This post is about a very dear friend of mine. She was mentioned in two previous blog posts. A powerful gardening for wellbeing story and The Chief Gardener’s beautiful vegetables. And now she will become the beautiful Queen of thyme.
Her lovely husband had gone through a horrid time and after one of our regular chats, she wondered if he might like to take up gardening.
Well, take up gardening he did! He made raised beds, he sowed cosmos and started to enjoy his new world of gardening.
Following on from his first year in the garden, he became passionate about vegetables and fruit. He had become the Chief Gardener.
So, now we move on to his lovely wife, shortly to become the Queen of Thyme.
A herbal interest was brewing
My lovely friend had been through the wars herself over the last few years. She is an amazing person, always ready to see the best in a situation and strive for a better world.
I am so proud of her achievements in the last few years. She is a very dear friend of mine.
As a result of her lovely husband, the Chief Gardener, taking up gardening with a passion, she has now decided to join the gardening world and get her hands on some herbs!
Since gardening has such positive benefits for wellbeing and active lifestyles, this was a great decision to make.
Cultivating a range of herbs that look beautiful and can be snipped for cooking and garnishing a dish is fabulous.
Using herbs for a delicious pot of tea is also a fantastic use of these plants.
Additionally, herbs can even be used to cure minor ailments, plus herbs left to flower are loved by the pollinators.
No wonder my dear friend has become so keen on her herbs.
She has always been keen on nature and wildlife so being in the garden more is such a boon. We know that watching nature helps to rest and recharge our brains, something she really needs with the demanding, yet thoroughly enjoyable career that she has.
So, onto the garden packed with herbs.
Herbs galore with the Queen of thyme
As a result of seeing all those lovely raised beds, her lovely husband, the Chief Gardener, had made, she planned a takeover bid!
Usually, these beds were full of vegetables with a few flowers for the pollinators. Clearly, more raised beds were needed for the ever burgeoning interest in herbs.
The Chief Gardener happily constructed some raised beds for the herbs.
During one of our chats, about gardening, flowers, nature, dogs, cats and chickens, we discussed her growing interest in herbs.
Naturally my dear friend needed a new name. After much giggling, she became The Queen of Thyme.
Heading for tea time with the Queen of thyme
The Queen of Thyme had always had an interest in herbals teas. She decided it was time to start making her own.
Consequently, a herbal infuser teapot was purchased and several more herbs were planned to be grown.
To begin with, the choice was the pot of lemon balm she had. Lemon balm is known to be a useful morning energizer and also good for tension and headaches. But, because lemon balm is a prolific spreader, self-sowing all over the place, she sensibly decided to keep this one in a pot!
Next came some experiments with mint teas. Likewise, the mint plants were kept in pots as they are also rampant spreaders. Since mint spreads through rhizomes or runners that are rooted underground, they can easily take over an entire garden. So, another one to be kept in check.
The Queen of Thyme tried peppermint and then spearmint. She found that the spearmint tea was the one she preferred so many a tea was brewed!
Here are links to some herbal infusion teapots. One is a snazzy dark green and the other is a glass teapot. https://amzn.to/3NrXv8x https://amzn.to/42D7vjU
Time for dinner
Dinner over at the Chief Gardener and Queen of Thyme household was becoming enormously tasty.
See the photo above of one of their tasty meals. This one was smoked haddock. Accompanied by asparagus, purple broccoli and grilled courgette, all grown by the Chief Gardener.
In addition, the meal was seasoned with mint and chives and finished off with some parsley. Not forgetting that the smoked haddock was baked in lemon balm. All the herbs had been grown by the Queen of Thyme.
Wow, a beautiful tasty meal and so many benefits to growing and cooking your own vegetables, herbs and fruit. Here are a few that spring to my mind:
- Freshly grown vegetables can be harvested at the peak of freshness, straight from the garden.
- Snipping off some herbs, also means optimum freshness.
- A much more sustainable way to eat, no shipping and shopping, so, less carbon impact and more beneficial for our planet.
- Vegetables, herbs and fruit always taste absolutely amazing when you grow your own.
- No pesticides or chemicals in our home grown produce
- You get to choose different varieties to try. I love Cherokee Purple and Black Opel tomatoes so I grow these and fabulously tasty they are too!
- Children can learn about where food comes from. They might even catch the growing bug!
- The cost savings. You need to purchase seeds and compost but they are the only real costs.
- A helping hand for the pollinators. Allowing some herbs to flower is great plus the pollinators will visit your fruit, vegetables and flowers.
Another important reason
To add to my list of benefits, we come to the most important one in my mind.
Primarily, the most enormous benefit is the connection you have to the food and the pride you can have in growing your own produce.
The vegetables, herbs and fruit need to be sown, grown, nurtured, watered and harvested. For this reason, you become connected to your plants.
In addition, the benefits of gardening for physical and mental health and general wellbeing is, I believe, always clear to see. Added to that, is the satisfaction of siting down for a meal that you have grown yourselves or a fragrant cup of herbal tea.
The Queen of Thyme has a huge smile on her face, every time she eats a meal they have produced between them.
Clearly, it helps that the conservatory is now minus the seedlings, which are now in the greenhouse, so the table can be used again!
Click below for another post for the Chief Gardener who gets rather fruity
The Chief Gardener grows a tasty fruit feast
Stay tuned for further posts on this lovely couple, the Queen of Thyme and the Chief Gardener.
One post to come will feature their new wildlife pond. An absolute boon to nature.
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