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- The young members of our family report recently having seen a program on
television about a prominent ‘US footballer’ who has been using the
miracle herb "Brahmi" to cure some brain damage, incurred playing
sport and apparently the results have been sensational. Now I’d reported
this earlier in this column so it’s only reasonable to expand on its
reported memory retention characteristics.
- The herb is Bacopa monnieri and it grows equally well as an aquatic
plant or on wet soil and even in a well watered vegetable garden where I
have it thriving. One 10cm (4") pot has grown to cover a square metre
in three months. It has a lush bright green foliage and the small white
flowers attract the bees and are most attractive. It may even make a lawn
substitute, such is its prostrate habit of only 5cm (2") in height.
- Brian Noone at Cottage Herbs tells me it can be prepared by frying a small
quantity in gee (clarified butter), add some turmeric and ginger for
flavouring and use as a garnish to curry dishes. It can also be brewed as a
tea, but lemon verbena or mint need to be added to give it some flavour. He
suggests 5 grams a day is necessary, which when chopped is about the volume
pilled up to cover a 50-cent piece.
- Sparrows are busy eating the older lettuce leaves in our vegie garden.
Annie’s remedy is silver tinsel from the Christmas decorations box, which
is pretty effective, but a few metres of white bird netting at $2.40 a
metre, also practically foolproof.
- Lavender growers will realise that the spring flowering cultivars have
finished flowering and if the spent dried heads are removed the bushes will
make more laterals and flower better next spring. The ‘Sidone’ cultivar
hardly ever stops flowering so, you need to sacrifice a few weeks flowering
to give that one a clip. Do it now.
- Camellias get forgotten in summer, which is a pity, since they need
feeding and to have their woody seed capsules removed, if your cultivars set
any. The seed capsules just draw on the plant and diminish the prospect of a
good crop of flowers later in the year. Feed Sasanquas and Japonicas now and
keep them well mulched. Feed with blood meal laced with potassium sulphate
and then apply a kelp or seaweed extract generously.
- This hot weather is the ideal time to plant new crowns of Globe
Artichokes. There are some great new cultivars around and worth asking
after. They grow so well in this area, dare I saw almost like weeks, but the
wild one’s out there in the paddocks are not the same as the fine edible
cultivars.
- Still not too late to sow some dwarf French Bean seeds and get a good pick
before winter cuts them down. They need a low mound so as to not rot off
when watered and plenty of sun. As for trellising, nothing more than a few
strands of wire at 12-18" from the ground is adequate.
- Hills gardeners can sow seed of parsnip, carrots, Swedes or turnips right
now. They all need a deep rich soil and plenty of sun and good drainage, but
lots of hills gardeners have those conditions without even thinking about
it. These crops are easy if you use fresh seed.
- Plant the dwarf Marigolds now and they will flower their heads off for the
next three months. Also seed of Cleome in the Hills really just away when
sown this month and the plants will be in flower within six weeks to flower
well into autumn. A little spiny, but sensational flowers on 1.5 metre
plants.
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