Madam Weeds the Strawberry Bed



My mother always turns up to visit with all sorts of odd bits and bobs she has picked up in various places. This last visit she left these vintage haberdashery items - cards of necklace thread.

The one on the left reads: New Improved Pack of Original Article Which Enables Madam to Securely Rethread Her Own Pearls Exactly to Her Requirements.

Good old Mum, she knows I am always obsessing about ways to rethread my pearls.


During the intervals of the day Madam wasn't mentally rearranging her pearl collection, she was weeding the strawberry bed...



... trimming the rosemary hedge by the back steps (so many bees in the blue..)


... and picking orange calendula flowers for drying to make tea.

There are only two herbal teas that I like at all. One is lemon and ginger, and the other is calendula, lemongrass and spearmint. Upon reading the lemon and ginger packet I have discovered that most of the lemon is lemongrass, with just one percent lemon peel. I would love to make my own teas, and it should be doable, because I drink so little herbal tea I won't have to grow much! Lemongrass and ginger are both tropical plants, but Kate seems to think I can grow lemongrass here if I keep it safe and warm in winter, and I was talking to someone the other day who grows ginger in the same way, just taking it inside in winter. I have asked at the nursery, and they will have lemongrass in a couple of weeks. Now I just need spearmint. I think I saw some while I was walking the other day, in a boggy patch on the riverbank. I will have to take wellies and a trowel to investigate. And maybe a field guide.

So herbal tea prep is going well. I have one out of the four ingredients. It shouldn't take more than a year to grow all the rest. Slow food.

 
 
Continuing our mini vegie tour, here is the garlic, growing in a long bed down the side of the house, next to the clothesline. Every day as I hang out the washing, I talk to the garlic. I'm sure it appreciates hearing all the news.
 
 

 


 And last of all, the red chard has finally started to grow. May was way too late to plant anything, and it has sulked all winter. Next year I will be planting all the winter veg in March. However, it is putting on new leaves now, which I am taking right off again to put in salad. Mmm, crunchy, crinkly spring salad leaves.
 
Madam is obviously too distracted by the vegetable kingdom to be bothered with the pearls today. Maybe tomorrow..
 
 
 
 


Comments

GretchenJoanna said…
Watch out for that spearmint: I used to grow it at our former house and it likes to take over if it gets any water at all. I've noticed that peppermint and pineapple mint are not nearly as invasive, but that spearmint taste is the best!
GretchenJoanna said…
In case you don't get follow-up comments to blogs you read, I posted some links to pictures of my garden for you - you'll have to go back to my Tomato Festival post to find them!
Jo said…
Oh goody, love garden pictures! I have learned my lesson in the past, and will always plant mint in a pot. The Australian country classic is mint growing in some discarded kitchen pot parked under the garden tap to catch the drips..
great garden update! i forgot to plant garlic this year, but i think i was subconsciously scared off because it rotted in the ground last year. and my rosemary is covered in blue flowers and industrious bees too - they are all in the rosemary and barely anywhere else!
chrisartist said…
I need to re sting pearls too. I'm nervous they have a broken thread.
Your garden looks great.
Chris
Jo said…
Oh no, Dig In, vegie failures scare me off too - cauliflower in particular I just can't seem to get right. I am hoping the bees find my apricot tree in time. Maybe if I plant rosemary under the apricot tree..

And Chris, I have some great pearl stringing thread, come on over!

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