Harvest

Well, I had only got as far as this when lumps of ice started falling out of the sky with some force upon my herbs and my head! I managed to collect enough ladies mantle to try a tincture this year. Its the first time I've had this herb in flower, and there's plenty of it, so I'm excited - I've wanted to use this for a good while now.

I strained my valerian flower tincture at 3 weeks, having watched and tasted it a little.. it has a pleasant appley kind of taste, for some reason I can't quite fathom! I have it bottled on standby and will be interested to see what effect it has. Meanwhile, the valerian has a wealth of fresh new heads, so I had thought to maybe make a second small bottle.

I'm also going to try making yarrow tincture .. in previous years I have made ointment for stopping bleeding. But I've never had much call to use it, and in case of emergency I think you can just use the fresh leaves straight from the plant as needed. And I read that the tincture is a good preventative for colds and flu in the winter and can be used in a spray bottle to repel insects in the summer. If you'd seen the mozzy/gnat bites I've had of late you would understand my eagerness on that score! There's enough in the garden now that I should still have plenty to dry for cold/flu tea (with peppermint and elderflowers).

There's so much happening out there right now, and with the sunshine and showers its a question of just darting out at opportune moments and snatching a few photos or snipping anything that's dry. Still, I'm not having to water, lol!

Midsummer

Just a little trip about the garden at the very end of June ..

strawberries ripening in jam jars to protect them from our birdy friends,

valerian towering high above the fence and everything else,

feverfew in full flower now

and lavender just starting to pop.














Just been looking up 'cuckoo spit' .. you can see some on the lavender in the photo above, but we also have a little on the elder. Will have to look out for the adult froghoppers.. I like learning something new, and I like to have an answer ready when the little'un asks me something!

There's so much doing at this time of year and its such a joy to be out in the fresh air working with the plants and enjoying the sunshine. You can really 'feel' the wheel of the year turning over Midsummer as all the burgeoning and freshness and growing gives way to fullness, culmination, maturity. It happens imperceptibly and overnight, it seems and suddenly its time to be harvesting.

Notes on Valerian

Common Valerian (valeriana officinalis) has been used medicinally since at least medieval times and its common name 'all heal' shows how highly it was regarded. The name valeriana (from the Latin 'valere' - to be in health) first occurs in the ninth or tenth century, clearly equated with the 'Phu' of Dioscorides and Galen, named for its offensive odour!

The whole question of its smell is an interesting one. The root develops a strong unpleasant odour as it dries, yet was used as a spice and a perfume in the Middle Ages. Cats are intoxicated by the musky smell of the plant, especially if bruised, and will roll in it and it seems rats are affected in a similar way - it has even been suggested that the Pied Piper of Hamlin owed his success as a rat-catcher to the valerian he secreted about his person.

It is the root which is now used and referred to in modern herbals, yet the Anglo-Saxons used it as a salad and Culpeper commented that 'the green herb being bruised and applied to the head taketh away pain'.

Its fame as a tranquilizer and sedative has overshadowed a range of other medicinal applications - it was recommended at various times for treating coughs, combatting the plague and curing epilepsy, as well as deterring witches and attracting suitors! Its effectiveness as a reliable, calming sedative has long been recognised: a 14th century recipe recommends the juice to stop men fighting and it was widely used in the First World War to treat shell-shock.

It is now valued as a safe effective sedative that does not react with alcohol, create dependency or creat 'hangover' type after-effects. It is most commonly taken as an infusion of the crushed root (1 tspn to 1 cup of boiling water steeped for 20mins) 2 to 3 times daily. Alternatively, a tablespoon steeped for 8hours in a glass of tepid water is taken as a bedtime drink. The tincture can be used in place of an infusion, a teaspoon taken on a sugar lump 2 to 3 times daily, though the effects and dosage can vary markedly: some people may require up to 5ml while in others this much could cause headaches. For this reason, a low dose of 1 to 2ml is recommended at least to begin with.

It is as a powerful nervine that Valerian is nowadays applied medicinally, taken internally to treat hysteria, hyperactivity, anxiety, nervous tension, insomnia, nervous indigestion/ stomach and intestine problems, headaches, IBS and eczema. It is also used internally for painful menstruation and migraine. Externally, it encourages healing in wounds and ulcers and is effective topically for muscle cramps (a pad soaked in tincture is used).

CAUTION: High doses or continued use can lead to headaches and palpitations, so a break is recommended after 2 to 3 weeks. Valerian is contra-indicated for other sedative or anti-depressant drugs.


















A bitter, sedative, stimulant, warming herb.

It calms nerves, relaxes spasms, improves digestion, relieves pain and lowers blood pressure. It is expectorant and diuretic.

Its flowers, which are pale pink to white, can be found from May to September.
A late medieval direction says that the roots are collected in August.

A note on Red Valerian
The true medicinal valerian is commonly confused with Red Valerian (centranthus rubra), a decorative plant introduced from the Mediterranean but now naturalised in southern England. This plant is edible, both leaves and roots being used as food in parts of Europe, and has crimson, pink or rarely white flowers from June to September. It was once known as 'valerian rubra' but it does not have the medicinal qualities of common valerian described above.


















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, trans.Martin Walters (1996)
'Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore and Healing' Stephen Pollington (2000)
'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)

Valerian Flower Tincture

I had something of a valerian-related Eureka moment last night! I finished typing the previous post yesterday evening and thought I'd just have a quick check of my email before signing off the computer. And there in my inbox was Susun Weed's weekly ezine, and one of the things she talks about this week is ... drum roll, wait for it ... using the flowers instead of the root for making valerian tincture!

How's about that for 'coincidence'? For me, personally, there's no such thing as coincidence on this scale - I truly believe (and have always found) that if you put stuff out there in the Universe, it will respond .. you will recieve what you need. So all those years I was letting valerian happily set up shop in the garden and thinking hmmmm, I'm not sure why I'm giving it space because I can't use it, and now I can keep it and love it and use it.

If you're interested you should go read Susun's information for yourself but the upshot is that tincture made from valerian root, which is probably the strongest and best known herbal sedative, unfortunately has the opposite effect in a certain proportion of the people who try taking it, stimulating rather than sedating them. I've seen that proportion given as anything from a tenth to a third - so its significant, and I guess you don't know if that's you until you give it a go. Apparently, the flowers give a much gentler effect and have been used successfully by people who were stimulated by the root.

So there I was this morning, snippers in hand, trug at the ready, harvesting those sweet-scented blooms to make my own tincture. I find there is nothing quite like picking and processing a herb to really get to know it. You get the feel and fragrance of the plant as you handle it, and really see the little details closeup. You get to see what the flowers look like just before and just after their best and learn how to tell when they're coming or going. You get to see what busy little creatures like to live, work and play in the plant. I met some rather impressive tiny spiders this morning, so completely green as to be invisible when sat on a floret. And a couple of ants farming aphids and a teensy tiny little beetley thing. By-the-by, with chives it was earwigs (be warned, potential scone-makers!!). So anyway, its not something to do if you've got a bus to catch, but though it took a while to pick the flowers from the heads it felt like time well spent.

Making the tincture is easy, you just fill the jar up to the top with herb and then fill it up to the top (again) with vodka. Then you label it and leave it for six weeks before straining it. Just one thing to mention, a tip which I wished I worked out a bit sooner(!) .. you can't tell really how much herb you're going to end up with, and you do need to fill the jar right to the top with herb. So collect glass jars of all sizes, not just jam jars - its a good idea to keep pesto jars, dried herb and spice jars etc and even those little mini individual portion jam jars that everyone buys each other in gift sets at Christmas. That way you won't kill yourself trying to collect enough plant and also, for general home use, how much of the medicine will you actually need in a year?

So the little bottle in the middle is the Valerian Flower Tincture made this morning, to the left is a little pot of rose petals in oil (will post about that soon) and to the right the Chive Blossom Vinegar I was telling you about the other day here. So now we wait .. I will be really interested to see how effective it is. Sleeping has never been a problem for me thus far in life, I'm one of those lucky souls who falls asleep the instant my head hits the pillow. And any slight excitement before bedtime can easily be sorted out with a mug of Ovaltine and ten minutes engrossed in a novel to switch my brain off from the day and any outstanding mental to-do list. But I've noticed of late a few nights around the same time each month I am lying there unable to sleep for some reason. This is highly annoying if its actually a night where the little'un sleeps through, as you can well imagine! Its always when I'm experiencing other symptoms of hormonal upheaval, so perhaps is a sign of things to come given my age.. so what a helpful thing to have in the cupboard. I'll keep you posted!

I know you guys that visit Earth and Tree often will already know this, but I just want to remind anyone interested in these posts to:

Please be sure you have the right plant before you use it

Consult a professional herbalist and/or doctor for health problems

Find books giving full instructions for making and taking home remedies safely

** I'm not a qualified herbalist .. what I do here is share my enthusiasm and experiences in the hope that others might get excited too and find resources for learning more and getting started**

Valerian

In the herb garden at the moment, the highlight (with the emphasis on 'high'!)is definitely the valerian which is in beautiful full bloom. The whole plant just took off this year and now towers high above the fence and after last weeks stormy weather I've had to tie it in a bit, but I find it rather glorious. The blossoms are white tinged beautifully with pink and give off a heady scent. The tiny little flowerlets shower all over the plants and paving below like stardust, a white sprinkling making everything around it slightly magical. The air is full of the sound of bees, which can't get enough of it. It wasn't so much an attempt to photograph a bee on a valerian head, as that you can't take a photo of a valerian head without a bee getting into the shot!

Now valerian was really a bit of a mistake for me. Back when I was starting out I read about it and its properties and got excited and wanted to have some to grow .. before I read further and realised that you would only want to use the root, and even that only dug at the right time of year in the right year of its growth. As I have always had such a small garden (only a collection of window boxes when I was beginning) it was important that each plant earn its place - beautiful, useful and preferably multi-purpose. So it doesn't really qualify.

But the thing about valerian is, it doesn't give up. I think it might be one of those plants that once you've got it, you've got it forever! One of the limitations and joys of my rooftop garden in Tottenham was that it just got left from October to March each year. During this time, I handed the baton over to mother nature who would handle the gardening for me till the next spring. She taught me all the most important lessons I have learned about plants and gardening and she always left me lots of little baby plantlets for the following year. Most of these would be valerian - it seeds itself all over the place. All these little valerians taught me something, because the colour of the leaves would be completely different in different parts of the garden - so it was showing me how conditions varied, the conditions it liked and how they affected its growth.

Think its probably safe to say its got the right conditions in the new herb garden! I saw earlier in the year that it was bullying other plants out of the bed, but I've let it flower. It has such thick tall strong stems that it supports other herbs around it - in particular a beautiful bronze fennel that grows up through it. And later in the year, once its heyday is done, its tall skeleton will be handy for tying in the evening primrose next to it which doesn't take off until much later.

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.

Valerian

I'm away for a couple of days now, so I just wanted to thank everyone for stopping by and leaving such kind and interesting comments .. I will be back on Sunday to reply to everyone and visit you all again. Until then, I leave you with a little photo of the Valerian which is just coming into flower, as we were talking about it this week.

Full Moon and Valerian

Clear skies last night and a beautiful full moon .. I popped my head out to see the stars twinkling above my herbs (the joy of a roof garden!) and snapped this shot of the valerian tops silhouetted against the moonlight