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Gardening by the Moon

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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,056
    Ho BF - Prêle is indeed horsetail or marestail and I've seen it on sale here as a fertiliser.  Touching wood and all the rest, we don't have it here but we make up for that with masses of bindweed.  I know that infusions of this are used for medicinal purposes in some cultures but haven't found anyone suggesting it makes a good "purine".  Pity.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Gardengirl..Gardengirl.. Posts: 4,171
    Hello Biofreak thanks for the calendar update just sown dwarf french beans direct in soil, great picture of your plants
    I have made jam had an issue with sauce pan not big enough when cooking it - it over flowed put into two then mix did not do that well
    put back into the one sauce pan when less in pan cooked and stirred for a long time and testing then went over
    so I made 4 pots of jam taste good just rather stiff  - so not spreadable on bread
    need a larger pan that was the largest I was using or less strawberries mix

    think Nettle feed - helps leaf growth and comfrey for fruiting so would of helped feed your plants 
    Still to catch up on Beechgrove not watched any of them this year yet
    Hampshire Gardener
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,478
    Gardengirl , IKEA use to do a great jam pan , 2 sizes  :)
  • biofreakbiofreak Posts: 1,088
    Thanks Obelixx - What would we call Bindweed in France? Can check it out at Bio-dynamic Club Meeting tomorrow. So glad you had a good holiday GWRS. Thunderstorms have re-filled water butts and it rained hard during the night as well, so everything looking nice and fresh this am. Gardengirl - Try Lakeland and ask for a 'Marmite' These are big deep pans (used here for boiling crabs an lobsters) and I use them to make my marmelade. Had invite this am to give demo at local Windmill on 15th July at their Fete du Pain. Will have to brush up my cake decorating skills FAST!!! Strawberries (fruit only) have all disappeared in our absence in UK -Think local children had been scrumping as we had left gate open and the plants were netted so it wasn't birds or mice.. Raspberries ok but not happy where they are. Blackcurrants good for first year cuttings crop.
    Must close to make 2 loads of marmelade and cheese & onion scones for Farmers Market tomorrow. I have 2 litres of Jersey Buttermilk to use up (Only 45p a litre here! -shocked at UK prices for tiny carton)
    Happy Gardening!



  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,056
    Bindweed is liseron; couch grass is chiendent; buttercups are boutons d'or; thistle is chardon; dandelion is pissenlit..........
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,056
    edited July 2018
    For jam, jelly, chutney making I recently treated myself to a Maslin pan - ordered via internet - and it's brilliant.  Much better than previous preserving pans.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • biofreakbiofreak Posts: 1,088
    Pissenlit I know because it is highly popular in the Cotentin where we make Dandelion jam and it tastes like honey.I haven't come across Liseron or Chiendent. Just started reading A Little History of British Gardening' by Jenny Uglow. Excellent book and I am delighted to see that on Page 101 reference is made to gardening with the Moon in the early 17th Century -Quote: Most countrywomen, and the gardening experts whose books they read, firmly believed that all planting, sowing and reaping should be governed by the phases of the moon (And if this seems eccentric, I did see a gardener on television in 2002 arguing pursuasively that if the moon ruled the tides, then why not the level of sap, or juice in the fruit?) Following the familiar rhythmn of the seasons, our housewife gathered the herbs the flowers and roots: The leaves of herbs, it was said were strongest in flavour and power if picked between mid-April and early July. Stalks and stems from July to October, roots from October through to April again.
    So thrilled with this bearing in mind recent comments on this Thread. Anyway off to do Demo crystallising flowers and making flower syrups on Sunday at Fete du Pain Really looking forward to it. Whilst I prefer doing TV, I like live events as you get to interact more -Only problem is that if you make a mistake you can't edit it or re-do it!!! Taking Roses and Lavender.
    Lunar Calender to cover 14-20th July - No gardening on 14th before 9am as Moon ascending.
    15-16th Moon descending in Leo so Fruit Days - Prune Fan Pears and Apples. Cut back raspberries to ground level if they only fruit once in the year. Take tops out of tomatoes courgettes and pumpkins. Prepare the soil for new strawberries in August.
    17/18/19th July - Root Days. Prepare an unmanured patch for onions to be sown 24-25th August, lift shallots/onions and garlic. Thin out turnips sown 1-2 July. Start lifting potatoes.

    Have a great weekend and Happy Gardening!
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,478
    Hello , dandelion jam , better then spraying them with weed killer !
    Village produce show tomorrow so been busy helping o/h sort things out 
    A truely magnificent summer , long May it continue , still no rain , never done so much watering 
    We had already lifted onions , garlic & Shallots brought them home yesterday 
    Grew some asparagus peas for the first time , looking forward to trying them  
    Enjoy the crystal making  B)
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,056
    Chiendent comes from the white, pointy roots -shaped like dog's teeth - that pierce thru the soil.  Pissenlit is because dandelion is diuretic.   

    My garden is full of bindweed.  It's riddled thru the grassed areas, including the former donkey paddock which has become our potager and it's in the sunny bed we've made at the front as well as in the grass around there.   It's pretty in the grass bits we don't plan to develop but is proving a nightmare in the beds.   

    The roots go very deep with brittle, white roots down to about fork depth and then harder to spot brown ones going down for several metres I expect.  It's in the same family as Morning Glory and sweet potato but won't, unfortunately, be killed off by frosts.  I have used glyphosate on it where it's in the drive and paths and on soil we're clearing and improving for a future rose garden but it is proving resistant. 
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • GWRSGWRS Posts: 8,478
    Oberlix , a surgestion for bindweed in beds , grow it up canes and apply weed killer so it goes down to the roots , I did this to clear a bed at allotment 
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