Borage

Borage. The very name has me shaking with fear. My garden in London is overrun with the stuff, and it's all my fault. I planted it about fifteen years ago, because I thought the flowers were pretty - but before I knew how invasive it was. It self seeds like crazy. And it has long thick taproots which, in an established plant can go down for two feet or more, making digging it out extremely hard work.

Had I been living there, it would have been no problem - I could have kept it under control. But ten years of non-gardening tenants means that it's just been allowed to run riot. By the end of the month I was digging it up in my dreams, as well as all day. Luckily the seeds germinate quickly, so by about a week after I'd cleared each area, I was able to go back and get the next generation. but I know there's no way I could have got them all, and next summer the garden will be back to square one ...

I came back relieved that at least I wouldn't have to think about borage any more. But I hadn't turned my calendar over before I left, and when I did ....



At least I've only had to put up with it for a couple of days. But it shows that borage can be pretty when it's planted in the right place and kept under control. I love the combination of plants in this picture. It can also be very useful in the garden. Firstly, because it attracts bees - and in fact, my garden was full of them. And also as a companion plant. It is supposed to stimulate the growth of strawberries, and act as a deterrent to tomato worm. It attracts blackfly, and can therefore be used as a sacrificial plant to attract them away from other things in the garden.

Borage is edible, although the leaves do contain a liver-toxic chemical, so don't exaggerate. The flowers, on the other hand, are perfectly safe. The leaves are often added to salads, and to soups and stews during the last few minutes of cooking. They're also used in drinks like Pimms. The flowers can be frozen into ice cubes and added to any gin-based drinks, or used to decorate desserts - they have a sweet, honey-like taste. You can find a selection of borage recipes here.

Borage is also used medicinally in the form of infusions, creams and oil. It contains gamma linoleic acid (GLA), an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, and has a whole range of uses from alleviating the symptoms of skin complaints such as exzema and psioriasis, to combatting pre-menstrual syndrome, to the treatment of certain cancers.

Traditionally, borage is associated with courage. Celtic warriors drank borage wine and painted their bodies with it before going into battle. it is thought to stimulate the adrenalin glands, producing adrenalin which helps the body deal with stressful situations. I can believe it. Over the last four weeks, my adrenalin levels have been sky high just looking at the stuff ....

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Squash flowers and squash bees

I "surprised" a number of bees this morning in flowers of my vining Tromboncino squash, a Cucurbita moschata cultivar. I vaguely recalled that squash had specialist bees, and had fun finding out more about them. Early in the morning is when squash bees visit flowers (these actually looked like they spent the night). Squash bees are native bees that specialize in flowers of Cucurbita plants -- zucchini, winter squash, pumpkins, etc. They forage early in the morning, collecting nectar and pollen from both the male and female flowers.

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My London Garden

Long time, no post. I spent the whole of August at home in London, doing up the house and garden ready for the next tenants. The house had to be cleaned and decorated throughout, and the garden was full of weeds, so it was pretty hard work. I'd intended to post daily while I was there, but found myself unexpectedly cut off from the internet - I managed to check messages once, early on, when I was at a friend's house, but that was it.

You're probably lucky you didn't get daily posts, though. They'd have read something like this ...

Monday : pulled the borage out of the back lawn.

Tuesday : dug up the right hand bed and pulled out the borage.

Wednesday : weeded the front garden and cleared the borage.



... and so on. You didn't miss much. Most of the time was spent weeding, trimming the hedge, and so on.




The pictures show the garden as I found it. Spot the borage.

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Time to garden again

The recent rains are really encouraging. And, the temperatures look halfway moderate through the week as well, so hopefully I'll be able to sow some flats of mesclun this weekend, and some of the greens as well. I noticed one of the radicchio plants (the female squirrel's favorite) is starting to bolt. So much for thinking I might get some lovely red leaves this fall. But I think I'll sow some more. I'd better check to make sure I have some that form the lovely red heads in the spring.

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Lightning, thunder, and rain, oh my....

Just after musing about planting fall vegetables yesterday, the sky darkened and the wind starting building up. We'd been away for an outing in the mountains, and my gardening partner headed off to get ready for class today. About 4 o'clock, it started pouring, the wind was howling, and whipping trees around, and for a minute, Mocha and I felt like we were in the Wizard of Oz. The power flickered and then went out. Not surprising, given the amount of wind. After things let up, but it was still drizzling, I ventured forth to see what had happened. My bean trellises in the vegetable garden had been flattened, amazingly, almost all the tomato supports had tilted over, and the basils were all askew. When I went down the road to check on what had knocked out the power, it was obvious we were lucky. Trees had fallen, bringing down the telephone lines, including some really large trees. This was no ordinary storm, but probably some kind of microburst that was localized in our neighborhood. The older subdivision behind us still had power; their lines are buried. The power came on again at 2 am.

There wasn't any damage in our yard, except for a branch from the old Pawlonia tree, tolerated for now, but on the way out. The GOOD news was that the storm brought another inch and a half of rain, sorely needed. Maybe I can plant those fall vegetables next weekend....

I came across a picture of one of my containers last fall-- a cheery sight!

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Fall vegetables

The recent rain, (slightly) cooler weather, and the greening up of the garden overall have me thinking about sowing greens for fall. It certainly seemed way too hot in August to contemplate sowing broccoli for transplant and I certainly wasn't able to get chard or beet seedlings to survive, although maybe the squirrels nibbled them.

But I've had tremendous success in previous years (photo above) with a variety of greens in fall -- Tuscan kale (also known as dinosaur kale), different sorts of red kales, radicchio, and perpetual spinach (a sort of beet). Mizuna, red mustard, chard, and argula are all great, too, if there aren't too many late cabbage butterflies. Lettuces are beautiful in fall, and the really hardy winter varieties can make it through heavy frosts in mid-winter, if conditions are right. I also need to start sowing the small Violas that are so much nicer than pansies, and less demanding and take cuttings of Spanish lavender, to increase my supply.

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Hooray for stray thunderstorms

We woke up sometime in the night to thunder and lightning flashes. Strong thunder and lots of crackling lightning. At first, it sounded too far away to worry about, but then unplugging the computers seemed like a good thing. Even though they’re surge-protected, we err on the side of caution. And then the unfamiliar sound of raindrops began, and they began to come down harder. I hoped briefly before going back to sleep that it might be more than just enough to wet the ground, but I didn’t expect it.

But waking up, I could see raindrops glistening on leaves outside the window. I walked out before it was light in my bare feet and bathrobe to check the rain gauge. ¾ of an inch! Yippee!

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