Gargoyle...

I was at one of those $2 bargain basement type shops looking for candles when i met him. Now Im not usually your garden ornament type o gal but this particular gargoyle caught my eye, he has such a nice face, despite the fangs and protruding tongue. So for six bucks I bought him home. Im tempted to have him inside cos he's so cool but his energy is definitely garden orientated, so for now he's under a lilly pilly tree amidst the straplike leaves of grasses.

Gargoyles are traditionally functionality merged with imagination. When we see them on church rofftops they generally have a hollow inside that channels water away from the mortar of the stonework hence preventing its erosion over time. Usually the water comes out of the creatures  mouth but I did see one gargoyle who was mooning the world and the water came out his arse.

It has been said they were used to scare common folk into church showing that such beings couldnt get inside churches but I have a feeling that pagan stonemasons were having fun with it whatever their officially stated purpose. Their creatures hark back to gods and godesses of old such as the sheela ne gig figures, the depiction of a woman with an exaggerated vulva perhaps a fertility goddess or simply a lustfull hag.

growing herbs, magical....

Ive got a bit more serious about wanting to grow herbs. My usual technique has been to sprinkle numerous seeds into potting mix (fancy) in a pot or directly into the ground, add water and wait. Ive had some success but buying specially selected seeds does make one rather protective.My volunteering stint at the herb nursery gave me some insight into how they grow them from seed with funky results. They use a special 'seedling raising' mix, that is finer and lighter, and generally plant one seed in each tubestock type pot.,which then stay 'protected' in a greenhouse till they sprout and get a bit bigger. Then they are repotted into a bigger pot with a bulkier soil containing slow release fertilisers ( like osmocote) and are gradually 'hardened off' , which translates to getting them tough enough for the big wide world by gradual exposure to natural light and conditions.

Herbs are trixier than vegies, often the seeds are smaller and they may need extra treatments to break their dormancy, which is an added challenge. My usual techniques have had low gernination results so Ive bought a commercial seed raising mix, and am recycling trays and pots that Ive bought babies in, with just one or two seeds per cell, or pot. Ive discovered with my Henbane, Belladonna and Echinacea augustifolia that they naturally sprout after snowmelt, and the best way I can duplicate this by popping em in the fridge for a spell. A wise gardener recommended putting them in a jar of water, changing the water daily and doing it for two weeks. Guess what? IVE GOT 2 SPROUTLETS OF HENBANE!! They are meant to be tougher than some but still its tres excitement for this experimenter.You can bet baby photos will follow...


The other adjustment I made is to stop using a watering can and shift down a gear to a mister bottle which doesnt disturb wee developing rootsystems,but is enough to keep them moist. 'Dampening off' can happen when they are too wet, interfering with germination and it seems so far that a gentle misting helps filter out this problem too. Although Im yet to have success with tiny seeds like Pennyroyal or those precious Lobelia inflata seeds, my adaptations may give me some confidence to try again. Motherhood is a steep learning curve.....

Garden update...

Like a little lavendar bush surrounded by protective stones our garden is moving towards becoming a food and herbs oasis. Ok so it aint there yet, but Im learning to work with the sandy soil, grow in pots mostly and the sunshine is shifting higher to its spring position. That combined with tropical rain, and green folks are picking up there heads and putting on a growth spurt. Yesterday I planted my black henbane and belladonna seeds into trays, after 2 weeks in the fridge, imitating the snow melt in their home environment. Gathering pots and plant stands anyways I can.

hanging gardens....

 In my shady garden Ive been brewing up ideas to maximise green exposure to light.After waiting impatiently for my pocket type shoe storage system to arrive from China via 2 weeks at Balmain post office, they arrived! How bloody cool are they with seedlings popped in em?! Mums up and she brought lettuces, parsley, coriander and spinach. Ive hung them on my sunshiney wall to maximise growth and plant happiness. The water drains from the top ones down via the ones below and into the ground where more seedlings await a drink, its bloody great. Let you know how the experiment progresses. Theres hope for shady gardens yet...

whats growing in the garden....medicines?

My wee seedlings that have been still for so long have grown in the last four days! Spring is beginning to seep into the days. As I watered my gardens a term came into my mind 'physick garden'. So in my developing researching before doubting mode, i found that these were gardens in Europe created by apothecaries to teach their apprentices plant identification and give them a connection to the plants. Learning gardens.Theres a garden like this that was established in Chelsea in 1673 thats still growing! How cool is that. Mind you indigenous folks earth gardens have been going way longer. But when these gardens were all the rage hospitals had them, damn sensible, as did private estates, damn sensible. Heres to physic gardens in every home and place of healing!


While Im on this era, about 50 years prior actually, Ill quote from Nicholas Culpeper.He was the first apothecary to translate the pharmacoepia (list of herbs in use) from the Latin into english so your everyday folk could access the information. Along the way came some scathing words for the medical establishment.
"It seems the College hold a strange opinion that it would do an English man mischief to know what the herbs in his garden are good for."
At the time the Colleges descriptions of English herbs listed neither their common names or virtues.
"I would consider what number of poor creatures perish daily who else might happily be preserved if they knew what the Herbs in their own Gardens were good for." He was an eat your weeds kinda bloke, whereas the establishment of the time liked to use complex mixtures of exotic and expensive ingredients...

Nicholas is also known for his combining of astrology with herbs. He ascribed symptoms, body parts and herbs to astrological houses and then used either herbs from an opposite house, or sympatheticly ones from the same house to treat disease.
"He that would know the reason of the operation of the Herbs, must look up as high as the stars."
Love how he capitalises Herbs...he was trying to construct a system of understanding health that could be accessible to many rather than the few. His English Physician containinng "a Compleat Method of Practice of Physic, whereby a Man may preserve his Body in Health, or cure himself when sick, with such things one-ly as grown in England, they being most fit for english Bodies." Local plants, used one at a time as simples.

Resources:
Planetary planting: A Guide to Organic Growing by the Signs of the Zodiac by Louise Riotte
Green Pharmacy : The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine by Barbara Grigg

busy week in tha garden....

As you can see nomadcat is having a hard time adjusting to having a garden, especially torturous is our morning cuppa and sunshine session which usually morphs into gardening. We now have three gardenbeds, no four, in which to get growing. Mostly want to get greens happening cos theres no dandelions or chickweed to munch on round these sandy soil parts of the world, which is a bit of a  shock to the system! Went to make a brown rice salad and had to use only what was in the fridge, no wild harvest aargh! Still rocket, lettuce and spinach seeds are pokin their heads up through the soil, goodness I might have to plant weeds here, thats just too weird! Ive seen one lone dandelion, made sure to greet him, and a wee patch of chickweed, literally wee as its in a prime dog pee zone. Started our pennyroyal lawn, with one big plant, seedlings coming along but theyre virtually microscopic their so small, so those babies might be some time in maturing. Planted two native hibiscuses out front to form a bit of a screen. Theyre both near what is going to become our outside shrine/altar. There used to be a tree out front here, but between the time we first looked at the place here and moving in, the owner cut it down. So now theres a big ol stump and a collection of roots close to the surface. The trees asking me to make that space a shrine, a lil bit of acknowledgement wouldnt hurt and Im inclined to agree. Its at the entrance so will also give a nice vibe on that front, so yesterday cleared it up and built a retaining wall out of bits n pieces, using one of the roots as one edge. Filled it with fresh potting mix and scattered some  flower seed, mixed white low growers and calendula. So well see how they grow. This weekend is the Lismmore Gemfest and if I can get my ass there Ive put out to cosmos for some rocks to start up activating the shrine. So its been a busy week in the garden and each morning mushcat and I do the rounds of the seeds/seedlings to see how theyre coming along. Thanx astra.....

how the gardens growingk....

our garden, the story so far....