Well, gardeners have been warned, here in the North of England, that arctic weather is almost upon us. So that means I’ll need to get outside into the garden and do some physical work. I’ve been shrinking from that for the past few weeks since I bent over carelessly, picked up one of my potato growing bags, and wrenched my back. Now, however, I simply must get out out there.

We’re all familiar with the fact that herbs are good for you – at least, those that are not poisonous! Many culinary herbs provide not only enhancements to the flavour of our food but also are health-giving. A wide range of plants in the herb garden outside the kitchen door are also medicinal, and indeed for many people that is the primary reason for growing them.

However, research at an American government food research centre has shown that some herbs, including oregano, cloves and thyme, are effective in attacking the E. Coli pathogen. Other troublesome organisms such as Salmonella have also apparently found new enemies in these popular natural food flavourings.

Or maybe they’re not “new”. I wonder whether there is any correlation between countries in which these herbs are widely used and a low incidence of sickness outbreaks caused by those food-borne nasties. I don’t know. Maybe there’s some research somewhere that shows it. Meanwhile, I’m happy to know that in addition to the already well-known advantages of flavour, odour and health there are still further benefits to be gained from the herb garden.

While on this subject of health and healing, there’s a new book about to hit the shops.  Jill Henderson has produced what is described as “equal parts gardening guide and healthy living sourcebook” in The Healing Power of Kitchen Herbs (Published by Ball Publishing ; ISBN-13: 9781883052621; ISBN-10: 1883052629).  It should be in the shops in the UK at the beginning of September, but you needn’t wait to order it.  You can order here from Foyles of London and your copy will be mailed as soon as it becomes available.  Click either on the book graphic or on the title above.

Finally, for now, in the past few days we have launched a new site in the Gardening-Notes.com family called, “Herbs and the Herb Garden”. We didn’t wait until we had it full of dozens of pages but started with just a few, and will be building it up over the weeks and months ahead. Take a look at Herbs and the Herb Garden.

There’s not much to say about my own garden today as apart from a quick brushing of leaves from the lawn yesteday I’ve done nothing in it for ten days.

“Disgraceful!” Yes, I can hear the chorus of condemnation coming through the screen. But don’t be too harsh on me. I really have a good excuse. For a week I was almost four hours flying time south of here, on a small island in the Atlantic off the coast of North Africa – Madeira. My wife and I have been visiting there for almost twenty years now, and enjoy the winter warmth even if it is only for a few days.

“OK, but what about some gardening? ” Well I thought I’d put up a photo for those of you who like me live in what is currently a wintry part of the world – just to make you jealous, you understand.

Yes, this was just four days ago, in the last week of November, on a very ordinary street close to our hotel about seven miles from the capital, Funchal. We didn’t visit the Botanic Gardens this year, but last year at roughly the same time I took a number of photos there of fuchsias in full flower. Since our first visit to the island in 1989 we’ve loved the place, and hope next time to be able to visit in the Spring when the full glory of its colour bursts out.

What a contrast this is to the state of things back home – all the colour gone, the winter clearing of the borders still not finished, and the greenhouse currently emptied for cleaning and fumigating. At this time of year in the English Midlands gardening is a frequently damp and dreary combination of duty and hope. Duty because it has to be kept respectably tidy and to be mulched to protect precious plants from the coming frost; hope as one looks forward to the as yet invisible benefits of all this work when the Spring comes.

It was nice to experience once again a country in which floral colour does not all but vanish for four or five months of the year. By the way, for anyone who doesn’t know much about Madeira, politically it’s an autonomous region of Portugal, “discovered” by Portuguese sailor-explorers in 1420. Funchal is due next year to celebrate the 500th anniversary of its being granted a city charter by the then king of Portugal. Geologically it’s a volcanic (long-inactive) island with rugged mountain scenery, gorgeously green, with a history of producing sugar, bananas and wine. Can’t wait to go back.

All for now,

- David -

As I sit at my desk typing I can look out of the window at my vegetable plot, its raised beds and greenhouse – at the moment with a brown blizzard of leaves falling in the breeze from the horse-chestnuts . The part that I want to mention specially now is, however, just out of sight unless I lean to my left and look out at an angle. It’s the cold frame. I built it two years ago using 8-foot lengths of 6″x1″ timber and two old glazed window frames for the lid. It has served me well.

One shortcoming, though, has been its lack of insulation … until this past weekend. I managed to lay my hands on several 8ft x 4ft slabs of 2-inch thick polystyrene foam, cut in half into 4ft x 4ft pieces for ease of transport in the back of the car. They were intended originally to go in the greenhouse as internal winter walls, but there was some spare.

Cutting it to the right dimensions was quite an easy task. My old Swiss army knife came in useful once again along with a 3-metre steel rule. A cut about an inch deep across a slab, followed by a sharp snapping motion, gave clean straight edges and the sheets fit nicely between the 3″x3″ uprights of the frame.

Of course, the transparent top is not double or triple glazed, so some additional insulation was needed there, and a double layer of transparent bubble wrap worked wonders. I fixed it to the under sides of the two window frames using a staple gun and a technique I’ve used previously with good results – cutting 6-inch plastic plant labels into shorter pieces and using them as “washers”, stapling through the plastic strip into the bubble film and the wooden frame (see above); this avoids the problem of the metal staples cutting right through the thin polythene and allowing it to float free.

So, I’ve now got a freshly insulated frame, and into it very shortly will go a lot of the potted plants which are hardy enough to survive our typical English-Midlands winter under cover but not fully out of doors.

For more on preparing the garden for winter see www.gardening-notes.com/articles/autumn.html