I have always held the view that amongst the greatest marks of an advanced civilization is the use of plants and wines to enhance the taste of the daily intake. Offering rum without ginger, gin without tonic, pork without apple sauce, rice pudding without grated nutmeg or lamb chops without mint sauce are early signs of the collapse of society. I expect that this was what caused the decline and eventual collapse of the Roman Empire if the truth be known. I have managed to grow the definitive mint for use with the lamb chop as far as I am concerned. It is the Spearmint (Mentha x spictata), although there are some close contenders for the title. Four hundred years ago Gerard wrote that garden mint “rejoyceth the heart of a man and is good against the biting of madde dogges.” He never said a word about using it on lamb chops though.
Growers need to make good provision for drainage at the time of potting, and this is done by using old crocks or stone. Crocks are broken pieces of clay pots which the wise gardener never throws away, but saves in an old bucket or box for this very purpose. The wise gardener having made sure the pots about to be used are scrubbed clean and that the compost has been sterilized and mixed properly, then comes to the ‘old crocks’ stage of the game. The very first thing to do is to find a good size piece of crock and place it over the hole at the bottom of the pot like an upside down saucer, so that it sheds the water filtering through the soil and doesn’t collect it – it’s important to remember this. Then a small quantity of crocks the size of, say, half-inch gravel, is placed around and on top of the large one. All of this is to facilitate the drainage of water, and to prevent compost washing out of the soil through the base of the pot.
Old time gardeners of the last century, pioneers in the rapidly growing art and craft of growing plants for the table as well as for decorating the houses of the wealthy, always put a little bit of compost or leaf mould over the crocks at the base of pots or seed trays, that acted as a sponge in drying conditions and provided an excellent medium for the roots to get a hold of as they were growing. In the case of seedlings, however, I always used to think that too much root damage occurred when they were lifted out of the trays. This point was generally accepted, and the practice of putting organic litter in the bottom of the seed boxes was pretty well discontinued with the advent of the modern plastic tray with its smaller holes
And now a little piece to do with plants, but not with my garden plants. Flying over Guyana’s rain forest quite a few years ago I allowed myself to become optimistic about its vast tract of trees, all consuming massive amounts of carbon dioxide and giving off massive amounts of oxygen in return. I then remembered hearing that the population in Brazil was about 90 million and that 28 years later it would be 150 million. In twenty years it will more than double again. The Brazilians in response to poverty and population pressure have opened their interior, a mistake we all are going to pay for in time. So the preservation of Guyana’s rain forest is of the highest importance. Enjoy it.
Until next week may your God go with you wherever you may be.
