Thursday, June 28, 2012

A Brave New World

I went off to beautiful Devon to attend a Forest Gardening course with the inspirational Martin Crawford.  The two day course took us through the process of understanding what a Forest Garden is and how to create our own.





I came back and frightened everyone with my enthusiasm.  This poor, sleepy little garden that quietly snoozes in the lea of the hill is about to have a rude awakening.  Whilst she is yawning and stretching and waking up to LIFE, she has no idea what's in store.  It's going to be Garden Boot Camp.  She's flabby, undisciplined, out of condition and downright lazy.  She has let herself go completely and her diet is appalling.  Her hair and nails need seeing to, her wardrobe needs revamping (although there are some key pieces) and her general outlook on life requires an overhaul. She's lost her mojo, her sense of purpose, her self-worth but we are going to make this bad girl GLORIOUS.  


The most important thing is not to scare her - or myself - with the scale of the job.  Let's break this thing down into manageable chunks.  


The Weigh In:
The first stage is to do a site survey: soil readings, draw a site map to scale and plot not just what is here, but what needs to go.


Nutritional Review - or the non-diet diet:
As Martin talked us through the history of his garden we were aware that he used really simple strategies to keep his workload manageable, for example, after planting a tree he covered the surrounding area with protection to kill off weeds, grasses and other competition.  Genius.  I would have dug a big hole, planted and then made loads of work for myself having to weed regularly.  As one participant whispered 'he's quite lazy, isn't he?'.  My kind of gardening.


Lots of digging is bad for the soil.  Just as the human body is very vulnerable when cut open, dug over soil can lose valuable resources and is exposed to external bacteria, unwanted seeds etc.  So rather than brutal digging, weeding etc we're going to throw a dark blanket of covering over tough areas full of brambles etc and kill off weeds that way and throw good seeds/plants at other areas to encourage fertility and improve the soil.  A two-fold approach depending on the area's needs.


In other words.  You can still have a Hobnob, but let's start the day by juicing.  A kind of Stealth Bombing nutritional programme.


Mini Make-Over
When embarking on a health kick every woman needs a new wardrobe - just a few new pieces to make her feel better about herself and give her some confidence.  


What is our girl going to get?  A lovely little number that can be used for many occasions - dressed up or down and lovely to look at.  Rosa rugosa hedging!!!

Beautiful flowers that can be put in salads and, later, lovely hops that are full of vitamin C and can be made into syrups and cough mixture.  There is a delicate scent and the bees love it.  The garden equivalent of the Little Black Dress!








Waiting for the new outfit
We'll put this at the fence at the entrance to the garden and it will really give her a boost.  It's the first thing that people will notice and it will communicate her change of attitude.
Definitely time for a make-over











Tuesday, June 26, 2012

The Floral Dance





My mother-in-law calls those dried wreaths you get at Christmas 'Death on the Door'.  I have to admit, I've never been a fan of them.  


However, I've seen photos of flower wreaths that look so pretty and summery I wanted to put some on the wall in the courtyard outside my kitchen.


Today my florist daughter taught me how to make them.  We had such fun just going round the garden collecting leaves and flowers and look what we created!  







I'll be interesting to see how long they last - but as the garden is over-run with geraniums and lady's mantle - I could make a fresh one every day.*


I basically used any pretty flower I could find - suddenly even those I had considered weeds had a new beauty.


By the way, with regards to Lady's Mantle,  another use for this is as a herbal tea.  Just pluck the top flowers and leaves and add hot water (I also add mint or lemon balm).  Keep a saucer over the cup whilst it cools to trap the steam and prevent the volatile oils from escaping. It is a uterine tonic and good for menstrual cramps.  Tastes like honey!


*four days later - still looking good.

If you'd like to learn how to make a wreath (it is really easy!) there is a great tutorial by inspirational florist,  Jay Archer  on great website called pocketfullofdreams.co.uk

Monday, June 25, 2012

I know it's early, but.. get ready for Spring!


Hay fever Remedy.


Just a quick apothecary note on those elderflowers.  A herbalist friend of mine gave me a great remedy for hay fever using elderflowers and as they are still in bloom so late this year, there is still time to do this.


Pack a jam jar full of elderflowers.  Get a jar of your local runny honey and pour it over the flowers, get as much in as you can.  Leave the flowers to infuse, shaking from time to time.  


After 5 days strain the honey and re-bottle it.  Next Feb as the pollen count starts to rise, take a teaspoon of honey a day to ward off hay fever.


Use the honey-soaked flowers as a tea - hot or iced!!!


Bless you.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Wild Abandon

Just arrived
Looking for sunshine
 The 'party favours' on the tables at our daughter & son-in-law's wedding were packets of wild flower seeds from West Sussex.   At the end of the evening there were several packets left behind and I was keen to gather them all up to scatter in the garden.


Who knows what happened - I only ended up with 2!  However plenty of people took some home and they are being spread over fields and flowerbeds across the land - some even got as far as Ireland.  I haven't heard how any of them are doing yet.


Once I had recovered from the amazing week of wedding preparation & celebration I sprinkled one pack of the seeds over the soil in a prepared flower pot.  The second packet I just sprinkled over a pretty ropey old flower bed.


3 weeks later seedlings in the pot are doing well.  With the flowerbed it's hard to detect what's a flower and what's a weed seedling at the moment.  Wild flowers don't need rich, moist conditions, in fact, I've read that they prefer rough conditions.  Well, the cosy flower potted seeds have germinated and are doing well and I may have to use them as my identification guide for anything that surfaces in the flower bed. I'm hoping both sites produce lots of flowers and that they self seed this autumn.  
The 'before' of the veg patch


We're going to build a vegetable garden at the top of the garden, basically all the shrubs you see in the mid-foreground of this photo. As it's on a hill we want to create level ground so the approach will have a bank which I want to be full of wild flowers. Introducing them into the garden now could mean they get there of their own accord.  


I'm also intending to have a wall of roses and an arched gateway into the vegetable garden.  I have a beautiful, tall yellow rose with an old fashioned scent that grows infront of the garage.  I would love to have a wall of these roses at the entrance to the vegetable garden so am trying to propigate them.


Can you see the red buds?  They're there!
My advisor - my 76yr old mum - says to dip them in hormone rooting powder and then stick them in the ground.  That what she does and her roses thrive.  She also sits next to the rose 'nursery' smoking and I reckon the lack of clean air kicks their survival mechanism into full gear and they grow like crazy to cope!


Mine are doing okay - if you look carefully you can see little red buds starting to emerge.  I have a little chat with them on a daily basis - I reckon roses are quite sensitive, fragile spirits who need lots of reassurance and then cope brilliantly in difficult situations.  The summer so far should provide them with plenty of opportunity to overcome adversity!
Smell this.




Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Elderflower Cordial

Sambucus something aka elder

Last May I made my first ever batch of elderflower cordial - easy peasy and totally delicious, but I only made 2 litres, which was drunk very quickly.



Whilst I was delighted when our daughter got engaged in June last year, I was disappointed that the elderflowers were over as I thought little bottles of homemade cordial on the wedding breakfast table would have been a wonderful touch.  Anyway, the day was gorgeous without it - but I have been determined to make enough cordial this year to last longer than a month!


The first batch soaking up the sun
Cheers!
The problem was getting enough bottles.  I love those olive oil bottles with the flip cap - but had only managed to collect 4 of them.  Someone suggested old screw top white wine bottles - perfect!  Had to do some extra work emptying them, of course, but it was worth it in the end.

I have proudly given away a few litres of the stuff but now I've discovered a recipe for elderflower vodka!  I went to pick some flowers (they're much later this year due to the rain) but they smell a bit 'over' - so that will have to wait 'til next year.  Anyway, I've found a recipe for elderberry & wild cherry syrup that I want to try so I'd better leave flowers for that (and the birds, of course).


PS I've planted a Sambucus nigra - which is the dark leaved/pink flowered version of the elder, can you make cordial from that and will it be pink?  I really hope so, but will have to wait until next May to see.


Elderflower cordial


Veg

in season

Elderflower cordial
Homemade elderflower cordial is so much better than anything you can buy. Serve with sparkling water for a refreshing drink or sparkling wine for a delicious cocktail.

Ingredients

Preparation method

  1. Gently rinse over the elderflowers to remove any dirt or little creatures.
  2. Pour the boiling water over the sugar in a very large mixing bowl. Stir well and leave to cool.
  3. Add the citric acid, the orange and lemon slices, and then the flowers.
  4. Leave in a cool place for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
  5. Strain through some muslin and transfer to sterilised bottles.


Tuesday, June 19, 2012

A Forest Garden

I got really excited earlier this year as I was collecting nettles (see earlier blog).  Years ago I trained as an aromatherapist and the therapeutic properties of plants and flowers have always excited and inspired me. I love being able to forage not just for food but also for plants that have healing properties.  As I  did some research in the garden and read up on plants, I began to realise that we had the makings of an amazing site.

How wonderful it would be, I thought, to wander in my own garden with my grandchildren picking foods and plants to eat and to make tinctures, tonics and ointments. Talk about planning for the future!

A few days later I was reading an article in Permaculture Magazine on Forest Gardening and suddenly all my thoughts came together.  This is exactly what my garden should be!

It's a jungle
A Forest Garden is somewhere between a woodland and an orchard.  Perfect, this was an old orchard and before that, woodland, all it's got now are a few apple trees and a damson we planted plus wild cherry trees struggling in the jungle that is 'woodland'.  A Forest Garden is exactly what this garden wants to be.

So now I'm off.  I've got a couple of books, am going on a course, I'm learning about permaculture too and my focus is to create a vibrant, thriving, bio-diverse environment that not only feeds us but is a balanced, sustainable environment for all forms of nature.


This IS my Secret Garden Project and I feel like I have finally come home.  When first I saw this place I felt it was just waiting for someone to cut through the overgrowth and allow life to blossom again.  
What's in there?
Now I have a vision, it is time to break it down into something I can actually achieve!  Being a coach it's interesting to observe the intuitive process - the inspiration, the ideas, the willingness to learn and research - and see how, when the motivation is there, setting goals is very easy and a natural consequence of creative thought.  


The Moriarty of the Garden: Rampant Prunus laurocerasus
It's also very helpful to understand the process and the stages of relationship, even the relationship with my garden.  Right now I am in the Honeymoon stage of the project - I can see the potential of the garden, I'm full of enthusiasm, I feel like I have come home etc.


So I will eventually hit the Power Struggle.  This is an inevitable stage, the frustration, perfectionism, disappointment, where the demands (my own and that of the garden) can become overwhelming, a result of starting a new path of growth and evolution   It doesn't matter whether the power struggle is with nature (although I have already identified my arch enemy: Prunus), myself or others, I am going to hit it and it is where I get to choose whether I want to be right or be happy!  More on that at a later date!




Then there's the Dead Zone to look forward to:  roles, rules (OMG is that going to be the local council???) and many other layers of relationship - all the challenges here will be about surrender.  How willing will I be to surrender and allow the process to teach me what to do next rather than trying to dictate the pace?


Simply beautiful

My ultimate goal?  To create an Enchanted Realm where love in all its mystery will thrive.  


Big vision - baby steps.


•all photos by wpmmillar

Sunday, June 17, 2012

An apothecary's garden

A shady bunch
I recently was introduced to Twitter and have discovered a whole new world!  One of the people I 'follow' is Lucy Jones  (@myrobalanclinic), a medical herbalist.  She writes a wonderful blog on herbs and their uses and recently shared the benefits of Nettles.
Looking full of vigour
 I was so inspired by her blog I went out and found a wonderful supply of nettles in the garden (which probably tells you how neglected its been) and followed her recipe for Winter Nettle tonic.  The ingredients are dried nettles, organic oranges and dried apricots soaked in organic red wine for three weeks.  This is then strained and bottled and kept for winter when the recommended daily dose is a desertspoon 2x day.
Soaking

I am sure the healthy ingredients in the fruit and the nettles will help - but 2 desertspoons of red wine every day will certainly make those dark winter days a little more bearable!