Tag: plants
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Rubus crataegifolius (Week 7, Wednesday)
To anyone that has ever seen a Crataegus, this must be a mistery. Why this Rubus is called crataegifolius (with leaves like Crataegus), I mean. No similarity whatsoever to a Crataegus (not that this is an isolated mystery case: have you ever seen a Spiraea betulifolia?). Anyway, if anything the palmatifid leaves with bidentate margins resemble…
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Corporate teamwork on azaleas (Week 5, Thursday)
An unusual day, today: I joined in to assist a colleague who was leading the activities of a team of corporate volunteers on a teamwork day. The azaleas are coming into flower and we forecast the Azalea Garden will major as an attraction for tourists at the weekend, so the volunteers were asked to help weed and…
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Ashes to ashes (Week 4, Thursday)
Today we found some ashes scattered under a Pyrus while weeding. And then again under another tree. I knew that ash spreading was allowed at Kew because as soon as I started working here a friend suggested I go and visit her mum in the conservation area (which, unfortunately, I have not been able to do yet).…
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Cleaning up after the Romans (Week 4, Tuesday)
Since I moved to the UK I get that a lot: where are you from? Italy? Oh, the Romans were great… or something like that, for example: do you see that weed, Smyrnium, the Roman introduced it to England… ;p It would be fair to point out that not all Italians feel they are descendants…
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What can you do with lemon balm? And other plants
There are plants that I introduced once on the plot and now grow largely unasked. Their weedy behaviour means they multiply and tend happily to survive slug attack. They are usually loved by pollinators. It’s a pity to weed them out, given their success, so I have decided to find a use for them. I…
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Strawberry spinach
Chenopodium capitatum, of the family of weed goosefoot and the seed quinoa, is a pretty little plant that produces edible leaves (to be eaten as spinach – cooked, or raw but in moderation) and red berries at each leaf node, which American Indians used as a dye, and when ripe should taste like wild strawberries.…
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Sage
The other day when I covered my herb patch I had to cut back the biggest plants, among which sage. In my experience, when it does not die a short while after planting, a sage bush is very prolific, and so mine has been. I have dried and saved a good few leaves, more than…
About Me
M.Paola Andreoni
I got the first allotment in 2007 (in the UK) and started growing my own food for the first time. Learning as I went along was not enough, so I studied some horticulture. I am striving to abide by organic principles. Brexit gave me a new life in the Netherlands, and two new plots by a nature reserve.
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