Kitchen Greenhouse

This is going back a few weeks, now, New Moon at the beginning of March to be exact..



I spent a happy afternoon at the kitchen table with the radio for company, surrounded by newspaper, compost (not always ON the newspaper, sadly!), milk cartons, seed packets, tin foil cat food trays, cardboard tubes and miscellaneous other extremely handy bits and bobs.. attempting to construct little comfy homes for my seedlings. There was something very cathartic and Blue Peter about it all, I haven't had so much fun in ages..

Elsie the cat was very helpful in attempting to eat, biff or sit upon my carefully organised chaos and has since been most displeased that the sunniest spot in front of the kitchen window (where she sun-worships and watches for passing pigeons to make the Ack-Ack noise at) is now occupied by a number of recycled DIY incubators of dubious construction.

Nevertheless, I got some herb seeds planted in my 'proper' propagator (try saying that quickly!), potted on the February seedlings and generally got very very grubby. Brilliant!



I picked up a tip from somewhere (will try to find it and post the link) recently to use the cardboard cartons that soup or milk comes in for plant pots, as when you want to plant out you can just snip down the sides with scissors and slide the plant out intact. So I did this for a few of the bigger seedlings. I also used the bottom half of plastic milk bottles (with drainage hole punched in the bottom) as plant pots. And I'd been saving the plastic trays from food shopping to use as drip trays to stand things in .. or as lids for incubators, if transparent.

In fact, things might be getting out of hand now because I can't look at anything now without working out how I can re-use the packaging.. its addictive!

---> LINKS:

yoghurt pots as mini greenhouses

make seedling pots from newspaper

make recycled seed pots

Bean Update

Ooh, I forgot to show you how my little bean seedlings are doing ..

First they looked like this, if you remember?

They soon got potted up and looked like this (on a typical grey day, a week or so back!)


.. and now we're getting a bit of sunshine, they look like this


.. and I think they mean business!!

Berry Go Round

I've been featured in my first blog carnival.. very exciting!

Berry Go Round is a monthly carnival of posts about plants and the latest edition is here at Greg Laden's blog

NB: there is a wonderful post on Nettles, for all you herb and weed lovers out there..

St John's Wort

St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is strongly linked with ancient superstition and Midsummer’s Day: ‘hypericum’ derives from Greek and relates to the practice of placing flowers above religious images in the home to drive off evil spirits at Midsummer. It is also thought to be named after the Knights of St John of Jerusalem, who used this herb to treat wounds on Crusade battlefields. A medieval prescription by the Physicans of Myddfai for chillblains survives from thirteenth century Wales.

Traditionally used to treat nervous complaints and externally for healing, St John’s wort fell out of use in the 19th century. Its revival in the next century was due to clinical trials which demonstrated its effectiveness in relieving mild to moderate depression. Today it is used internally for anxiety, depression, nervous tension, the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and menopause though in the past it was used for a broader spectrum of ailments including bladder problems (in particular, an infusion is given before retiring to treat a child’s bedwetting). The herb is also useful when applied externally to treat burns, bruises, injuries, sores, sciatica, cramps and sprains.

A cooling herb which promotes healing, calms nerves, reduces inflammation and benefits circulation. It is also locally antiseptic and analgesic.

CAUTION: Harmful if eaten; can cause dermatitis/skin allergy in sunlight

Flowers June to August
An oil is made by infusing the flowers in olive oil.


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)

The Littlest But Not The Least

The littlest thought, action or contribution can be the one that makes someone's day, that tips the balance, that influences someone powerful, that starts a chain reaction ..

And the littlest things in life are the most important.. comfy bed, good food to eat, sun coming up in the morning, a flower opening up its petals for the day, a smile from a stranger .. this is what life is about, not the big stuff.

A flurry of snowflakes outside my window on Easter Sunday... a little thing.

April tagged me to create this 6 word memoir (here is the original post which sets out the background)..

1. Write a six word memoir and post it on your blog
2. Add a picture if you wish
3. Link to the person who tagged you
4. Tag 4 or 5 others, with links, to keep it going
5. Leave a comment for the ones you tag with an invitation to play
6. Link to the original post at Bookbabie, if possible.

The following wonderful bloggers are tagged to play, if (and only if!) they would like to join in.. no obligation, anyone..

Dave at osage+orange
Ruth at body,soul&spirit
NatureGirl at naturetrail
Ben at homelycapers
Hedge Hermit at secretsfromthehedge

Warning: this meme can make your brain hurt, and requires the use of fingers on more than one hand!!

Equinox

Today is the equinox which heralds Spring and is, of course, the underlying and unifying theme behind many important religious festivals.

"Day and night are equal, poised and balanced, but about to tip over on the side of light."

This descibes exactly how I feel about this turning point .. emerging from the darkness into the light. New life, rebirth, potential and hope.