After last week's heatwave, we seem to back to our normal summer weather of rain and cold spells. I wondered what everyone was doing with their herbs.

I've lost my elderflower harvest to mold - they were wet when I picked them and although I part dried them in front of the fire, I didn't put them to dry in a hot cupboard, laying them out in newspaper instead. I checked on them a week later and the whole lot was black and covered in mold. I could weep when that happens, but I had a suspicion I should have done something with them - made a vinegar or a flower water - rather than trying to dry them.

The good news is that I already have two jars of St John's wort flowers infusing in oil on the kitchen window sill. One is already turning red and it's only been there for two weeks! My plants at the farm grew very strange colours earlier in the year, the leaves were yellow instead of green, so I dosed them with decomposed nettles to increase their nitrogen levels and they seem to have recoved. I may gather the flowers soon for tincture and maybe to dry for the winter.

My great joy has been this year's roses - both wild and cultivated. I've made two different kinds of rose syrup and put together an experimental "uplifting" elixir with lemon balm, rose, SJW, violet and strawberry leaves. I'm looking forward to trying it.

My first batch of nettle seed is drying and I need to pick some more this weekend if I can get to it before the rain descends again! I've also harvested self heal and will be gathering ground ivy. The aim is to dry both of them for someone who has been suffering with a kidney infection which led to septaecemia. Thanks to some recent blog articles, I'm going to try both these herbs as gentle kidney tonics.

I've been writing about herbs a great deal these past two weeks, as those of you who have been following my blog will have noticed. I've also written two articles about roses and will be following those with a series on "supporting yourself with salad". Researching lettuce, watercress and sorrel has been fascinating!

What has been your favourite herb this summer and what have you been doing with it?

Best wishes

Sarah

Hello Sarah

I have been badly caught by the rain and haven't managed to harvest much at all. I managed to pluck a few - and I mean a few - rose petals before the wet descended but that's about my lot. All my blackcurrants have now been washed off the bushes and most everything else is waterlogged. I have spotted a small patch of yarrow growing in the garden, but that will be very wet too. I have marigolds growing and wanted to make some oils and creams, but will have to wait for drier weather - whenever that may decide to reappear.

Mostly this year I have been rebuilding my veg plot and more recently started work on a new and my very first proper herb garden. Hubbie is delighted as I just keep digging up the lawn - that's less work for him as he cuts the grass. One things that's growing very well there is the weeds so hopefully, if there's a bit of a dry spell this weekend, I will get in and remove those not wanted.

Anne

In the Hedgerow - I finally managed to get out for a walk last week and collect a few bits and pieces. I have a small jar of SJW in oil on the windowsill - first one ever - very excited. Drying some Meadowsweet - smells amazing. Also picked a very small amount of Eyebright - theres nowhere near enough to sustain a large harvest but I wanted to play with it a bit so I picked a couple of stems each from random patches down the path and chopped them into some vodka. Initially it smelled very sweet - almost chocolate-ey/vanilla - but now its developing a definite bitter edge to it. And last but not least - a small batch of red clover tincture too. Took me a while to find the right red clover but when I did there was just tonnes of it.

At Home - I moved the creeping thyme out of the window-boxes as it was looking on its last legs. Didn't know what to do with it so bunged it in a bigger pot while i thought about it. I also put a 50p-garden-centre-rescue yarrow plant in the same pot as a holding measure. They are now both thriving an I have subsequently read that Yarrow is a good "nurse" for poorly plants - nice! Finally got round to putting some borage seeds in - packet says it ok until Aug so we'll see what happens. I basically popped them into any pots that had space and they're coming up really strong - hoping for at least one harvest of flowers.

In the Garden - still done nothing with the garden yet but have decided to wait for the nettle to set seed before i pull it and get organised to tincture the dock roots in the autumn. I can then dig it all over, maybe put a few winter crops in and start planning for next year. I also inheritied a patch of comfrey that i'll need to think about moving and an elder that i have wine-making plans for...

Hi Claire

Your post prompted a few questions. What do you mean by "the right red clover"? I've always used whatever red clover I came across. Should I be looking for something specific. I've got Cotswold red clover in my fields (so my father told me) but I've harvested red clover from Cornish clifftops and a Yorkshire farm (which was much larger than my variety).

Don't throw away your nettle roots. They can be made into tincture for your partner. (Chris gets dosed prophylatically most mornings and had to dig his own roots last year!)

What are you going to use the dock roots for? Are you lucky and have yellow dock roots or are they red dock? In which case, I'm very interested as docks are the bane of my life in my garden and it would be great to know I can do something with them. I remember someone talking about using red dock leaves as part of a spring tonic on this forum, but I don't hear anything about them normally.

Best wishes

Sarah

Hi Sarah,

ID on the Dock is ongoing but I think it has the right leaves and Im going on the observation that the roots are stunningly yellow! Im not sure about the properties of other Docks I have a feeling that Julian Barker has something to say about that but unfortunately, I had to give my book back to the Uni library Maybe someone else knows. Yellow Dock Id be using as a hepatic alterative.

I was taught that Trifolium pratense is the medicinal red clover and it can be identified by the white arrow on the leaves. Some of the other red clovers have a bit of a smudge on the leaf but when you see one with an arrow its quite distinctive. Red clover Id be using as a lymphatic alterative.

I was thinking about the nettle roots - harvest now? or wait till after I've got the seed do you think?

Cx

Hi Claire

I'll have to look at my red clover. Don't harvest the roots until you have all the nettle seed - it's too important not to harvest! I was looking at huge swathes of old nettles at the Sanctuary last weekend and I'm convinced they'd all shed their seeds before I'd had a chance to harvest it!

Sarah

Well, i had look in Hedgerow Medicine and it says that the two species hybridise and they can be used interchangably - the key is that if it has a yellow root, its got the medicinal properties.

Excellent!