How does your garden grow.

[Shizara]

No, sadly, I don't.

[Mari]

I long to see meadows of clover like there used to be. What has happened to them? Anyway, that aside, some of the weeds have medicinal uses. They have compounds used to treat conditions and many form the basis of homeopathic treatments.

I let clover and daisies grown in my garden, but a bit careful with dandylions , they spread like wild fire.
I don't think of them as weeds, but they are really wild flowers, and some have been cultivated into other fancy flora.
I love May time when the woods are full of bluebells, and forget-me-not.
I believe some wild flowers are protected and we are not meant to pick them.

[Shizara]

Puha is a milk thistle and native to NZ and looks like dandelion but more accurately looks like a cross between a dandelion and thistle. Often used in a boil up with pork bones and adds extra flavour, My mother used to sneak it into the cabbage and not tell us then serve it up. Being suspicious we would carefully look through the cabbage and generally find some. We were made to eat it along with getting an earful about the health benefits - iron and antioxidant if I remember rightly. It has lots of other medicinal uses such as purifying the blood.

[Mari]

Puha is a milk thistle and native to NZ and looks like dandelion but more accurately looks like a cross between a dandelion and thistle. Often used in a boil up with pork bones and adds extra flavour, My mother used to sneak it into the cabbage and not tell us then serve it up. Being suspicious we would carefully look through the cabbage and generally find some. We were made to eat it along with getting an earful about the health benefits - iron and antioxidant if I remember rightly. It has lots of other medicinal uses such as purifying the blood.

Mother knows best eh!
Quite a few years ago now, I made nettle and pea soup, and it was really very nice, I guess it's a bit like spinach and full of vitamins and minerals.
I just picked the tender leaves at the top of the nettles fresh from the garden, where I was sure there were no kinds of fertilizer spray from farmers or what the Council come round and use to kill weeds.

[Gladys]

Nettle Soup is a well known old english speciality. I haven't tried it myself. On from this hardened naturalists eat them in salads and I often wonder how you deal with the stingers. It has beneficial cleansing qualities apparently.

[Mari]

I think I'll ask this quick question here as it is loosely related, I don't want to start another thread.
Just 3 doors up from us, a neighbour was having her patio and drive professionally cleaned with a machine. We heard the generator noise going for just over 8 hours.
How on earth does it take that long, has members here ever had it done ?
I guess it must cost quite a packet to have it done for 8 hours.

[Gladys]

Usually a powerful jet wash will do the job. It sounds to me as though your neighbour is being ripped off.

[cathidaw]

I do my own and it doesn't take too much time or effort. I dress up like an astronaut as I get filthy.

[Gladys]

Mmm- that's agood look, Cathidaw.No seriously, I jest, its sensible as the spray coming off those things and from the drive is quite fierce. I would have thought a wet suit would apply better.

Mari,I do hope your neighbour isn't being ripped off but I can't help thinking they are.

[Mari]

It's like this Gladys, they finished off the following morning. How could it take nigh a day and a half!
We daren't ask her, because she used a very local company and I'm sure she knows them well.
Anyway its awkward, as we did complain about the noise lasting all saturday, from around 10am till 6:15pm. And to top that as I mentioned, they finished off the next morning. But she couldn't care as she said she has to have it done. She couldn't give a hoot about noise!
All is back to peace and quiet now,.

[Gladys]

Phew. Its funny how people notice the quiet when its interrupted by noise and not yours at that. Glad you have peace restored.

[Shizara]

I found this on a website that does driveway cleaning:

How long does it take to clean a driveway?

The average residential driveway is about 1,000 sq. ft. with another 200 sq. ft. of walkways and other surfaces.

This usually takes 2 to 3hrs to clean.

[cathidaw]

talking about gardens........we were weren't we?
Did I ever say I have a fish called Hoover and another called Di. (dyson) and others without names.. My granddaughter named them when she was little . They open their big wide mouths and scoop up the food.

(A bit of trivia)

[Shizara]

Very aptly named!

Are fishponds still popular in gardens? When I was a child they were the 'thing' to have. Some had a frame with netting to prevent little ones falling in and fishing by cats, birds and probably the garden gnome.

[Gladys]

Shizara, my pond is my pride and joy. Its about 4 feet deep and rectangular. It sits about 2 feet or so out of the ground with a wall around it for sitting on. I have 10 fish and we also have one called Dyson. I have a fine mesh over ours to stop Dyson in particular from jumping out as he is very big (14''-3lbs) as are his friends but for the first time ever, this year I had to erect a series of netting and light ropes around it to stop the heron calling anymore. I actually found Mr or Mrs Heron poised about to do a spot of fishing. He or she came back 3 times that day and again over the next week but thankfully realised his wings would get tangled in my contraption. If my daughter was here I'd get her to take a picture and post it but she isn't so I can't. I'll try someone else later but will wait for the lilies to flower as they are really pretty. (A pink aquatic lily in the pond and an oriental scented lily outside it at the head in a tub)

[Shizara]

Oooh... That sounds so nice. The fishing birds are very keen on plucking a meal from the garden pond as is the cat and netting is the only way to deter them.