Herb Is The Word

July is an abundant month of goodies to harvest, with courgettes ready, salads, peas and broad beans to be picked and fruits to be eaten. Flowers brighten the wildlife filled allotment and garden.

It is also a busy time. As soon as plants finish cropping it is time to sow or plant salads for autumn. But make sure to enjoy this month with its long evenings and take time to relax.

Read my blog to find out what can be done in the garden and allotment this month, tips for looking after wildlife and plants and flowers to forage (Tip - If you haven't already try adding some lavender to a recipe or just sprinkle flowers over fruit and yoghurt).

This Month in The Garden – July 2022 July is an abundant month of goodies to harvest, with courgettes ready, salads, peas and broad beans to be picked and fruits to be eaten. Flowers brighten the wildlife filled allotment and garden. It is also a busy time. As soon as plants finish cropping it is time to sow or plant salads for autumn....

This Month in the Garden – June

Sow:
🌱Beetroot, leaf beet, chard, lettuce, radishes, spring onions, basil, Florence fennel, carrots.
🌱French and runner beans.

Harvest:
🥕Vegetables - Peas, broad beans, turnips, radishes, garlic, spring onions, carrots.
🥕Fruit – Gooseberries, strawberries.
🥕Salads – Spinach, leaves, herbs.

Forage:
🍃Many plants can be foraged from the garden, including yarrow leaves, blackthorn leaves, chickweed, ground elder, rose, common mallow and wild strawberries.
🍃Elderflower, fennel.
🍃Remember to forage responsibly and safely.

Find out what else to do in the garden and allotment this month

This Month in the Garden - June 2022 Summer is here. Plants are starting to grow strongly now, and lots can be harvested. There is plenty to be getting on with in the allotment and garden but make sure to take time and enjoy the summer and all your hard work. Sit back, listen to the birds, watch the wildlife and enjoy the sun on your s...

Have you heard...about the herb...

Elder?

I can't wait for elder to flower each year. The taste of those tiny flowers, stitched together like lace, is a unique flavour.

Both elder flowers and fruits can be used. They have no end of uses in the kitchen. Elderflower fritters are amazing and elderflowers have antibacterial properties (not so much when fried as fritters though!).

Find out more about this special plant at:

https://www.herbistheword.co.uk/post/herb-of-the-month-elder

Have you heard...about the spice...Fenugreek?

Fenugreek makes a curry. It is that extra special ingredient you miss when it is not there. I love the smell of it when added to a curry; it is THE curry smell and is used in many curry powder blends. It has a bitter, yet slightly sweet, nutty flavour.

The seeds do not look quite real. They are yellowish-brown in colour and shaped like little, tiny hexagonal pebbles, more like something you would find at the beach!

Fenugreek has been used in culinary and medicinal uses for thousands of years.

Read my blog to find out more about fenugreek and how to use it in your recipes.

Spice of the Month - Fenugreek Fenugreek Trigonella foenum-graecum Fenugreek makes a curry. It is that extra special ingredient you miss when it is not there. I love the smell of it when added to a curry; it is THE curry smell and is used in many curry powder blends. Since my discovery of this special spice, I find myself using i...

Do something small to help pollinating insects this month and don't cut the grass. This will allow beautiful flowers such as clover, self-heal, dandelions and daisies to grow and provide essential, and rapidly declining, food sources. They will brighten the garden too. Leave the lawnmower in the shed and watch the wildlife.

No Mow May Plantlife’s campaign doesn’t ask you to do much. In fact, it asks you to not do anything at all… Just lock up your lawnmower on May 1st and let the wild flowers in your lawn bloom until the end of the month, providing a feast of nectar for our hungry pollinators.

This Month in the Garden – May

With winter vegetables over and spring sowings usually not yet ready, this can be a hungry month. However, salads, onions and herbs are ready and there is lots of sowing that can be done.

Sowing undercover:
• Early May - Leeks and winter squash.
• At any time this month - courgette (one seed per small pot), leaf beet, beetroot, chard, lettuce, kale and spring onions.
• French and climbing beans

Harvest:
• Harvest mint regularly to help keep the plants compact and bushy. Other herbs such as sage, rosemary and thyme can also be harvested.
• Salad leaves and leaf beet.
• Rhubarb – make the most of it and make some crumble!

Find out what else to do in the garden and allotment this month:

This Month in the Garden – May 2022 With winter vegetables over and spring sowings usually not yet ready, this can be a hungry month. However, salads, onions and herbs are ready and with the weather in May starting to warm up, there is lots of sowing that can be done. In the Allotment After the last frost has passed, tomato plants can...

Spice of the Month

Have you heard about the spice Sumac?

Sumac is an underappreciated spice that sometimes gets bought, used once then gets put at the back of the cupboard and forgotten about. This should not be the case. Sumac is a vibrant spice with a citrusy, yet smoky flavour and can (and should) be used in a variety of recipes.

Sumac has health benefits too and has long been used in traditional herbal practices. The ancient Greeks and Romans used sumac for its strong colour to produce a powerful purple dye.

Find out more about sumac at:

Spice of the Month – Sumac Sumac is a vibrant spice with a citrusy, yet smoky flavour. Once you discover the taste of sumac, and start using it in your recipes, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it. Find out how to use sumac in your recipes, along with some health benefits and a few facts you might not have known.

Why not try growing your own Jerusalem artichoke?

You can’t usually buy them in supermarkets, though can sometimes find them at farm shops and farmers markets. But if you like them they are one of the easiest guaranteed vegetables you can grow. You can usually just plant them and forget about them! I managed to grow (not meaning to – an escapee tuber!) quite a decent crop beneath the compacted gravel this year! They are productive even in poor soil, they store well and are perennial so can be grown every year.

Find out how to grow them and some recipe ideas:

Jerusalem Artichoke Jerusalem Artichoke Helianthus tuberosus I discovered Jerusalem artichoke a few years ago. Once I tried them I decided I must grow them. Jerusalem artichokes have a sweet, nutty and slightly smoky flavour and crisp up like little jacket potatoes when roasted. You can’t usually buy them in supermar...

Have you heard about the herb....

Dandelion?

Growing in lawns and popping up all around the garden, they are usually seen as a ‘weed’ and most will do their best trying to eradicate them, possibly using lots of harmful chemicals in the process. However, a plant is only a ‘weed’ in the wrong place and dandelions are always welcome in our garden.

Dandelions have long been used for their medicinal properties and have many uses in the kitchen, with most of the plant being edible. They are also a great flower for wildlife, providing early nectar and pollen for insects and a burst of colour to the garden when little else may be in flower.

Find out more about this flower at:

Herb of the Month - Dandelion Growing in lawns and popping up all around the garden, they are usually seen as a ‘weed’ and most will do their best trying to eradicate them, possibly using lots of harmful chemicals in the process. However, a plant is only a ‘weed’ in the wrong place and dandelions are always welcome in ou...

This month in the garden:

Sowing Undercover: Spring onions, lettuce leaves, dill, beetroot and coriander, leeks and carrots.

Sowing Undercover with Warmth: After the middle of the month sow courgette, squash, pumpkin, cucumber and basil.

Sowing Outside: Broad beans, lettuce, spinach, leaf beet, peas, carrots, spring onions, radish, leeks and parsley.

Find out what else to do in the garden and allotment this month:

This Month in the Garden - April 2022 Spring has arrived now. It is such an exciting time of year with new shoots and leaves developing, daffodils and tulips brightening our gardens, and fruit trees blossoming and filling the air with their beautiful scents. My favourite sight in spring are the fresh, glossy, green new leaves of hawthor...

Turmeric is one of the more unusual spices in flavour and fragrance. It has a warming, earthy and bitter flavour with a slightly musty, mustard and milk like aroma. Turmeric has many health benefits. It has long been used in traditional medicines and is still used for medicinal purposes today.

Turmeric is a subtropical herbaceous perennial from the same family as ginger (zingiberaceae) which can grow up to one metre in height. Like ginger, the rhizomes are used as a spice, although the leaves can also be used.

Find out more about this spice, its health benefits and how to use it in your recipes:

Spice of the Month – Turmeric Turmeric Curcuma longa Turmeric is one of the more unusual spices in flavour and fragrance. It has a warming, earthy and bitter flavour with a slightly musty, mustard and milk like aroma. Find out its medicinal properties and how to include turmeric in your recipes.

Have you heard about the herb...

Nasturtium?

are a happy flower, their faces smiling from spring until the first frosts (or even snow). I plant them alongside my vegetables, herbs and other flowers. They are a great companion plant attracting aphids, blackfly, and caterpillars (cabbage white butterfly in particular) away from other plants.

Nasturtium leaves are high in iron and vitamin C and were once used to prevent scurvy. Find out more about these happy little plants.

Herb of the Month – Nasturtium Nasturtium are a happy flower, their faces smiling from spring until the first frosts (or even snow). I plant them alongside my vegetables, herbs and other flowers (they also turn up in many other places and I am always happy to see them!). They are a great companion plant attracting aphids, blackfl...