Liquorice mint

I have liquorice mint leaves between my toes on my left foot. It may be a cure for athlete’s foot. It certainly feels soothing. I figured that as I can eat the leaves, and make a tea with them, they can’t do any harm to my toes. And the book says they are used to treat fungal infections. The book – The DK Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants by Andrew Chevalier uses the chinese name Huo Xiang and says “A lotion containing huo xiang may be applied to fungal conditions” So the fresh leaves will be even better! I’ll let you know.

Step by step cardboard no-dig bed

A small corner – note the plants, the cardboard and the sentry

Cardboard neatly placed, covering dandelion, bluebell and herb robert

Water the cardboard well

Cover the cardboard with organic matter – in this case old compost. At the allotment I am using soil conditioner from the local recycling centre.

Water the compost well. By this I mean two or three can-fulls of water applied with a rose. The can is 10 litres or 2 gallons. The black thing on the right is our new wormery.

And planting. Plant through the cardboard into the soil underneath. The cardboard was quite wet and it was easy to make a hole right through and firm the little plants into the soil underneath. This is important. And water again! The plants are dwarf curly kale in the middle which will outlast the others and fill the bed through the winter, sunflowers at the back and my beloved mignonette at the front.

All done! And by the way, the sentry gnome is called Chris and he’s riding a snail.