Growing Herb Stories - stories from the garden
Thursday 27th May 2010, Full Moon, Uranus moves into Aries
I am in the allotment harvesting three herbs (mint, parsley and sage) to add to my grated beetroot and horseradish salad for lunch. It's raining and the sky looks cold and grey. My bright red salad will add some fire and light to warm up this dull May day. During my visit I notice that seeds sown in the herb ladder are just beginning to sprout, the cold weather of the last few days won't help! When the weather is this cold it seems to take so long for the herbs to get going. I'm looking at them and trying to get them to grow - how foolish! Herbs only grow in their own time. I move along to the compost bin at the edge of the allotment and notice a new arrival, a sturdy plant (about 8 inches high), normally growing in profusion on the river bank. I wonder how the seed travelled to this spot?, it looks so healthy & strong too! I identify it as Impatiens Glandulifera.
This one of the plants used to make Impatiens - a remedy discovered by Dr. Edward Bach during the 1930s. He was a physician and homeopath who spent his life searching for the purest methods of healing. "Health depends on being in harmony with our souls" is what he believed. This remedy is taken for people who are easily irritated. They are impatient and nervy and the Impatiens person wants everything done instantly. Impatiens people are independent and efficient but tend to get irritated and frustrated by "slow-co-workers" - so they tend to work alone. Whenever we feel impatient over an extended period of time, Impatiens is the remedy to help. The sighting of this plant in the allotment reminds me of the need to be more patient with my self and those slower growing herbs! |