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...