Shire horses, ploughing a field.

Wildflower of the week: Cheddar Pink.

Many green-fingered readers will be familiar with pinks, which are a cottage garden favourite. This particular pink, Dianthus gratianopolitanus, is native to Cheddar gorge, Somerset. Cheddar pink is listed as a protected species, due in part to being over collected by the public. It is also the county flower of Somerset.
As with other pinks, Cheddar pink gives off a clove like scent.

The calming smell of lavender. My wife picks lavender and infuses it in white spirit vinegar to make a natural laundry and house detergent. This isn’t something new though – our ancestors regularly did this. In fact the word lavender means ‘to wash’ – and shares its etymological root with laundry. The OE name for lavender was lauandre.

With the weather warming up and the daylight increasing, now is the perfect time to get into the garden. As someone who enjoys gardening and cooking, I can't think of many things more satisfying as picking fresh, organic, ingredients for the kitchen and nothing can be easier than growing herbs. Wether it's strong and earthy thyme for your stews, sage for your pork and stuffing, rosemary for your lamb or mint for a refreshing summers drink, there's plenty to be growing.

Here are some low maintenance herbs we've covered before:

-Chives
-Rosemary
-Mint
-Sage
-Marjoram
-Thyme

Of course, there are plenty more herbs, all of which can be grown from seed and many that can be found sold as plugs and in small pots in garden centres.

There's no excuse not to be benefiting from the spiritual, economic and health benefits of growing your own food, no matter how small a scale you choose to do so. Get those gardening gloves on!

The cornish coast, looking a little choppy, this morning.

A medley of red dead-nettle and lesser celandine, both of which are edible.
Lesser Celandine leaves are a great source of vitamin C. The closing of the flowers can be used to warn of coming rain.

A nation without forests and open country would be one big prison. Urbanisation always leads to enslavement, first the mind and then the body.

Last year I left some sweet-corn cobs too long and they over-ripened. They were hard so what I did was to take the seeds off, and these are growing this year in seed-trays. These give hundreds of seeds, and we shall see if they produce this year.

A garden song.

By Thomas Moore.

I have a garden of my own,
Shining with flowers of every hue;
I love it dearly while alone,
But I shall love it more with you:
And there the golden bees shall crone,
In summertime at break of morn,
And wake us with their busy hum
Around the Siha's fragrant thorn.

I have a fawn from Aden's land,
On leafy buds and berries nurst;
And you shall feed him from your hand,
Though he may start with fear at first.
And I will lead you where he lies
For shelter in the noon-tide heat;
And you may touch his sleepy eyes,
And feel his little silvery feet.

Homemade Elderflower cordial.

Ingredients:
- 2.5kg Sugar.
- 50g citric acid.
- 40 elderflower heads, stalks trimmed.
- 2 Lemons, unwaxed.
- 1.5 litres water.

You will also need two large pans, funnel, ladle, colender, bottles (swingtop, corked, etc) and a tea towel.

- Sterilise all equipment.
- Heat the water and sugar in a pan, taking care to not boil and stir occasionally.
- Meanwhile, shake off the flower heads to remove any insects, debris. You can dip them in water to help dislodge any hangers on but preferable not to, if possible.
- zest the Lemons and then slice, leave to the side.
- Once the sugar has dissolved, bring to the boil and turn off the heat.
- Add the other ingredients and gently stir.
- Cover the pan and leave for 24 hours.
- After 24 hours, line a colender with the tea towel and place over a clean pan. Pour in the liquid.
- Transfer this filtered liquid to bottles. Should keep for 6 weeks or can be frozen in plastic.

Mix with Soda water for a sparkling summers drink. Enjoy.

June signals the traditional start of Elderflower season. The above recipe is well worth the little effort and is far superior to shop bought Elderflower cordial. It's, in my opinion, the perfect Summers drink. Give it a go!

(Don't be put off by the sugar content, this cordial can be diluted to taste and makes plenty!)

Although believed to be extinct in the wild, occasionally honey bees can escape captivity and form wild swarms in the UK. A rare sight, indeed!