I’ve noticed a distinct lack of colour in our garden this
year, well other than green anyway. Every pot and free bit of space is being
taken up by my obsession to grow more lawn chamomile. Containers that would
normally be used for glorious annual bedding plants have now gone monotone. I’m
sure it’ll be noticed very soon and a bit of colour will creep back into the
garden when Julie takes a trip to the garden centre.
There is an herbaceous plant managing to break the monotony,
a small perennial cornflower (Centaurea Montana)
. This feathery purple flowering plant arrived unannounced a few years ago and
is managing to pop up in various places.
Perennial Cornflower
Centaurea montana is a variable but attractive plant native
to the mountain meadows and woodlands of continental Europe, so it’s an ideal
addition to our gardens. It grows best in a moisture-retentive soil in sun or
partial shade. It's perfect for growing in sunny borders and gravel gardens.
It's easy-to-grow, bearing clumps of mid-green leaves that perfectly complement
its summer flowers.
Most flowers have a meaning behind them. Take the red
carnation, this symbolizes an aching heart or admiration, jasmine says sweet
love, geranium says true love, yellow rose means jealousy and so on. In the
case of the perennial cornflower though it was used as a secret symbol by
members of the Nazi party in Austria and was the German Kaiser Wilhelm's
favourite flower. Who would have thought gardening and growing flowers was so
political, although there was the War of the Roses that lasted over thirty
years.
Ground Elder
Every year around this time I am reminded that there is
ground elder in the garden. It tends to hide behind the polytunnel and
occasionally pops inside the tunnel to say hello via its long spreading roots
coming in from under the plastic. I tolerate the plant, mainly because like a
lot of things, we can eat it.
Also known as goutweed, ground elder is one of the first
abundant edible greens that appear in spring time, together with cow parsley
and nettles. It has a long history of being used as medicine-food. It was
cultivated as food crop in the middle ages (probably before that too) The plant
grows strongly in harsh conditions and can become a real problem in the garden
if not kept under supervision as it’ll survive most attempts to clear it
altogether.
When you decide to nibble on a bit, the young tender leaves
are preferred, before the plant is in flower. The flowering point can be
postponed however by harvesting the top of the plants regularly. When the
leaves are a bit more mature they can get a less appealing taste and they may
act as laxative. They can be prepared as spinach, in stews, soups, sandwich and
pies. Just a word of caution though (apart from the usual disclaimers about
checking for allergies etc) is to only nibble on the young fresh leaves from a
place you know the dog hasn’t been. It can make the taste that little more
bitter.
Progress in the
garden
My vegetable seedlings are shooting up now. I’ve planted out
three large rows of pick and come again lettuce, along with some rocket for
that savoury addition to a salad. The coriander and spinach has come up, I
planted those straight into the garden along with the peas and beans which are
now attaching themselves to the bamboo poles I put up for them. The courgettes will be planted very soon too
if I can find a space in between my clumps of chamomile (I’m selling them one-bay now to reduce my collection- or you could pop in and collect a few if you are passing)
Secret
I was also told of a place here in Inishowen where we can
get free mushroom compost by the car load as long as we shovel it ourselves. I
got thirty large coal bags full the other week and I’ll let them heat up over
early summer and then use it as mulch around the mature plants later in the
season as it’d be a bit strong year to put near younger ones. Some of the bags
have been emptied straight into the compost bins to keep the worms happy.
Where do you get this fabulous spent mushroom compost? I hear you ask. If you go past the Rock Bar
out of Muff, you’ll see a small sign on the right saying “mushroom farm” That’s
inishowen mushrooms, Drumhaggart,Muff. See you there!
