Drinking on the job

I love it when Head Gardener, Joe Anderson, is caught drinking on the job. In fact, I’m all for it. I think there’s something pretty wonderful about being able to drink the garden you plant, wouldn’t you say? And here he is, swigging some of our original flavours - Love, Flow, Power and Bliss, right next to where this season’s crop of chamomile, artichoke, calendula, cornflower - and all the rest! - is starting to grow.

(Btw, the funny thing about this journal is that it gets written up in inverse proportion to how busy we are! The busier it gets, the less that gets written, so I think it might be time to delegate perhaps..? Or do a few retrospective posts, in the manner of a Dickensian episodic-style novel..? Hmmm…)

So the very latest news from the head gardener’s report: “Good day planting Positive Potions garden today, ideal time as the best time for transplanting is the waning gibbous phase of the moon, so the first quarter after the full moon (the May full moon is known as the flower moon). This is because over the full moon soil moisture levels are high, so help newly transplanted things establish, but because the moonlight is decreasing the plant isn’t being stressed into maximum leaf growth. So today we planted cornflowers, burdock, plantain, yarrow, thymes, chillies, lemon verbena and dandelions in the Positive Potions garden, and tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers and chillies in the Vinery.”

And meanwhile in the kitchen - we’ve been cooking up some fantastic new flavours, so getting very excited about these ones! Just a bit more road-testing and they’ll be ready to go into production over the summer…