Gardening/ HERBS and Low carb diets.

Hi Donnelliesdogs

Yes it is such a shame, The moles, you have put such a lot of effort in making your raised beds and your paths. I had a look on line to see if I could find any solutions for you. There are mole traps, some kill but personally I couldnt use them. But some just capture and you can release the critters elsewhere. also :

Repellents
Placing repellents underneath the garden bed can discourage moles from coming near. Moles are repelled by broken glass, razor blades, bleach, mothballs, lye, castor oil and human hair, according to the University of California.
but I couldn't use the some of those horrid things!!! (and human hair is limited)
but this looks interesting.... perhaps when the slugs run out you'll be rid of both!!!

Food
Moles can be discouraged from living in a particular area when their food sources are eliminated, according to the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management. Grubs are a major source of mole food and using parasitic nematodes or milky spore disease on the lawn can eliminate most of the grubs, which can discourage the moles from coming into the yard. Also, these grubs can damage the grass, so the lawn benefits overall from killing off the grubs.

Then also someone was recommending putting the hose down the hole
or sprinkling chilli, cayenne pepper or cinamon.. as deterants.

Perhaps you just end up having to do what I've had to do with the big oak tree in next doors garden. Learn to love it. Love moles... Do they have any nice qualities? I remember years ago finding a little one in a hedgerow. I picked it up to show my children and boy was it strong... it's little hands pushed my fingers apart no problem,

Yes, youre right, loo rolls are so plentiful they can be replaced if they get wet. I was thinking to cut them in half anyway for the purpose of blanching leeks. Will try that one when my leeks are bigger. pruned the strawberries this morning to let the sunshine in.

Hope I can eat them by the time they are ready... (no fruit on foundation

SPARKLES

Oooooooo do you think so!!
roll on summer and ripen!

Hi Debra,

Personally, I've found growing many herbs in pots works best for me. A few are suited to going into the ground when large enough to transplant = Dill, fennel, lovage, but most of the common culinariy ones are good grown in pots. Some seem to like dryish conditions like the mediteranean conditions they grow naturally in = eg. rosemary. thyme. marjoram. So i might put plenty sand in with the soil in these for drainage. Others like basil, parsley, corriander I just get as big a pot as I have, put broken pottery in the bottom (or some broken up polestyrene ) for drainage, then some garden soil and then I put some better soil at the top- soil from a grow bag would do. THen I sow my pack of seeds. I buy my corriander seeds from netto or lidl-very cheap and have been known to put a few packs in if its a hugh pot. (Some seeds dont like to be covered with soil as they need light to germinate, so pay careful attention to the sowing instructions on the packet.) Corriander is a great one to start with in my opinion, it grows prolific and fast, its so easy just keep the seeds damp and when the plants grow give them loads of water, they love it. I love my corriander in homemade humous. Heres a recipe. (makes a lot you could half all quantities to make less.) I have been know to throw in a few raisins and spices to copy the shop bought moroccan hummous.


Hummous
2 tins (500g / 16 oz) of chickpeas; drained and washed in cold water
1/2 cup Tahini
1 tsp cumin powder
1 lemon; juiced
6-8 cloves garlic
¼ cup olive oil
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Water
as much corianderas you can handle, stalks and all; chopped very fine
1 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Place the lemon juice, corriander and the garlic in a food processor and liquidise
2. add the chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, cumin, salt and water, liquidlise
3. At this stage you can add more water / oil or tahini to make it to the desired creaminess if you want.
3. Place in a serving dish, garnish with coriander and the extra virgin olive oil
Serve with warm pitta bread.

Should keep in the fridge for 7 days

Good Luck, have fun!
SPARKLES

Oh yes should have mentioned,

like Donneltsdogs says mints have roots that will spread and spread so they need to be contained in a pot even if you bury the pot in the garden. Tarragon is also like this. But corriander is not, however it is still it is best grown in a pot. Also did you know there are loads of types of mint. Apple mint, ginger mint, spear mint to name but a few. I hang my mint 'branches' upside down to dry and then when dry make mint tea using just a couple of leaves in a cup of hot water.
I also like to put young mint leaves into my salads, especially ginger mint - its lovely.
SPARKLES

Hummous,
yes Viv! ...I eat mine on celery sticks or even just off a spoon. The recipe I posted was not the one I usually use... I was too lazy to go and find it. But I dont think its so different. Except that when i make mine I just use one small tin of chickpeas (1/2 size of a reg bake bean tin) crammed with corriander. Its very quick to make.
Sparkles.

Weathers been great here in Yorkshire for a few days and I’ve been out in the garden all day every day. Mostly working on my little flower patch as my vegetables are all planted up and doing their thing. I did plant some chicory in a tub though and have re-potted some tomatoe plants. (mine are always tiny compared to ones I see elsewhere. Perhaps I don’t start them early enough or feed them enough?) I generally end up with green tomatoes and only a few ripening in time. I like to make my own jams and chutneys but I suppose those days are numbered now. (Or may be just to give as presents to non-diabetics)
I promised myself that this year I would make elderflower cordial which I love. The elder flowers look like they are out now. I don’t know If I can get away with this or whether it would be too sugary -but then, it is a cordial so could be made up very very diluted. Anyone got any comments?
SPARKLES

Hi Mary,

That’s fantastic Mary! You must let me know how the basil grows in the big pot as I havent tried it in a big pot yet. I love 'watching' things grow and some seeds it is literally like that… they grow so fast you can literally see it happening. I'd rather watch that than TV. I find it almost spiritual (though I’m not a religious type.) Funny too how some seeds take so little to germinate while others take a long time. I have been known to make that mistake, thinking I’d bought a dud packet of seeds and thrown the contents of the seed tray away only to realise later that that set of seeds was one of those with a long germination period and I’d just been too impatient.
I didn’t know about the different types of tarragon. I think mine is French tarragon.

I love learning what to do with herbs and reading about historical uses of herbs. One easy use is to mix combinations of herbs with butter or soft cheeses. Roll the herby butters into little individual butter balls or butterrolls and freeze them for the rest of the year to use as they are on crackers etc. or for use in cooking. You can make them themed eg, for fish dishes… dill etc or for Italian dishes, basil etc. I also only discovered recently that herbs can be quickly dried in the microwave by giving them 30 second blasts and turning regularly. Once you start growing herbs it can become addictive it’s so pleasurable. I have plenty herbs now from a culinary point of view but I just want to keep adding new varieties to them and learning more about them. I read yesterday that lemon balm is good to plant near fruit trees… it attracts bees which encourages pollination. So I shall be moving mine over to my little fruit garden.

Yes Mary… you’re right, several herbs can be propagated just by dividing up the older plants or by taking basal cuttings. I lost several rosemarys in the frosts last year. I’d nurtured them for a couple of years and they had grown quite big and strong looking. (and they were originally just little twig cuttings taken off one large bush belonging to a friend.) I was gutted to lose them but I managed to salvage just one little 2” bit of twig with a bit of life left in it -which I put into a pot of sandy soil. It has taken!! and is now about 4 inches tall so I’m hoping it will grow strong like its parent and grandparent plants and I shall be wary of the frosts in future. Perhaps I’ll keep it in a pot and bring indoors in heavy frosts, or if not I might protect with fleece in future. Which reminds me… another tip I discovered this year. I usually buy the white fleece fabric from garden centres…but we have a cheap curtain shop locally and they sell off-cuts of net curtains in bins for just a couple of pounds. I had some large off-cuts which are finely woven and I’ve been trialling these over my cloches. They are great and far more durable than the white fleece. I’ll just wash them at the year end and re-use each year. (money saving)

I also recently saw a photo of chives growing in rows in a nursery bed. They looked so pretty and orderly with their little purpley blue flowers and I’m thinking I’d like to grow and eat more chives. So perhaps next year I will plant lots more of them in rows. Does anyone know if chives are one of those plants which like mint tend to over run the garden if you are not careful?

Today I’m planning a trip to town. I’m hoping I will find some mange tout and some fine green bean plants on sale cheaply as we love them here. Fingers and toes all crossed. Oh I love growing things so much!! And when things grow well… its almost like they are responding to being loved and cared for… Like they want to reward the gardiner for all his or her hard work!

(((Shhh…. Don’t tell them that ultimately I am going to eat them!! )))

Sparkles.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... ogle.co.uk

Hi donnelysdogs...

Interesting... I just googles and found the above link. I never ate much ginger until I started ATKINS a couple of weeks ago. Now I use it a lot. We had it in steamed veg last night. I wouldn't mind having a go at propogating it.

Sparkles.

According to that link above the time of year you propogate ginger is important and also getting the right bit planted. Did you try to propogate it at the right timeDonnellysdogs? Other than that Im sorry dont know. I just bought my chunk in the greengrocers today. Perhaps if you need lots you can buy in bulk online? I Also found some ginger syrup being sold off in holland and barratts... smells amazing. I couldnt find mangetout plants or french beans but did find the seeds in Wilkos (offer on all seeds at mo, 3pks cheapest free) I also picked up some chive plants and thyme, pak choi, iceburgs, pea and celariac being sold off.

Does anyone know if chives roots will run riot if I plant them straight in the ground? Well I aim to plant them in tomorrow,
Sparkles.