Reply to: It's Spring

[Netraider]

A couple of more weeks here in N Ireland before I start planting out.

I've just picked the last of last years sprouts, cleaned out the greenhouse and started cleaning my pots.

This year I'm going to try and grow fewer plants and hopefully improve the quantity and quality of everything I grow.

Must say thanks to EO for some seeds he sent me that were purely for decoration.

[vetran]

Asparagus & Spinach fresh from the Garden are incredible!

Half the kitchen covered in seedlings, wife is going mental.

[norrahe]

Not to mention parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

Yep

[norrahe]

My snowdrops are looking rather fine at the moment.

The wild strawberry plants seem to have ambitions to take over the entire garden*.

The berries taste nice though.


*The small part of the garden that the mint has left.

Am planning to plant some horseradish, albeit in the raised beds, otherwise it will take over the garden

[Halo Jones]

Does it not help with his symptoms? I've heard it said that some instances it can.

Not been able to get past the vomiting to work that out

[Churchill]

Actually don’t do those: it makes BGG ill & I can have random drugs tests at work; not worth losing your job over.

Does it not help with his symptoms? I've heard it said that some instances it can.

[Halo Jones]

I'd have thought the stuff you'd be interested in growing could be grown in your loft - assuming it's well insulated.

Actually don’t do those: it makes BGG ill & I can have random drugs tests at work; not worth losing your job over.

[Churchill]

Due to moving to a property with a garden I have decided to give the “grow your own veg” a go, I have potatoes chitting on the kitchen windowsill & seedlings in the airing cupboard & after 9 months the coffee plants are still alive (well 6 of them) it’s all quite exciting in a sad sort of way.

Any others growing their own this year (or are you all boomed contractors who just get it shipped in from Abel & Cole?)

I'd have thought the stuff you'd be interested in growing could be grown in your loft - assuming it's well insulated.

[norrahe]

Coriander, basil, thyme and chilli seedlings on the window sill.

Digging up the raised veg beds for this years crop yet to be decided. All the garden herbs have been cut back and those that were cut last year are starting to come up nicely.

Fruit trees pruned!

All the spring bulbs are starting to come up as well

Might give spuds a whirl and strawberries in hanging baskets as well.

[Mich the Tester]

Meine mutter ist deutsch, so she sometimes says how good they are, though I've never tried them. Presumably even when the leaves are young they need to be cooked?

Yep, they always need cooking.

[TimberWolf]

I like nettle soup and nettle cheese, but you have to use very young leaves.

Meine mutter ist deutsch, so she sometimes says how good they are, though I've never tried them. Presumably even when the leaves are young they need to be cooked?

[lightng]

Millions of uses for nettles. Apparently stinging nettles are used by some people during foreplay. Ouch!

[Halo Jones]

All you need to do is let your house get into a state of disrepair, perhaps breaking a few windows, and you have the perfect growing conditions, AFAIK.

I don't think BGG would let me try that - he has made comments about the length of the grass as it is

[Mich the Tester]

Why not try to grow stinging nettles?:



No gardening or even planting required. All you need to do is let your house get into a state of disrepair, perhaps breaking a few windows, and you have the perfect growing conditions, AFAIK.

I like nettle soup and nettle cheese, but you have to use very young leaves.

[TimberWolf]

Why not try to grow stinging nettles?:

In its peak season, stinging nettle contains up to 25% protein, dry weight, which is high for a leafy green vegetable.[14] The young leaves are edible and make a very good pot-herb. Nettles can be used in a variety of recipes, such as polenta and pesto. Nettle soup is a common use of the plant, particularly in Northern and Eastern Europe.

Nettles are sometimes used in cheese making, for example in the production of Yarg[15] and as a flavouring in varieties of Gouda[16]

In Nepal and in Kumaon region of Northern India, Stinging Nettle is known as Shishnu. It's a very popular cuisine and cooked with Indian spices.

Stinging nettle has a flavour similar to spinach when cooked and is rich in vitamins A, C, iron, potassium, manganese, and calcium. Young plants were harvested by Native Americans and used as a cooked plant in spring when other food plants were scarce.[13]

Extracts can be used to treat arthritis, anemia, hay fever, kidney problems, and pain. Nettle leaf is a herb that has a long tradition of use as an adjuvant remedy in the treatment of arthritis in Germany. Nettle leaf extract contains active compounds that reduce TNF-α and other inflammatory cytokines.[6][7] It has been demonstrated that nettle leaf lowers TNF-α levels by potently inhibiting the genetic transcription factor that activates TNF-α and IL-1B in the synovial tissue that lines the joint.[8]

Nettle is used in hair shampoos to control dandruff and is said to make hair more glossy, which is why some farmers include a handful of nettles with cattle feed.[9] It is also thought nettles can ease eczema.

Nettle root extracts have been extensively studied in human clinical trials as a treatment for symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). These extracts have been shown to help relieve symptoms compared to placebo both by themselves [10] and when combined with other herbal medicines.[11].

Because it contains 3,4-divanillyltetrahydrofuran, certain extracts of the nettle are used by bodybuilders in an effort to increase free testosterone by occupying sex-hormone binding globulin[12]

Fresh nettle is used in folk remedies to stop bleeding because of its high Vitamin K content. Meanwhile, in dry U. dioica, the Vitamin K is practically non-existent and so is used as a blood thinner.

Stinging nettle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

No gardening or even planting required. All you need to do is let your house get into a state of disrepair, perhaps breaking a few windows, and you have the perfect growing conditions, AFAIK.