February 2005.
I don't know whether to be annoyed or pleased, but the 2005 catalogue has been in existence about three weeks and I'm already needing an "addendum". Exciting new things are germinating fast from the first few weeks seed sowing - I should think it a dead cert we'll have these to add:
Calamintha Nepeta Blue Cloud (blue calamint)
Carlina acaulis (carline thistle)
Silybum marianum (St. Mary's, or Milk Thistle)
Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed)
Artemisia princeps (Yomogi or Japanese Mugwort)
Dwarf White Sage...
..and there are bound to be others. I also forgot to put into the catalogue Polygonatum multiflorum (Solomons Seal), which will be available this year, and Polygonum bistorta (Pudding Dock)- even though I mentioned it in the introduction! Ah well .. all addenda will turn up on the website.
 It's been an innocuous and pleasant winter so far here, with days so fine and dry and sunny I've already sat outside for lunch. Geese in their hundreds pass by day, and the tawny owl is calling at night. Bullfinches maraud the plum tree looking for fat buds (there's plenty for all of us). Lesser Celandine has come out to join the show of snowdrops, winter aconites and early crocus. The old name for this sunny wild flower is Pilewort - it is used for the treatment of haemorrhoids. A look at the roots when you dig it up would convince you of the truth of the old "doctrine of signatures", which says that a herb will resemble the condition it is used to treat! Anyway, I have a great carpet of it in early spring and I have hesitated to try to sell it because it is so invasive, but really I should - it is such a cheerful thing to have, and the whole lot dies back after flowering in any case allowing, in my garden, sea hollies and alliums of various kinds to take over.
Spring shoots of comfrey are now showing - another "welcome invasive", which feeds us and the compost heap with its leaves, and bumble bees with its flowers. There was some panic a few years ago about comfrey being carcinogenic - but when you look more closely at it, what they found was that if you feed vast quantities of the roots to unfortunate rats, some got cancer. The leaves are not harmful and indeed are highly nutritious. Many other plants are putting on spring growth, but winter can leave you short on supplies for fresh herbal teas and flavourings. Recently I've been turned on to using cinnamon sticks in tea - it gives a fabulously warm brew, with a sweet aftertaste. It's also used to treat digestive problems and colds. A nice combination for winter is cinnamon, three or four fresh sage leaves, a slither of fresh root ginger, and honey.
Preparing the nursery for spring has involved installing a new propagating bench in the new greenhouse, doubling the space for production - so long as I can clear enough room for standing out areas later on! With the range expanding every year, we've also had to extend garden and stock beds so there's plenty of propagation material, and we've been working on getting things more tidy, better labelled and organised in general. Our pet geese have not helped at all. They pretend the new beds are ponds, and tear the water mint and water avens out of the sink-ponds. But they're pretty.
We're intending to get round to a lot more of the local shows and markets in 2005. Shortly before Christmas, we did the Aberfeldy Christmas Market for the first time - a good opportunity to start to sell our new range of hand-made beeswax candles, essential oils and cosmetics. We look forward to being back in Aberfeldy for Easter Saturday, and at the Dundee Spring Garden Show on 16 th /17 th April.
Last weekend, bees were seen flying in and out of the hive bearing knee-caps full of dirty white pollen. I can't remember what plant that is, but there is plenty of hazel, snowdrop, crocus and aconite around, plus Winter Heaths and winter-flowering Viburnums. The good news is that it indicates that Someone in there is laying eggs and young bees are being reared. Next opportunity we'll check they have enough honey stores, just in case we have a wet spring (highly likely looking outside the window).
 Well, time to be cutting back old herbaceous stuff like yarrows and globe artichokes that looked so nice in the frosts, but now that regrowth has started, look soggy and untidy. I found a very saturated old Carline Thistle flower head and brought it into the porch without much optimism, but it enthusiastically dried up and showered the dog with seeds, some of which I rescued and sowed. Never discard propagation material!
More news next month.
Margaret Lear
Bankfoot, February 2005. |
