this week in the herb garden

It is blackcurrant time again!
The bushes are heavy with berries this year and the birds don't seem to have taken any. I picked three pounds this afternoon, but I think I will be picking after work every day this week to get them all. Unfortunately there will be no time to make anything with them, so they will be going into the freezer for now. Well... I may keep some back to make some blackcurrant gin!

this week in the herb garden

although the day was overcast and grey, the air was warm and full of birdsong. Today I chose to replant the lavender border. The plants had been in for a few years and had always flowered well, but they did not survive the combination of a wet summer followed by a long cold winter. The new plants are small, but hopefully will grow well and produce enough flowers to use for soaps and creams as well as my popular lavender shortbread!

Before and after photos of the lavender border...

 

this week in the herb garden

Spring has come late to the herb garden this year and, although there has not been much of an improvement in the weather, temperatures at least have risen a bit and plants are beginning to grow. There was wild garlic to pick this week and some of it went into an omelette with red pepper and feta.
The perennial herbs all have new shoots and the nettle patch has almost enough new growth to make a soup. The grass will soon be ready for the first cut, but I am reluctant to get the lawnmower out while the primula and cowslip are flowering there.

kitchen creations

a strong, biting wind made the garden an unpleasant place to be today so the kitchen became the place of activity. True sun dried tomatoes are a difficult thing to achieve in Scotland even in summer, but with the aid of a food dehydrator I'm hoping for success! Just halved baby plum tomatoes, a sprinkling of oregano and into the dehydrator for around 8 hours.
Some tomato seeds were sown this week that I have been assured will crop outdoors here, so later in the year I may even be able to dry some which have been harvested from the herb garden. It would be good to be able to store some for use in winter.

in search of spring...

There was a surprise visitor in the garden today - a song thrush was seen busily cracking snails open on a stone. It has been so long since a thrush was seen in the garden - hoping it is a sign of approaching spring! We seem to have been in the grip of this relentless winter far too long...

Reiki

Reiki is helpful in promoting relaxation, reducing stress, restoring energy, and can also help the body to heal when there is disease.

Simply translated, Reiki means universal life energy, the life force that exists in all things. In practice, Reiki is the channelling this universal life energy, to promote spiritual, mental, and physical well-being.

For a Reiki  treatment the recipient simply lies down fully clothed and relaxes. The practitioner gently places their hands non-intrusively in a sequence of positions over the whole body. A full treatment usually takes about an hour with each position held for several minutes.

Reiki is just one of the holistic healing therapies offered by Herb Sanctuary

this week in the herb garden

Another week where it has been too wet to do much in the way of gardening! So - time to get creative with the harvest. The rowan berries, picked earlier this month, have been made into rowan jelly and it was this that I chose to add a taste of the countryside to tonight's dinner.
Rowans are quite bitter, so even with the sugar added to make the jelly it is not too sweet. It is therefore ideal to accompany meat. In this dish it has been added to chunks of tender lamb and stir fried organic vegetables to make a simple, but delicious sauce. A memorable and healthy meal!
(must write this one down for future use!)

this week in the herb garden

Some rowan berries were picked. 
The rowan, or mountain ash tree (Sorbus aucuparia) bears heads of cream flowers, similar to elderflowers, in spring and clusters of bright red berries in Autumn. The birds love these berries and it is always a race to get some for the kitchen before they are gone. This year the crop was heavy so there were plenty to share. I use the berries to make a tart jelly which is superb with game and other meats. It is good to have a supply in the cupboard to last through the winter

This is my recipe...  

1kg rowan berries
1 lemon
sugar

Strip the berries from the stems and wash.
Add the chopped lemon and 425ml water. Simmer until soft - you can use a potato masher to help this process! Tip the pulp into a jelly bag and strain overnight into a container. Put the juice into a large pan and add 450g sugar for each 600ml of juice. Bring to the boil and once setting point is reached, skim and pour into warmed jars.

a summer of discontent...

I heard on the news this morning that this has been our wettest summer for 100 years! I was not surprised at the announcement, as I have lived through the weeks of unrelenting rain which caused the weeds to grow unchecked among the herbs and turned many of the vegetables to mush. The wet weather has also led to an upsurge in the number of slugs and snails which have laid waste to the vegetables not flattened by the rain! The hens will make short work of those when they are let loose in the garden at the end of next month, but in the meantime they march on...
A few late frosts at the end of April meant that much of the fruit blossom was killed and therefore there are very few apples, blackcurrants and cherries to be had. Only the redcurrants, raspberries and rowans survived to provide any harvest.
I am now hoping for a relatively dry autumn, so that I may clear the herb garden of weeds as plant growth subsides and prune the fruit trees in the hope of a better harvest next year.
It is hard sometimes, not to get despondent when looking out at grey skies and persistent rain, but I am determined to pick this garden up out of the mud and give it the best possible chance of productivity next year...

this week in the herb garden

Today I took advantage of a rare dry day to harvest some St John's Wort flowers to make an infused oil. The flowers were loosely packed into a jar which was then filled with a light olive oil. It will now be left on a window sill for 4 - 6 weeks and by the end of this time the oil will have taken on a deep red colour. It will then be strained through cheese cloth to remove the plant matter and stored in a dark, cool dark place.
I will use the oil, which has anti inflammatory properties, in the making of creams to treat sprains and bruises.