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Gardening/ HERBS and Low carb diets.

The herbal I mentioned:

A Modern Herbal by Mrs M Grieve, edited and Introduced by Mrs C F Leyel. First published 1931. Penguin Handbooks edition 1980. ISBN 0 14 046-440 9.

The Penguin edition is a large paperback. It describes the plants, gives their place of origin and the history of their use, tells about cultivation and goes on to describe modern uses, which parts and how to prepare them. It would be a super book for a desert island, but they wouldn't let you take it 'cos too useful! :lol: It's one of those books that you pick up to check something, and you're still there two hours later.

Viv 8)
 
MANY wild plants look VERY similar to sweet cicely but are highly poisonous. Be sure you have identified a plant accurately before tasting it......I'm not confident on identifying them so took the plunge to buy today!!
Click to expand...

I found Vivs herbal online this shows how vital it is to identify it correctly.

The stem grows from 2 to 3 feet high, bearing many leaves, and white flowers in early summer appear in compound umbels.In appearance it is rather like Hemlock, but is of a fresher green colour.
Click to expand...

We have a wild, meadow bit at the end of our garden, well that's the posh name, the real reason is that it is very hard to mow as it's on a steep slope. That's full of all sorts of wild plants and I haven't the foggiest what most of them are. The butterflies like it though.

This morning ,when we woke up their were 2 young cows in the 'meadow' bit, we should have left them there, saved having to mow it later. Unfortunately we spooked them and they gave us a merry dance round the garden. We have a pool and I was scared stiff one was going to end up jumping in. Eventually one jumped the hedge into our neighbours field (not her own owners field)the other went out the gate and off trotting down the road. By this time we had an audience and the appropriate farmer was found. His cows are always escaping as he tends to mend his fences with blue string :lol: but It's not unsual to find a herd of cows wandering along the roads round here .
 
Hi Pheonix,
Noooo.. one wouldnt be wanting to mix up sweet cicely and hemlock!!!! Think I'll probably buy my fist one and propogate the rest, though I'm sure there'll be loads on the country lanes around here.
just noticed you are in France... must be rural, now if you could manage to get the stray's to deliver the milk before they trot off ...that would be something.

Hi MaryMeg,
Well done with the basil. I just got three packs @29p each in lidl thinking I'll set away another big pot full. My little pots have grown. But I love to use basil in cooking and I especailly lov the smell when you waft your hand across it... hmmm! The ice cube tray idea is a good one and I like to have a few different herb butters (when I'm organised ) for making different dishes.

Must go through my seed packs to see if there is anything there left to plan. Most of my available garden is planted up now.. just waiting for it all to come to fruition.
Sparkles.
 
Well, what a wash out today has been-a chance to go through all my empty packets of seeds and write down what (so far) has been good (some cucumbers didn't germinate), and chanced to find some more lettuce to plant in the spare big pots I have.

I entered a competition last night for Kitchen Garden Magazine Photgraph Competition...to show off the new raised beds and the containers and veg...winners only get a £100-but for entry I get a packet of seeds!!!!! (Choice of Suttons I believe).

Also went on line and entered some competitions with them this morning..doesn't cost anything and winners can get a chicken house (supposedly not allowed them-but advised by solicitor that the allotments act over-rides the stupid convenants that were put on the bungalow).

So always one way or another besides being a total and utter wash-out today!!! Hopefully sweet cicly will arrive this week and the weather will be better!!!
 
Yes… what a wash out! And again today…. Durrr….. I had planned to put cement around the cobbled path I’ve been making. Oh well… will have to wait. The photographic competitions sound like fun DD. Wish you luck and hope you win some interesting things. I’d love to get chickens and goats but my partner isn’t keen I think and worries the neighbours would object. Don’t know if we have any legal reasons why not to… How can I check that? I’m in to being as self sufficient as I can become. Today, I am straining my first batch of elderflower cordial (recipe in the recipe section- but quite sweet.) Its exciting and I just love the taste of it. I made elderberry cordial last autumn and it got me through the winter. A lovely warm full-bodied drink for the long winter nights. I am wondering if it could be made with honey rather than sugar. And whether I will be able to drink it even.. But if not then I’ll just give away as presents to non-diabetics as I enjoy making it anyway.
But oh what a grey day today in north Yorkshire.
Oh well, saved on the watering!
Sparkles.
 
Talk to goat owners before you commit, Sparkles - they can get out of anything, they can climb, and they eat anything, preferably your herbs and vegetables! Also the billies smell. On the other hand, I've known some very nice nannies, and nothing is cuter than a kid

Grey day over my side of North Yorks, too!

Viv 8)
 
Hi Viv,

I wouldnt get one unless I'd learned more about how to look after them anyhow viv. We had friends once who kept angora for the wool.. (is that right?) they had lots of space. I would have to keep them in the front garden which is very seperate from the back where my veg is. But mostly think it would be more suitable to chickens. But there is very little grass its mostly mossy as there is a lot of shade from trees.
Sparkles.
 
By the way...thanks for the tips on paprika etc for Mr Mole....I put loads of the smelliest paprika, cinnammon and cayenne in the tunnels...and it looks like he has beat a hasty retreat in to nextdoors garden...I now have a tunnel under my slate chippings going to the next door neighbours-just hoping it is Mr Mole making an exit from here...and not Mrs Mole and family joining him in our garden to make a curry for themselves!!!!......
 
Hi DD

It just occured to me that the anti-cat teabags, soaked in essential oils, would probably work in mole runs too! Particularly sharp ones such as citrus, teatree and lavender.

Viv 8)
 
Great idea Viv...they will hate them!!!
 
Grow your own

Does anyone else grow fruit and vegetables. I am giving it a try for the first time properly this year and so far I think its doing great.

Growing Chillies I have got Tabasco, Jalapeño, Anaheim, Hungarian hot wax and Tepin chillies one of the worlds hottest. I need to move them out into the greenhouse as they are almost too big for the window ledge. I have tomatoes and herbs as well. So does anyone else grow anything or thinking about growing something next year.

 
Re: Grow your own

Oh yes, we've quite a large veggie garden. We're eating lots of tomatoes, garlic, courgettes, lettuce, artichokes, onions, shallots and french beans at the moment. We've also grown/are growing red cabbage, green cabbage, butternut squash, cauliflower, broccoli, melons, aubergines, fennel, celery and loads of herbs this year.

We planted a small orchard about 4 years ago, and have apple, pear, plum, peach, apricot, cherry, fig, walnut and hazelnut trees. And then there's the strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, blackberries...

What we can't eat we swap with friends for stuff that we don't grow ourselves.

And I make a lot of jam :lol:
 
Re: Grow your own

That sounds fantastic. Im struggling with just my chillies and tomatoes. I quite fancy trying strawberry's next year and for my chillies im going to make a grow box with lights as they taken months to start due to lack of sunlight and warmth up here in scotland :lol:
 
Re: Grow your own

Mehdave,
Strawberries are great, but they tend to take over with the runners :lol: cascades of luscious red fruits (and some lovely white alpines!).
p.s.
Congrats on becoming a mod
 
Lots of strawberries sounds lovely yum. And Thanks catherinecherub for pointing out this thread I moved mine into here
 
Now that the majority of strawberries are coming to an end...don't forget to cut off the leaves and runners (hopefully you have cut off runners, unless you want more plants), and cut them to within an inch or so from the growing points.....leave any new leaves that are emerging.....they will soon grow new leaves that will establish pre winter to give them some protection and will give good crops for next year....
Strawberry plants over 3 years old would be worthwhile replacing...
 
Growing strawberries in pouches so that they are off the ground is a good idea as this keeps the pesky slugs and snails off them :mrgreen: I have constant battle with them and occasionally I threaten them with slug pellets but yesterday I found a frog hopping around so thats a no no. I also have a family of blackbirds that are determined to finish off the blackcurrants before I can pick them
.We tried netting the bushes but they managed to get in and get stuck so I had to rescue them I will just enjoy their singing and forgive their thieving .Enjoy your gardening and I hope you get to eat the fruits of your labours
CAROL
 
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