Newsletter September 2005
The Nursery
Just now everything almost is in boxes on the floor - the fall-out (literally) from the Dundee Flower Show, waiting to be either potted on into larger pots, found space in the polytunnel for winter, or tidied up and organised for the next market, which will be Blairgowrie on the last Saturday in September. For the few remaining markets of the year, I'll be focussing on larger stock for autumn planting, indoor plants, and the expanding range of soaps, essential oils and greetings cards. There will also be honey (see below), and dried herb mixes - an eclectic blend of unusual flavourings from Plants with Purpose. Stocktaking remains to be done, and then the enjoyable work of planning next years catalogue and new introductions to our range of plants and produce. I think I've taken the last cuttings of the year, but you can never be sure....
These are some of the indoor plants that will be available for Christmas and beyond: Pelargonium 'Queen of Lemon', P. 'Attar of Roses', P. 'Royal Oak', P. 'Sweet Mimosa' and P. 'Camphor Rose' (all vividly scented leaves), Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus), an unusual spiny plant with cheerful red berries which may also be grown outside and was used to scrub the wooden tables in the butcher's shop; Aloe vera (of legendary medicinal properties); and the Money Tree, guaranteed to bring good fortune when placed in the money corner of the house.
The Bees
Our hive is a towering inferno of five supers of honey, four of which are sealed and ready to be removed and extracted. As I write we have a clearer board on two of the supers, and will clear the other two next week. Next problem will be finding a convenient vehicle for getting the honey extracted, getting jars, designing a new label and selling the surplus! The bees will need to be fed, given their varroa mite treatment and prepared for winter. Unfortunately, the nucleus colony we were trying to build up has not worked - after three goes, none of the queens which emerged got mated and its too late now as the drones (male bees) will be getting kicked out of the hive. Better luck next year.
The Garden
 I am focussing on collecting seed just now. I get considerable pleasure from this, and it saves money too. For most types of plant, the thing to do is pick the seedheads before they are 100% ripe and actually dropping the seed, and I then hang the heads upside down in paper bags or envelopes, clearly labelled. The more amenable seeds will then drop into the bag. The less amenable have to be teased out, which can be prolonged and awkward, especially with prickly species. We are also starting to cut back herbaceous plants; this goes against the grain because for wildlife it is better to leave the untidy mess of seedheads as a food source all winter. But as usual many of our perennials have decided to grow horizontally over everything else and the whole thing looks like a very untidy compost heap. Some, like the Margeurite Daisies, are needing to be lifted and smaller clumps replanted as they are taking over. Globe Thistles are still looking good, and the heads will definately be left for the goldfinches. Hemp Agrimony and Jo-Pye Weed are also brilliant autumn nectar sources, with valuable seeds for birds.
Vegetable-wise, I have an incredible crop of tomatoes. I grew two Heritage Seed varieties which I got from the Heritage Seed Library of the HDRA, Auntie Madge, an amazingly prolific cherry-plum tomato, very sweet, and Wladeck's, a huge beef tomato which is a lovely colour and flavour and has really beefy looking flesh. Recommend you join the seed library and try them! (www.hdra.org.uk/hsl/).Also my Dinah's Climbing Blue French beans and Mr. Bound's bean peas (both heritage varieties) have cropped well. But once again I have failed to grow a single pumpkin. I don't know what I do wrong. All I get are male flowers and yellow leaves. Help and advice gratefully received!
Wild Food
Gather ye elderberries now for fine deep red wine. Try making a sweet elderberry sauce to accompany curries or savoury dishes too. Eat them straight from the bush in moderation. Yum.
Brambles. It is, after all, the only compensation for the fact they keep climbing over the wall from next door; the fruit is delicious eaten anyway you like. And although its a great puzzle to me, these wild blackberries invariably out-crop and out-size my cultivated thornless blackberry......sometimes you have to wonder why we garden!
I noticed the hazel copse once again seems to be carrying a heavy nut crop - once the willow herbs has died down a bit and ceased to cover me in seed-down, I'll go in for my share.
 Time for fungi forays! that is if we ever get a decent amount of rain. Chanterelles are about in coniferous woodland now; we should also be seeing tawny grisettes and that bane of gardens, honey fungus (again, the delicous mushrooms from it are the only compensation). This year I got an oyster mushroom log going from spawn plugs; it looks very promising, but no crop yet!
Well, the swallows are lining up in their hundreds on phone wires, speculating on when to go off for the winter, and any day now we'll hear the wild geese in vast flocks overhead, on their autumn migration. Autumn's a busy time, but also a breathing space and a chance to re-organise. A bit like the trees and shrubs of the hedgeroow bearing fruit after the chaos of summer, now the fleeting thoughts and observations of the year on how Plants with Purpose is progressing may also bear fruit in some serious planning! |
