July in the garden

Hiya again

After one of the dryest months of June on record, July has been generous in terms of rain, and hasn't stinted on wind, either. It's quite pleasant not to have to water the garden but the drop in temperature means that growth may slow down a bit. Also, we have to be vigilant to make sure ripe fruit and veg don't rot on the ground and on the stems.

Here are a few visual impressions taken earlier today when the sun was actually out and summer seemed to have returned to Oban.

A beautiful, bright pink dog rose (Rosa canina) with a fragrance fit for queens and princesses...

– this beauty grows in the Wilderness Area (see comment for correct name, i.e. Rosa rugosa).

Tiny pansies and bi-colour buttercups welcome visitors at the entrance (again, the correct name for the buttercups is poached egg plant, aka Limnanthes douglasii -- see commment).

The golden-orange Achillea millefolium, or Yarrow, is a traditional healing plant to stop bleeding and to treat wounds and various forms of inflammation. Read more at Suite101: Achillea millefolium: Yarrow’s Long Medicinal History is Steeped in Legend and Practice http://herbal-properties.suite101.com/article.cfm/achillea_millefolium#ixzz0tJAkJOjb

... as is Mullein or Verbascum: it is a biennial, which means the first year you will only see a rosette of velvety silvery leaves on the ground; the striking "candelabra" emerge only in the second year. Verbascum blossoms are good expectorants, which means they help to get rid of phlegm or sputum. According to http://www.herbalremediesinfo.com/verbascum.html, "The plant has many folk names, some call it Velvet Plant, Candle Leaf, Indian Tobacco, even Blanket Leaf." That website has loads more information for you -- well worth a visit.

Now, shall we coat this beauty in batter and fry to serve as a "fior di zucco" (Zucchini blossom) starter?

Or should we leave it to grow into a lovely green zucchino or into a big marrow?

Kale blossoms are beautiful.

On a slightly less positive note, the butterbur and dock along the burn have made a full comeback. At least dock leaves, rubbed onto the skin, alleviate insect bites and burns caused by stinging nettles.

This is (a slightly tricked-out) view of the Wilderness Part from the Top End.

The aspens and silver birch look stunning. They're also home and shelter to a multitude of songbirds.

One reason why we haven't opened the garden to the general public: lots of broken glass, one reminder that the grounds used to be a dump. Every rain washes up bits of plastic, broken glass, rusting iron... Picking the rubbish is an endless, and endlessly fascinating, task.

Let's go back to the beauties – in this case true or common marigolds (Calendula). A great plant to improve soil quality and feed nutrients back into the ground. The blossoms are edible and the petals lift any leafy salad onto quite a different plane -- just try it!

Red chard -- isnt't it beautiful? What's even better is that, if cut before it's huge, all of it can be eaten. My favourite way: cut just above the ground (be careful not to damage younger stems), rinse in cold water, cut into half-inch strips or rings using sharp scissors, toss in hot butter or olive oil for a few minutes, sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt. Serve hot or cold, with a few drops of good quality Balsamico vinegar, to accompany an omelet or a slice of braised chicken, or whatever else you enjoy cooking up.

Young leaves can be eaten raw and look great in any leafy salad. Again, make sure to use the flashy red stalks, not only visually attractive but also a great source of fibre.

Oh, the sugar snap peas are nearly ready! The kids love  LOVE    L O O O V E    them!

Potato blossoms -- these ones are extremely pretty, and so are potato leaves, don't you think?

A look across the vegetable beds in our Community Garden. Graham has been instrumental in planting potatoes, kale, onions, garlic, sugar snap peas, beans, chard (yellow, white, red), spinach, pumpkins, sunflowers, sweet peas, nasturtiums, and and and...
Before they went into the ground, seedlings were potted and re-potted to give them that extra boost and defense against pests such as slugs and snails. They weren't much of a problem during the dry spell but now the rain's back, it's a different matter.

In the Wilderness Part, there's a semicircular patch for herbs and other useful things. One of them is a beautiful silvery-leaved globe artichoke. A sunflower may also soon grace us with its golden flower. More sunflowers have been planted along the fence. 

Finally, the Top End: still awaiting funds for landscaping and "hardware": benches, walled-in raised beds -- the design is beautiful; here's hoping we can publish it here soon.

Rubbish in the burn – and lifted

Hiya again

When the rain stopped two days ago, your Blogger went to have a look at the state of the burn and found it full of rubbish -- chockablock!It doesn't help that there's a culvert or duct running below the concrete platform of the footbridge, where everything gets caught. But why anyone would toss a traffic cone into the burn is beyond me, or a big MDF panel.This morning, some members of the Oban Employability Team came in to lift the rubbish…… the platform of their small pickup was almost full by the time they were done!

How much effort and energy went into clearing this rubbish. Shame on anyone who uses the burn as a rubbish dump.

Further progress on the fencing

The enclosure to the community garden continues to take shape even though sometimes the rainy weather has brought things to a standstill (the mallards love the quiet, though):
Workers are hard at it ...,
... most of the time, anyway ;)
The fence along the burn is as good as finished and looking great. It doesn't run quite straight to accommodated an established tree:Downstream from the same vantage point, however, the picture is a bit different:(Why does it look like people think a burn is just another rubbish dump?)
The taller fence along the lane is fast taking shape:
Sometimes it doesn't take much to command respect (above), but

After the floods: flotsam, rubbish, clearing up

On the Sunday after the flood, the sun came out. Everyone smiled. The water in the Burn was back within its concrete banks and ran clear as the proverbial Sunday tea in its delicate china cup. But strange things lurked within:And strange things lay strewn about the future Community Garden, such as a long piece of roundwood that must have come drifting down on the torrent:Nothing much happened on Monday. The ground was sodden. On Tuesday, however, several strong men in shiny overalls appeared like so many large and magical garden gnomes and pulled rubbish out of the Black Lynn (they also began to set the stakes for the new fence that should protect the garden from vandals and floods):
Among the rubbish were countless plastic bottles and plastic bags; pieces of wood of all sizes; a provisional ladder aka plank with slats nailed across; a yellow plastic object that may once have been a ball; a black rubbery thing that vaguely resembled a car seat; the five-legged bottom of an office chair; sundry plastic crates and plastic containers; a huge sheet of clear plastic ... ... a traffic cone; a no-parking traffic cone; a traffic signal warning of a construction site (not in the photo); more planking; thick black rubber sheeting ...
... indiscriminately, the raging Black Lynn had torn it down her track; indiscriminately, the sun shone on it all. But it's a skip-full of rubbish (or useful raw material, if recycled properly).