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Plant list

Aloe vera

Aloe vera
Not a herb, admittedly, aloe vera is a succulent. Break open a leaf and you can see its gel-like sap, which is used extensively in the cosmetic industry for its soothing, moisturising and healing properties. The sap can be applied directly to burns and stings to take the heat out of them.
Best grown indoors and in a pot in the UK, it likes sandy soil and is happy in dry spells. Water very sparingly in winter, when the plant is dormant. When it develops shoots at the foot of the mother plant, carefully remove these and plant up to produce new plants.

Bay
Laurus nobilis
Bay trees are often grown in pots to keep them compact. A full-grown tree in the open ground can reach 8-12m high and as wide – although it will take decades to get that big.
Bays are unfussy plants which will grow in most soils so long as they are well-drained and is happy in full sun or in semi-shade.
Bay trees can be affected by scale insect and bay suckers. Scale insects look like little brown and white buttons on the main stem. A blast of water will dislodge them.
Bay suckers are tiny mites which will make the leaves curl over – you’ll also see what looks like little bits of white wool on the leaves. Remove all the affected branches and burn them – don’t put them in the compost. You may well have to do this more than once to get rid of the suckers. Think of it as a good pruning.

Dwarf comfrey
Symphytum ibericum
One of the ancient common names for comfrey was ‘knitbone’ because it was applied to wounds and also fractures in the olden days to help set them. Comfrey tea used to be taken as a remedy for coughs and colds, although ingesting comfrey these days is discouraged – an overdose can cause damage to the liver.
Currently it is perhaps best known for the liquid manure you can make from the leaves. Put a sackful of comfrey in a porous sack into a water butt. Fill the butt with water (if it isn’t full already). Leave for 4-6 weeks, then draw off the resulting liquid from the tap. This makes a great feed for your plants, high in nitrogen and with god levels of potassium too.
Coriander
Coriandum sativum
We don’t have coriander growing out in the garden at the moment and it’s a must-have herb if you like it.
The problem with coriander is tat it will bolt so readily: that is, instead of growing slowly and developing lots of luscious leaves, it will grow very fast and set seed. When the plant does this the flavour goes out of the leaves as the plant’s energy is focused on getting through its life-cycle as quickly as possible.
As a broad generalisation, plants bolt if there is a check in growth. Regular watering, the right soil, good weather conditions should all prevent bolting. But coriander is particularly prone to it.
This year for the first time, I am trying out Coriander Calypso, a variety which claims to produce leaf and be resistant to bolting. I’ll be reporting back on that on the blog. 
Another solution is to grow coriander as microleaves and pick them when very young. There are details of how to do this on the blog.

Echinacea

Echinacea purpureum Magnus

Echinacea is a native of north America and has long been used by native Americans as a general remedy: for coughs, sore throats, headaches and pain relief. It’s very popular today as a herbal remedy to ward off the common cold. It’s popularly believed to be an immuno-stimulator, giving a general boost to the body’s immune system.

Echinacea purpurea, grown here, is primarily an ornamental plant. It’s easy to maintain and likes either sun or partial shade, with spectacular purple flowers in July and August.

Fennel
Foeniculum vulgare
This type of fennel is grown for its leaf fronds and seeds – it doesn’t develop a swollen bulb like Florence Fennel.
It’s an easy plant to look after, although it’s said not to like heavy clay soil. Let it grow tall at the back of a bed so that it will set seed which you can then collect.
Leaves, stalks and seeds are all full of anise flavour: great in salads. The seeds are a common ingredient in curry powders and pastes and the plant is a primary component of absinthe.
Seeds make a flavoursome tea which is good for colicky babies – mother drinks it and bay ingests it through breastmilk.
French marjoram
Origanum x onites
There’s a lot of confusion between oregano and marjoram, which are closely related. What we call wild marjoram and common oregano are the same plant – Oreganum vulgare.
Marjoram likes a sunny spot and light well-drained soil – good in and under hedges. Mature plants will happily withstand dry conditions, and will spread out as well as up. 


French tarragon
Artemisia dracunculus
Strong-flavoured variety. Likes warmth and is happy with dry conditions. Protect in winter – not frost-hardy.

Propagate by taking cuttings in early summer or by planting root nodules in spring.

Japanese parsley
Cryptotaenia japonica
Also known as Mitsuba, the leaves taste like a cross between celery and parsley. Use seedlings or torn leaves in salads; blanch the stems and eat like celery. Likes a rich soil and sunshine.
Lavender
Lavandula augustifolia
No garden is quite complete without lavender. Its silvery grey leaves and violet-blue flowers are so beautiful and hum with bees during the summer. That quintessential English lavender fragrance rises up every time you brush past a plant.  
Lavender oil is calming – great for an evening bath, and a few drops on the pillow is said to help you get a good night’s sleep. See the blog also MsMarmiteLover’s gin and lavender cocktail.
It’s easy to turn one lavender bush into a whole hedge: propagate with softwood cuttings in May-June. If you leave it late, take semi-hardwood cuttings – instead of cutting the new growth, cut in summer from the non-flowering, slightly woody shoots.
Lemon balm
Melissa officinalis
Related to mint, with a distinctive citronella-like scent. The plant is also very attractive to bees (there’s a clue in the Latin name Melissa which means honey bee).
A native of the Mediterranean, it likes warmth, and the seeds need warmth above 20 degrees to germinate but once established it will happily self-seed. You can easily propagate with stem cuttings but you probably won’t need to.
Crush the leaves and rub on to your skin to act as a mosquito repellent (that’s the citronella). While researching this Secret Garden Club workshop I read that people on thyroid medication shouldn’t ingest lemon balm as it inhibits absorption of thyroxine. As someone on thyroid medication I was surprised by this – never come across it before.
Mint
Mentha spp

Mint is a huge and diverse family of plants with a long culinary and medical history.

There are two varieties currently in the Secret Garden, Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens ‘Variegata’) and Moroccan Mint (Mentha spicata). These are in two separate pots: it’s not a good idea to mix different varieties of mint close together. They will hybridise and lose their distinctive characteristics and flavours.
Mint should definitely be grown in a container, though, otherwise it will spread everywhere, sending out root runners. The root runners are useful, however, for propagating the plants. You can sink the container into the ground so that it doesn’t dry out so quickly – don’t place it in full sun.

Oregano
Oreganum vulgare
In the kitchen, common oregano is commonly used dried rather than fresh – think dried oregano sprinkled over pizzas or Greek salad.
Pick the leaves in the morning and hang them somewhere dark, dry and fairly warm until the leaves are all completely dry. Carefully transfer the leaves into jars and keep out of direct light. They’ll keep their flavour for three months or more.
Golden oregano (Oreganum vulgare ‘Aureum’) however, is a low spreading plant, good for ground cover.
More delicate in flavour than other oregano and marjoram varieties. Grows happily in poor soil, then use the fresh leaves in a meat rub, or chopped and sprinkled over steamed vegetables.

Parsley
Petroselinum crispum
There are many varieties of parsley but most people distinguish between curly-leaved and flat-leaved. These days flat-leaved parsley seems to be used more often for cooking. Curly parsley seems to have been pushed to the side to the plate, good only for garnish.  This seems unfair: it would be impossible for instance to make a traditional parsley sauce with the flat-leaved kind.
Whichever type you use, the best way to get the most of the parsley flavour in a stew, soup or casserole, is to use the stalks, chopped finely.
Parsley is a biennial plant, flowering in its second year. Ideal for growing in pots so that you can move it: it likes to be somewhere cool and even shady in summer, somewhere sunny and out of the wind in winter.
Seed germination can be slow – most books quote 4-6 weeks although I’ve found it’s usually a bit quicker than that at 2-3 weeks. It likes a rich soil and plenty of water during the growing season.
Rich in vitamin C, with a diuretic effect, hence it was used to treat bladder infections and to alleviate fluid retention. It’s also a well-known disguiser of garlic breath: chew raw parsley leaves to neutralise the smell.
Rosemary
Rosmarinus officinalis

Rosemary is surprisingly hardy. It will withstand the cold but it does not like the wet. Make sure soil is well-drained, adding grit and sand to heavy clay soils will help.

It’s easy to propagate rosemary with softwood cuttings in May-June. Cut cleanly & trim the cutting. Insert in seed compost, cover with a plastic bag with holes & place somewhere warm & sunny. Cuttings should root in 4-6 weeks.
Plants will stay compact in pots, but given the right conditions will grow very large in the open ground.
Rosemary twigs make good kebab skewers: strip most of the leaves and soak for 20 minutes or so before threading the meat or vegetables. Rosemary branches on the barbecue or in the firepit will give off aromatic smoke.
Rosemary is renowned as a hair tonic and is used in lots of hair shampoos. Rosemary oil can be rubbed on to the skin to help with poor circulation. You can drink an infusion of rosemary leaves as tea (good for digestion and bad breath) but don’t ingest the oil.
Rosemary beetle has become a problem pest recently. It’s an attractive insect with a metallic green sheen to the upperside of the wings. Both the adult beetles and the larvae will eat rosemary leaves and flowers.
They are best removed by hand: on a small plant pick them off, on a larger one, put sheets of paper or plastic under the bush and shake it vigorously to dislodge the insects, which should then fall on to the sheeting.
Thyme
Thymus aureum
Rubbing a thyme sprig between the fingers never fails to remind me of Greece or Turkey – anywhere on the Med. The distinctive fragrance is produced by thymol. Extracted from the thyme this has antiseptic properties, also found in oregano.
So thyme is a Mediterranean  plant: to grow successfully in the UK, it will need sun, warmth and well-drained, not-too-rich soil. Our heavy wet clay will kill it off much quicker than the cold.
So it’s good to grow it in a pot where you can control the soil more easily. Or add sand and grit to the compost. Don’t manure it, don’t feed it, don’t water it.



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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

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My next supper club 17th June london tickets £50 My next supper club 17th June london tickets £50 BYO book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsummer-supper-club-tickets-june-17th #london #supperclub #msmarmitelover #midsummer
For tonight’s event I had to push the boundaries For tonight’s event I had to push the boundaries. Here is how to prepare goose neck barnacles or percebes which are a very expensive and rare delicacy, hunted down from cliffs. It’s quite dangerous to forage them. #canapes #eventcatering #satanicfood #percebes #grossfood #seafood #devilsfood
Midsummer supperclub 17th June book tickets here h Midsummer supperclub 17th June book tickets here https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsummer-supper-club-tickets-june-17th at London’s pioneering supper club. Tickets £50 BYO. Scandinavian inspired summery food. #supperclub #msmarmitelover #midsummer #northwestlondon #londonevents #popups
Tina sweating through a gig at Brixton academy cir Tina sweating through a gig at Brixton academy circa 1987 pic: kerstin Rodgers #rip #tinaturner #rockphotographer #kerstinrodgers #teenagephotographer
Attended an incredible talk with @frenchpete_1 on Attended an incredible talk with @frenchpete_1 on war photography in the Ukraine . Go to the exhibition @thebppa @thebargehouse in SE1 last few days 
Had to stop filming cos I was told off. The photographers would be less forthcoming if they were filmed I was told. 
Anyway @frenchpete_1 should be followed by a camera crew cos he’s a star.
For yesterdays lunch I made a blue cheese puff pas For yesterdays lunch I made a blue cheese puff pastry quiche and a little one with less blue cheese & no salt for my 7 month old granddaughter. She absolutely loved it. I’m enjoying seeing her experience and explore new foods with baby led weaning. Avocado, strawberries, kiwi & buttered crumpets are a hit. Pasta less so. Who is this child? Are we even related? #babyledweaning #quiche #homemadepuffpastry
Nice to be featured as The Great Read in The natio Nice to be featured as The Great Read in The national newspaper again. These are the stories I love to do: I go off on an adventure, take my time, interview people (especially women), photograph them in their environment and create recipes on site. This story cost me a lot more than I made as I had an accident and lost my excess. My own damn fault though! Loved loved loved having a campervan. Thanks for lending me it @camperdays.international and sorry about the hole in the side.  https://www.thenational.scot/news/23505593.foraging-seaweed-western-isles/
My terrace on a sunny May morning. The builders @l My terrace on a sunny May morning. The builders @lk.general.building left yesterday. They’ve been working since January. I had the awning installed, the encaustic Minton tiles removed and put back with green grout. The terrace was causing damp so this had to be done. My calamondin plant is looking lovely. The benches which I repaired with hard wood & I repainted using a mix of 2 colours. The marble table I bought in Suffolk at a car boot. Everything is still dusty & I’m waiting for the window cleaner to arrive.
Last but very heartfelt thankyou to @cideriswine f Last but very heartfelt thankyou to @cideriswine for their contribution of these beautiful dry ciders for the coronation street lunch. Gorgeously illustrated labels. #stcuthbertsrd #kilburn #london #cider #artisanaldrinks
When it comes to vodka I much prefer potato vodka. When it comes to vodka I much prefer potato vodka. It’s smoother. Artisanal distillery @devoncovevodka contributed some bottles to my coronation lunch which gave everyone a feeling of being at a classy party. Thanks so much. And also @rawfoodanddrink for arranging. If you want to read my blog post about how and why I organised this event, copy and paste this link: https://t.co/GWNNW2XKba #coronationstreetparty #biglunch #community #kilburn #london #forthepeoplebythepeople
I’ve been a fan of @luscombedrinks for years now I’ve been a fan of @luscombedrinks for years now. They sent a selection: elderflower bubbly, st. Clements orange 🍊 Sicilian lemonade, @belvoirfarm_uk lemonade, which were all delicious and just the tickets for the fortuitous mini-heatwave that occurred on the Sunday coronation lunch. #thankyou #community #coronation #streetparty #biglunch
Our street party. Double page spread in The Sun! T Our street party. Double page spread in The Sun! Tiny bit in the guardian. Decent pic in the Mail and The Star credit @asproider #coronationlunch #kilburn #stcuthbertsrd #kingscroftrd #fordwychrd #templarhouse
My coronation quiche with Broad beans, tarragon, s My coronation quiche with Broad beans, tarragon, spinach, cheddar. I used crème fraiche and blind baked puff pastry shells. I was up at 11 last night making these for todays street party, which featured in the mail, telegraph, mirror, metro courtesy of photographer Gavin Rodgers @asproider
Seaweed foraging at Spring tides in the Outer Hebr Seaweed foraging at Spring tides in the Outer Hebrides with @outerhebrideanforager Fi bird. She’s cutting sea spaghetti. I drove my campervan @camperdays.international from london to the Hebrides- using my gas stove to cook foraged and local ingredients. A real food safari. With the sea spaghetti I made a sea spag vongole with giant parlourdes picked up from the sand at the same time. Great fun, beautiful weather and, the day of the full moon, a wonderfully low tide. This was on south Uist.
More flavours, the flavour thesaurus is a plant-ba More flavours, the flavour thesaurus is a plant-based version of the original. Beautifully constructed, designed and written by @nikisegnit it’s vegetarian rather than vegan but recommended for both. She widens the sensory vocabulary around plant flavours in this book- encouraging new delicious sounding combinations. Now she includes new categories such as flower & meadow, caramel roasted, zesty roost- just the words make me salivate. #foodbooks #bookstagram #newbooks
Yesterday I attended @marmaladeawards @dalemainman Yesterday I attended @marmaladeawards @dalemainmansion I found out so much about marmalade. I’m going to make it this winter. I found out the worlds best maker is Japanese, in fact I was most impressed by the Japanese marmalades in general. Everyone wore orange. I must have tasted 50 marmalades. I met Paddington’s sister, karen jankel who is michael bond’s daughter, born in the same year as Paddington. She gave a charming talk on Paddington, mentioning how the queen insisted on having real marmalade sandwiches in her @launerlondonofficial handbag during the shoot. The house itself is Tudor and Georgian. I stayed in my campervan from @camperdays.international in the car park, cosy in the rain. Another freewheeling adventure. #yorkshire #marmalade #travel #food #ontheroad #campervan
I had a piece in @thetimes on Sunday about being a I had a piece in @thetimes on Sunday about being a vegetarian rather than a vegan. How I still need butter. And how restaurants & plane meals are now vegan rather than vegetarian. But, there are still more the double amount of vegetarians as vegans in the UK. I’ve written a vegan cookbook V is for vegan (link in bio) and am a big fan of vegan foods. I’ve not eaten meat for over 40 years. This is a sustainable diet, in terms of longevity. Vegans that I knew from the early noughties have reverted to meat eating. #newpuritanism? #vegetarian #vegan #foodwriter
Scrambled croft eggs (bright yellow yolks) with a Scrambled croft eggs (bright yellow yolks) with a seaweed that tastes just like truffle. Just done a little kelp foraging at low tide with @thetempleharris’ Amanda Saurin. Isle of Harris. Turquoise sea, white sand, cloud hovering just above. @camperdays.international @roosterpr
I went to Wembley in north west london to talk to I went to Wembley in north west london to talk to Sophie of @tobia.teff she uses the iron-rich, gluten free teff grain from her homeland Ethiopia. She showed me how to make injera, the Ethiopian flatbread which is fermented. She also talked about the coffee ceremony, 3 cups, which they pair with toasted barley or, currently, popcorn! I’d love to visit Ethiopia and find out more about their ancient food culture, history, 3.5k year old monarchy and religions.
Doing a spring budget recipe cooking demo for @bre Doing a spring budget recipe cooking demo for @brentcouncil Willesden library. I’ve been doing this a few times a year for the last few years. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a kitchen set up permanently. Libraries are community centres and could be used to teach how to cook from scratch.
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