My Blog

All Blogs

Page 1 Of 3

Next

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 24-12-2011 , 03:03

The Sloe Gin is almost ready for bottling! This is the first year I have had a harvest from the blackthorn, planted in 2003. It produced a good crop and will hopefully now be fully productive in years to come. I had enough sloes for a double quantity and so decided to try a variation to my standard recipe. This gives me the choice this year of plain sloe gin or my variation - sloe and bramble gin. Not quite ready in time for Christmas, but, by the end of January it will be bottled and ready for sharing!

Sloe Gin

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 01-08-2011 , 02:33

The St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) came into bloom this week and so harvest was begun. It will make a healing herb oil - a vital ingredient in my gardener's hand cream as it can help to reduce inflammation. Although the flowers are a pretty yellow the oil that is produced is a deep red. Harvest will continue for several weeks as new flowers will come into bloom every day. I need to have a good stock of oil to last through the winter.

St John's Wort flowers in oil

St John's Wort

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 14-07-2011 , 14:53

The redcurrants have been picked and made into jelly. This year's crop was much heavier than last year's - maybe because the bushes have escaped attack from the gooseberry sawfly caterpillars. I used the pulp left over after straining off the juice to mix with seed and suet to make 65 feed balls for the birds. These have been stored in the freezer ready for the coming of the cold weather - which I hope is a long way off!
The blackcurrants should be ready by next week...

redcurrant juice

14 jars of redcurrant jelly!

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 11-07-2011 , 09:18

Marigold (Calendula officinalis) flowers were picked today to make the oil which will go into the new calendula skin healing cream this summer. This will be good for cracked and damaged skin. The flowers will steep in the oil for around three weeks and it will then be filtered ready for use.

marigold flowers

marigold oil

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 12-10-2010 , 15:19

I am making herb infused oils to store and use over the winter. These will go into oils, creams and lotions to help conditions such as dry or chapped skin, inflamed or stiff joints and chilblains. The herbs were picked on a dry morning and were then left to steep in olive oil on a sunny window ledge. They will then be strained and bottled for storage in a cool, dark place. The oils pictured are St John's Wort, Arnica and Calendula.
Herb infused oils are a great way to preserve the herbs for using when fresh herbs are not obtainable. I am hoping I have made enough to last me through the winter months.

Herb Infused Oils

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 28-09-2010 , 01:08

Harvest time is here again and this week I was given a large bag of apples rom my neighbour. My own apple tree is not very productive this year, possibly due to the very cold and frosty weather we had around blossom time.
I decided that I wanted to use these to make herb jellies. The apples were first roughly chopped and placed in the jelly pan with enough water to cover. They were then gently cooked to soften them, before straining though a jelly bag to separate the juice from the pulp. (the pulp is saved for use in bird feed balls)
Having got to this stage in the proceedings I ran out of time! The juice is now stored in three lots in my freezer and the jellies will be made at the first opportunity.
At the moment I am considering using chilli, (following the success of last year's Apple and Chilli Jelly), lavender and rosemary, but this may change by the time I am ready to make it.
Hopefully it will not be long before I can reveal the finished products!

Apples in the jelly pan

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 29-06-2010 , 14:10

The honeysuckle is intoxicating! It is not, in fact mine, but tumbles exuberantly over the fence from my neighbour's garden. I think I may even have the bigger share of it! I only have to step out of the back door in June and the air is filled with its perfume.
The European honeysuckle, sometimes called woodbine, was traditionally used to treat asthma and urinary complaints. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years and is considered important for clearing heat from the body.
The flowers are expectorant when infused as a tea and can also be made into a syrup to treat coughs.

Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle Flower

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 02-05-2010 , 14:44

The fruit cage is fixed!
Thanks to some expert help, the fruit cage is now fully functional again…
The first job was to examine and straighten up the poles a bit to establish how many would need to be replaced.
Some new connectors were also required. The order was placed and then came a wait of ten days
for the parts to arrive.
Those poles which did not require to be replaced were straightened and the new ones were put in place.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the netting was still in one piece and it was a fairly simple job to clip it back in place.
The red currants, black currants and raspberries are now safe from the birds!!
Next year I will pay more attention to the long range weather forecast before pegging the roof back in place!

the fruit cage

the fruit cage and the view!

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 04-04-2010 , 06:30

Devastation…
This week we had a late snowstorm. Heavy snow this late in the year is very unusual, but around 30cm fell over 14 hours.
I managed to clear enough snow off the roofs of the greenhouses to prevent any cracked or broken panes of glass, but was too late to save the fruit cage. The roof had gone back on only a couple of weeks ago as the bushes were budding and the birds were beginning to show an interest, but, of course the weight of the snow on this was too much and the poles buckled and bent. I am hopeful of some assistance this week to see what can be salvaged and reused and then I will know how many new poles will be required. Some of the netting may also have to be replaced. Add to that the replacement of the two water butts which burst during the freezing temperatures of December/January and the four panes of glass already replaced in the greenhouses and it is an expensive start to the gardening year.



late snow

fruit cage

comment

This week in the herb garden

Posted On 20-02-2010 , 13:21

I have been pruning…
Finally got into the garden again now that all the snow has gone! First job was to cut away all last year's fruited raspberry canes and tie in the new ones. Then on to the pruning of the redcurrant and blackcurrant bushes. I know this should have been done earlier, but I am hoping that it is not too late…
As I had the secateurs in my hand I also cut away the dead stems of the golden hop and was heartened to see that new shoots are coming out from the base! That and the snowdrops in the woodland garden tell me that spring is really on the way!