Length of growing season and temperatures

The challenging factors that our vegetables faced in this location, proved to be largely,   .... to much for them.

I see that the runner beans leaves have turned brown almost overnight due to temperature drops here and they have only just started producing those brilliant orange flowers.  Not a single bean :(

After starting out in Spring, we managed to grow these herbs/vege's:

• some onions (from waste cuttings) and we have a number of awesome seed heads for next spring, 
• some chives, (Edible flowers and chopped leaves for pastas)
• a few strawberries, 
• a quantity of borage (Flowers for drinks and salads)
• potatoes (Still need to harvest) and we grew them in tyre towers
• lavender
• fennel
• peppermint (a variety of other mints from our local nursery all prove to be unpleasant and disappointing).
• briar rose
• suspect chamomile from the local nursery
• corriander (saved seeds for next year)
• celery (From root cutting/waste)
• sage 
• nasturtiums
• Rosemary from cuttings :)

The remainder of our seedlings never made it to maturity due to slugs and snails.  Dont use poisons or squash them so did not deal with this issue.  I did relocate a few to the other side of the garden though ina kind, gentle way.

To get back to the growing conditions, we have high winds here throughout spring and summer and it never gets very warm.  Summer is short.

Without a polytunnel, I don't see much hope for us producing much.

We used a quantity of horse manure and I saw a huge improvement from last year as the soil here is very poor.  We mostly grew in containers.

Some herb containers we kept on the front porch and they did quite well sheltered form the wind and in the sun.  It did mean we needed to water them which I was not very good about.

The wild brambles are still not ready, which is really late as autumn in affecting the tree leaves already.

Scottish Thistle

There is a book I have been reading called Healing Threads by Mary Beith.


In there she mentions the old uses for thistle - a sweet for children and a tea for melancholy.

So we set about researching it and looking at the varieties we have growing near us.

There are several kinds of thistle that grow world wide.  Looking at the flowerhead, leaves and stem give you a good idea of which one you have.  The Scottish Thistle has a very different flower head.

There is little to no info on the culinary / medicinal value of Scottish Thistle.

We did find this site though that echo's the info by Mary Beith.


http://scienceray.com/biology/botany/thistle-do-nicely/

Extract:  Once upon a time, tea was brewed from the mighty thistle. It was said that it was a good cure for depression and everyone knows that in time past depression was surely a good part of the Scottish psyche. If the thought of thistle tea puts you off then I can only imagine at how you would feel about the children eating the bulbous head of the thistle – rumour has it that it tastes chewy and sweet.


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Personally I think its very useful culturally to investigate the thistle further and we will be doing this over a period of time.


Certainly with herbs its essential to correctly identify the plant as many look similar with toxic results.

Cleavers (Galium aparine)

(also known as Sticky Willy, Clivers, Goose Grass, bedstraw, catchweed, velcro plant)


Family:  Rubiaceae


There is a lot of cleavers around at the moment, expecially around the vegetable/herb patch and instead of pulling it up and composting it, we though of using the opportunity to read up on it.


Most of the kids here call it Sticky Willy but we havea  good little book that lists it as Cleavers.  So we searched for Cleavers and positivly identified it by looking at several websites and photos as well as the book.


The most important thing about using wild herbs is correct identification and this can be tricky.  You must look many pints i.e. size, leaf types, flowers, seeds, colour, location etc.


This is a summary of what we learnt about Cleavers:

1. It  is an edible and medicinal herb that has been used for centuries.  
2. It grows well all in many places around the world and sadly most mistakenly believe it to be a useless weed.
3. Cleavers is considered a safe herb and is usually taken as a tea but can also be eaten or freshly ground.
4. Cleavers is primarily a diuretic and blood purifier. Regular use detoxifies the body.
5. This species becomes increasingly fragrant as it dries.
6. For hundreds of years, a traditionally drink made of Cleavers was given every spring as a tonic to cleanse the blood.
7. Cleavers botanical name, Galium, is derived from the Greek word, gala, which means, “milk” and is supposed to relate to the fact that the plant has the ability to curdle milk, which was beneficial in the making of cheese. Cleavers is a longtime use in cheese making. 
8. It stimulates the lymphatic system.
9. Cleavers has shown to be beneficial in skin related problems.  Cleavers makes an excellent facial wash as it tightens the loose and sagging skin caused by wrinkling. This plant works very well in treating eczema, psoriasis, seborrhea, acne, boils and abscesses, arthritis and gout. 
10. Cleavers is also useful in treating swollen lymph glands, or congested glands and congestion in the breasts. 
11. The cooling properties of Cleavers makes is useful in reducing fevers and resolving infections associated with skin eruptions such as measles and chickenpox. 
12. It also works in soothing tonsillitis, hepatitis, cystitis and arthritis. 
13. This herb stimulates liver function and improves digestion and absorption. Externally the fresh leaves can be applied to cuts and wounds, or to help stop bleeding and enhance healing. 
14. The leaves also soothe burns, sunburn, acne and other skin inflammations. Bathing in the juice of the plant works to soothe and heal varicose ulcers. 
15. Galium/Ladies' straw was used as a red dye during Anglo-Saxon times in England. (Anglo-Saxon Crafts -Kevin Leahy, p75-76)
16. In 1947, French researchers discovered and extract of Cleavers to be effective in lowering blood pressure, by thinning the blood.

Dried or Fresh


Tonic
Purifying - cleanses and rids the body of toxins.  Acts on lymphatic system - effective in removing /draining poisons /trapped bacteria from lymph glands and helps relieve glandular fever, swollen or enlarged lymph glands, adenoids and tonsillitis.
Cooling - treats fevers
Diruetic - increases urine flow (helps to rid the kidneys and bladder of gravel and stones & clear various urinary tract infections)




References / For more info:  


http://www.anniesremedy.com/herb_detail215.php
http://www.herbalremedies.com/cleavers-information.html
http://www.altnature.com/gallery/cleavers.htm

Olive Leaf Tea

See  www.oliveology.co.uk


Not only has olive leaf tea a great flavour, but also detoxifying and healing properties. Olive leaves are exceptionally rich in vitamins A, B, C and E, and will give your body anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal boost. Great for colds, flu and infections.  

Self sufficient-ish

See http://www.selfsufficientish.com/main/blog.php/



About Dave and Andy
For quite some time food has been Dave Hamilton’s passion. He began baking cakes as soon as he could pick up a spoon to stir the mixture. At the age of 10 he become a vegetarian and by the time he was 15 he was cooking all his own meals.


Andy is available for public speaking, freelance features, corporate and personal forages (wild food walks) and on a consultancy basis. To contact him please Email in the first instance – Andy at selfsufficientish dot com. (for Dave simply put Dave).

Photo ref:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/68888883@N00/3647949351/in/pool-selfsufficientish/

The Highland People's Food Seedbank Project

See http://thehighlandpeoplesfoodseedbank.webs.com/


The aim of this project is to bring local communities together, by involving individual gardeners, groups, allotment holders and schools in growing heirloom vegetables well adapted to the Highland climate and soils.


To instruct them on how to collect the seeds, clean, dry and package them in a home/kitchen environment, using everyday household tools.


These seeds will then be added to the Highland Peoples food seed bank, so that within 10 years enough viable food seed is held in domestic freezers (seedbanks) in villages and towns across the Highlands to feed its 250,000 inhabitants.


Information is also made available on saving the harvest by bottling, pickling, drying, clamping so that gardeners can overcome the short harvesting season in the Highlands.

EARTHSHIPS: ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES

Called "earthships", the homes currently under construction may not look like a typical des res but at a cost of £40,000 including solar power, own water supply and sewage system the tyre houses could provide a solution to the UK's low-cost housing crisis.

They are being built in Fife, Scotland and on the South Downs outside Brighton. When finished inside with plaster and outside with solar tiles and modern facing material they look like ultra-modern homes.
Each earthship requires 2,000 tyres and with 40 million being discarded each year in Britain there is enough free building material to construct 20,000 low-cost homes a year, according to Daren Howarth, of the Low Carbon Network, who is in charge of the South Downs project.

"I was both delighted and amazed at the positive attitude of Brighton councillors in giving planning permission," he said. "Sometimes there can be prejudice against new ideas but I said to them the Eden Project in Cornwall would never have got off the ground if the local councillors had not had vision. They decided to give us a chance."

Ref:  http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/features/eco/eehome.html