I have a confession to make. I have been neglecting my Hedgerows. The cause is a wee patch of ground I have been allocated which I rather grandly call a Garden. Last year was mostly spent turfing and digging and manuring and planning but we did get a bumper crop of Salad and some lovely Red Pak Choi. I also transplanted various herbs that I had been harbouring in my pavement pots until a more suitable home could be found. My Thyme lushly declared its new home ‘most suitable thank you’ with a quite breathtaking spurt of growth and is flowering away quite happily at the moment. The Lovage is looking a bit more like itself without the confines of a pot. The Chives are brightening the place up and keeping order with their purple rows dividing up the patch. The Valerian was magnificent until the gales came and knocked it down. I left most of the stems on though as it was just coming into flower which the bees loved (I did too – a curious scent but strangely mesmerising). The other side of the path is for veggies and I’m hoping for at least a wee crop of beans, lettuce, pak choi, courgette, cabbage, radish and spring onions. I’m also making a bold attempt to raise Globe Artichokes from seed (for medicine well as food). So the veg side is all planned out but I’ve still got space in the herb bed.
A curious thing is happening though. As I flip through books and catalogues trying to decide what else to plant in my patch, I find myself pondering Wild Garlic, Elder, Hawthorn… Some Raspberries have made a surprise appearance so I’ve transplanted them over near the fence. I’ve carefully lifted the nettles from the veg patch and made them a home near the rasps. I’m lenient with the Plantain hugging the wooden boards around the beds and I’ve given the Yarrow pride of place alongside the Rosemary and the Lavender… It seems I’m making a Hedgerow in my Garden! Oh dear… it seems you can take the Herbalist out of the Hedgerow but you can’t take the Hedgerow out of the Herbalist. Time to order some more ornamental herbs perhaps and return to the Wild…
Hedgerows here I come!
Hedgerow Hippy 