Root Rot

We’ve lost a large portion of our plants to root rot since we’ve brought everything inside, which worries me greatly.  Luckily, we have a good friend who works with plants and is very interested in them, so when we get a new plant, he usually takes cuttings to propagate not long afterwards.  He’s got cuttings of everything we’ve lost, and has given us some great ideas as for what to do when rot kicks in. 

At this point, I’m still assuming that anything that get’s rot is going down the drain, I’ve tried to catch them more so that I can experiment and maybe save one or two.  If anyone comes across this post and has any ideas on saving a plant with root rot, please, feel free to speak up!

Root Rot

We’ve lost a large portion of our plants to root rot since we’ve brought everything inside, which worries me greatly.  Luckily, we have a good friend who works with plants and is very interested in them, so when we get a new plant, he usually takes cuttings to propagate not long afterwards.  He’s got cuttings of everything we’ve lost, and has given us some great ideas as for what to do when rot kicks in. 

At this point, I’m still assuming that anything that get’s rot is going down the drain, I’ve tried to catch them more so that I can experiment and maybe save one or two.  If anyone comes across this post and has any ideas on saving a plant with root rot, please, feel free to speak up!

Lots of Quiet

It's been a rather long time since I've written. Not much to say as far as my herbs go.  A mint oil I've been working on finished up over the weekend and I can't wait to find something to cook with it.  We've lost a few plants to root rot lately, which is breaking James' heart.  He seems to feel almost abusive towards them.  A friend of ours works with plants, so he gives us a lot of good advice and luckily has cuttings of almost all of our herbs, so he's going to mother out the cuttings he's taken and bring us cuttings when he can. 

We've got all the plants in doors now, which is quite a change from outside.  We water them less, almost as if it's only once a month.  We've got a couple of tinctures and vinegars and a honey in the cupboard, just waiting to be ready for use.  That's all I've really got to report for now, but I'll try to write more often.

The Time Has Come, The Walrus Said

To collect your seeds…

Hmmm, that’s not how it really goes, but that’s what I keep thinking.  My Purple Shiso is beginning to flower and will be seeding soon.  With all the up and coming raid, we’ve got most of the plants outside and if it seeds out, soon we’ll have little Shiso sprouts in our Agave and Sage, and while I love our Shiso, I’ll be one mad mama if it seeds into the other pots.

The Rosemary has also bloomed and will be seeding soon,  though I’ve heard that starting Rosemary from seed is incredibly difficult.  I’ll have to look more into both, and with winter coming up, I’ll probably need to start harvesting some leaves here very very soon.

Milk Tea

As I read more and more about Fennel over the weekend, I learned that it is good for milk production when nursing.  Then I remembered that while Ki was little, I used to take fennel capsules for milk production, but back then, I never really realized it was an herb.  I looked into it and found out that Goat's Rue, Fenugreek, Fennel, Raspberry Leaf, Alfalfa, Nettle, Blessed Thistle, Borage and Hops are all excellent for milk production, so I've decided to start looking into the different herbs so that in the future, I can have a self made tea for milk production, since my lactation was well... Lacking for Ki, lol.

Our Winter Garden

We planted Kale last weekend and this morning I planted some Garlic.  I'm not sure I did it right, but we'll see in a few months.  I only planted about 7 cloves, and they were nothing special, just cloves bought from the gropcery store.  I can't wait to see how they turn out, as I'm a big fan of Garlic...

I checked out my fennel today and saw some aphids going to town on it.  I remember reading that aphids are fond of fennel, and I can see why.  I think I'll borrow the blender tonight and make those mean little suckers an herbal pesticide that they won't like sucking on quite so much.  Well, we'll see.

More Fennel Notes

1. Fennel should be planted away from Dill or Coriander for the strongest flavor and to prevent cross pollenation.
2. Mix with Sodium Bicarbonate and syrup to make grip water for gassy/colicy babies over 4 months of age.
3. Seeds should be sown in early April.
4. Magickally, fennel is used for protection, healing, purification and money.  Its corresponding planet and element are Mercury and Fire.