular views. It is also the site of St Govan's chapel, which seems to just grow out of a cleft in the cliffs.





I won't go into the history and importance of St Govan and the site, but I found this brief outline which gives an idea of the wealth of folklore which has grown up around both saint and site. I was particularly interested in the healing well (now dried up), of course.







The whole headland felt disconnected from the modern world .. it is owned by the military and used as a firing range so access is limited, but this has meant that wildlife can flourish there undisturbed and the site remains isolated from modern encroachment. We chose a good time to visit: the headland and rocks were alive with blooms, the wildflowers out in abundance to dance in the late May sunshine, and I was delighted to see my very first orchids growing wild.