Adventures in Food

It's been a while but the plants have moved quickly. A month ago the plot was green and lush and new things seemed to be appearing every day, crowding each other out. Now it looks untidy and shrivelled but I have been collecting poppy seeds and heads for decoration, and some of the slower things are starting to look fat with promise. So by way of an update here are some photos from June: Looking lush in June   Opium Poppies Common Poppy Opium Poppy in July is covered in aphid. The green heads are where opium comes from so I wonder if that is the attraction for these black bugs.   Where the aphid do well, so do the ladybirds Broad-leaved dock I think these are red admiral caterpillars on the nettles in June. Now it's July, I have seen a lot of butterfilies but more in the nature reserve than on this plot. Wild Rocket Pam The opium poppies look pretty but I am not convinced they will be so well used next year. The seeds are d...

On Saturday I was very happy to be invited to join Pudding Mill River at the Greenway in Stratford , running through the Olympics site, to collect some plants with the help of some lovely people who joined the Botanical Collecting Expedition. Marie Briggs at Kew Herbarium was good enough to make the loan of a Vasculum and a press which made it a much more efficient expedition. We collected specimens from herbs and shrubs. The list is as follows: Viper's Bugloss - Echium vulgare Hedge Mustard - Sisybrium officinale Burnet Rose Rosa pimpinellifolia Bird's-Foot Trefoil - Lotus corniculatus Teasel - Dipsacus fullonum Black Horehound - Ballota nigra Treacle Mustard - Erysimum cheiranthoides Common Mallow - Malva sylvestris Oxeye Daisy - Leucanthemum vulgare A Grass - unknown We also saw plenty of apple trees, brambles and mugwort, ragwort, yarrow, various roses including dog rose, three types of bindweed (probably Convulvulus arvensis , Calystegia sepium , and the non-native Calyst...