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Seed Saving for River of Herbs

Growing herbs, River of Herbs, Seed saving, , , , , ,

This morning we were able to eat breakfast on the roof because the weather was so beautiful. After quite a while, when the morning dew had thoroughly dried off the plants, I set about some herb seed collecting with my toddler daughter. Here she is doing a very good job of rubbing dry Chive heads, to release the tiny black seeds into a paper bag. She loved it and we collected lots of seeds in a very short time.

Seeds are usually the cheapest way to make new plants and we will need lots of seeds to make a River of Herbs in and around Amsterdam. So if you are interested in; building up your own herb seed supply, adding more herbs to urban spaces or simply to eat some edible herb seeds – now is a good time to start collecting! I intend to make up little mixed herb seed packets, to sprinkle in prepared Urban Herb Meadow locations.

Different plants flower and seed at different times so keep your eyes open for maturing seed heads on plants you know and keep a clean paper bag or two in your pocket/ bag when you are out and about. You never know when a perfectly ripe Hollyhock seedhead may surprise you!

Today we collected seeds from:
Chives
Borage
Welsh Onion
Calendula
Valerian

I’m off to the park now and hope to find some Garlic mustard seed to save in labelled paper bags. I love eating the leaves of the plant and would like to see it growing in some Urban Herb Meadows in town.

If you decide to collect seed, make sure you only collect when they are bone dry. They will mould and be useless if they are at all damp. With some seeds it’s easiest to shake the seed head into your bag, allowing the ripe dry seeds to fall into the bag. With others, it’s best to snip off part or all of the seed head with scissors, before sorting it out. Generally if it needs snipping off the plant, its not thoroughly dried out but use your judgement. Get them home in a paper bag and then take osome time to pick through and separate out the seeds from debris. Label the seed bags, seal them up and set aside in a p,ace where they will remain fairly cool and very dry until the planting season.

If you want to help with the River of Herbs then also consider the suitability of what you are saving from the project. Plants need to be non invasive (e.g. Mint wouldn’t be such a good idea unless in a hole-free container where it can’t easily escape, Japanese knotweed is clearly a no no as it comketely takes over/ obliterates wherever it grows) and not poisonous. The plants also need to be insect pollinated as one of the main points of the project is to provide insect friendly corridors in and around the city.

I think it unlikely that on your seed saving missions you’d remove all the seed from a plant but just in case it needs mentioning – remember the foraging rules, take only what you need, leave lots and lots! Also, please don’t harvest seed from annuals and biennials growing wild as they rely on them to regenerate next year. The Garlic mustard I am about to collect is a biennial but I’ll take it from locations where it will be completely strimmed away very soon – such as lamp post bases in concrete.

Good places to collect herb seed, from plants you have already identified are:
Your own pots, tubs and garden,
Untended geveltuinen (pavement gardens),
Public places where the council are sure to mow or strim

Good luck with your seed collecting and do let me know how you get on.

River of Herbs

Growing herbs, River of Herbs, Seed saving, Surreptitious gardening, Wild herbs, ,

River of Flowers is a UK based initiative which helps to plant Urban Flower Meadows, of all shapes and sizes, providing corridors of insect pollinated plants throughout cities. I read about it today, in the latest copy of Permaculture Magazine and got very excited about the project! Rather than wild flower meadows (which are of course wonderful and useful in many ways) I would like to create Urban Herb Meadows, here in Amsterdam and beyond.

River of Flowers began in London and seems to encompass many of the ideas that have come up in this website and the Amsterdam Urban Herbologists meetup group. We love nature, we want to learn from the plants, we continue to try our hands at guerrilla gardening and we like to put something back into the environment from which many of us harvest food and medicinals. We also appreciate that a world without pollinators would be very dark.

Amsterdam is rich in plant species and many Amsterdammers enjoy taking care of plants in tree pits, tiny pavement gardens and other strips of reclaimed land. I often look at and photograph these places and wish that more of the plants used could be edible or medicinal. And of course I wish that more of these urban gardeners knew how to harvest and use some of those amazing plants.

So with River of Herbs (the name will stay, if the folks at River of Flowers don’t mind – I have asked them) I’d like to do the following, with your help:

1. Identify and prepare unused spaces, however small, for growing useful perennial, biennial and annual herbs. I’m talking about spaces from plant pots to wasteland.
2. Sew suitable herb seeds and plant cuttings, roots etc. in these places. Suitable for the location, insects and food or medicine.
3. Tend the developing Urban Herb Meadows.
4. Map the locations of these Herb Meadows and photograph them.
4. When ready, harvest some of the material without compromising their usefulness to pollinators such as bees, hoverflies and butterflies.
5. Learn and teach how to use these herbs.
6. Build on successes and learn from the group process, to make more and more Urban Herb Meadows, creating an urban pollinator and food security friendly corridor.

So what do you think of this?
Am I just getting overexcited?
I wonder if our friends at Boskoi and City Plot may like to help out with this in some way?
Design& Collaboration, how about those seeded cards and papers we talked about ages ago?
Would YOU like to come and collect wild herb seed with me, or your friends and family, over the coming summer weeks and through autumn? We can then make little packets of Urban Herb Seedmix, to sew in those new meadows when the time is ripe.

Please let me know what you think. I’m all ears and green fingers.

365 Frankendael Day 92

365 Frankendael, Foraging, Wild herbs,

Not much time to write today, I really need to get my UH essentials book finished!

I did find some lovely herbs though..
Firstly, a carpet of dark green evergreen Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) with a few purple flowering spikes of Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris) poking through.

Greater celandine (Chelidonium majus), fading but still flowering and still oozing that amazing (poisonous orange) wart zapping sap, when a stem is broken.

Wild Rocket (Eruca sativa), Arugula.

Plantain (Plantago major).

The flower head of a Reed Mace / Cat’s Tail (Typha sp.)

My little girl and I were so pleased to meet this flower head as it is developing on a bent over stem. All other flower heads in this part of the park are growing too far out in the water for us to reach safely. I don’t know if that’s the reason for the US common name, but it feels very like our cat’s tail when you stroke it! Maybe I’ll ask the Park gardeners, if I can help out when the autumn clearing comes?

Herb by Herb – Part 3 – Comfrey

Alchemy, Perennial herbs,

Once a month a chance to learn in detail about a different common urban herb from either Jennie (who I run the meetup group with) or me, Lynn.

Part three is about Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum, S. officinalis). A deep healing plant growing all over town, with many uses and a confusing recent reputation. It’s an easy herb to find, identify, process and use. I will take this session in Park Frankendael on Tuesday 7th August 2012. 10.00 – 11.30.

In this short and sweet field workshop, you will learn how to make an infusion, poultice, infused oil and herb gel and about the properties, habitat, folk and medicinal history and current uses of the plant. You will take home a bag full of little herbal preparations and knowledge of how to do it time and time again with everyday materials.

We will try to run each monthly Herb by Herb workshop near the New Moon and the days of the week will vary. The August workshop is earlier than usual, due to the summer holiday. You are welcome to attend all, some or none of the series! Most materials will be provided. You’ll need to bring along a small pair of scissors, perhaps a flask of hot water and 2 small and clean glass jars (such as 90ml pesto jars).
Cost of the workshop is €10. Maximum 5 participants. Cost includes materials and a handout with plant details and preparation instructions.

As we will also make a gel during this workshop, you may like to bring a small used plastic tub.

Please contact me by email (lynn.shore@gmail.com) or through the meetup group if you are interested in joining this workshop.

365 Frankendael day 91

365 Frankendael, Foraging, Wild herbs

I harvested some of this beautiful Pennsylvania pelitory this morning and set up a vodka tincture for Tobias my canine neighbour.

I’m looking out for Arnica at the moment, I’ve no idea if it grows in Amsterdam or this park, but I want to make a fresh batch of Arnica gel so need to make a tincture first. I found this pretty plant on my quest…

Also today, I’m often asked about Evening primrose. Yes its edible and medicinal and you can see it has big blousy flowers. I’m not a big fan of taking the seed oil but its nice to make a tincture from or to cook the leaves or roots.

Ground Elder (Aegopodium podograrium) is making a comeback in parts of the woodland. I suspect that the recent plentiful rain has helped it to freshen up. There is a little Enchanter’s nightshade also in this photo.

Here is a beautiful Marsh Mallow plant (Althaea officinalis) downy and gentle amongst Tansy and Geraniums and more, not so far from a waters edge.

And lastly, another beautiful Queen Anne’s Lace flower (Daucus carota) with the tell tale red spot.

365 Frankendael day 90

365 Frankendael,

Today a photo of some young plants which are destined to grow in Park Frankendael but which currently reside in a gutter along my street, a block away from the park. I recently wrote about how my geveltuin Wormwood shrub has spread by seed to neighboring tree pits and pavement cracks. I transported a few to a pot in my kitchen and left others that had sprung up in safer spots. A couple of people are going to take on a plant or two at their homes.

Today I noticed that there are are at least a dozen more Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) plantlets, doing rather nicely in the street gutter. I am about to gently move them to another pot. I’m all for leaving pop-up herbs where they choose but these are definitely destined to meet a swift end, via a council strimmer. Wormwood is a species listed as currently struggling to hang on to life in the Netherlands.

So, Would anyone else like one of these easy to grow and useful plants?

And, would anyone else like to help me replant them, in to sandy parts of the park?

365 Frankendael day 89

365 Frankendael

I was asked about a nice and safe herb to use for baby teething pain, so today I went hunting for a bag full of Meadowsweet from which to make a more of a pain relieving tincture. Here is some of that beautiful Lady of the Meadow, this morning in the park:

The plant is packed with Salicylate salts, what Asprin was isolated from many years ago. Compounded in this natural way, it reduces inflammation, relieves pain, reduces stomach acid (unlike Aspirin) and can remedy rheumatic pain, uric acid crystal build up, stomach ulcers and more. It is renowned as a good remedy for diarrhoea in young children. Bees also love it and I had to avoid disturbing plenty of honey bees, as I harvested the plant today. The plant is most used as a tea, and I’m using that today to ease inflammation and general pains from a classic “start of teachers school holiday”cold. It works a treat. Filipendula ulmaria is quite a wonder plant.

Here is a wonderful herb that is now going over. As it sets seed Feverfew always tends to break down its leaves and look like its been selectively sprayed by some nasty chemical. But it hasn’t, its just dying back after a busy season making flowers and now seed.


Above is a type of Sweet Clover (Melilotus alba), I mentioned it recently and how I chose not to eat it, even though the flowers taste sweet. It contains some unpleasant chemicals and if you enjoy it, try not to make a habit of eating much of it.

Lastly is a type of Balsam. I’ve not tried it but apparently its edible and also an invasive plant in some parts of Europe. I recently heard of Balsam bashing walks around National trust properties in the UK, maybe they do more harm than good as when a swathe of this plant is quickly removed other opportunistic plants, equally disliked such a Japanese knotweed, may move in.

Tuesday 31st July 2012 Urbanherbology Walk in Sarphatipark

Foraging, Urban Herb Walks, , , ,

Every time I walk or cycle past Sarphatipark, edible and medicinal plants seem to leap out at me, through the iron fence! So, as I continue to build material for my project and book, I think its time I ran an Urban Herb Walk there. I’d like to see just how many urban edibles and medicinals, can be found in 90 minutes.

Sarphatipark Urban Herb Walk
Tuesday 31st July
1230 –  1400
€8 per person
Max 12 Walkers.

Please contact me directly (lynn.shore@gmail.com) if you’d like to join this walk. The price includes a handout, to help you learn more about some of the herbs we are likely to find.

You may like to forage a snack or herb tea, on the way around.
– Bring a small flask of hot water, if you fancy making an urban herbal brew whilst we walk.
– Bring a small bottle of cold water, to wash any herbs that you may want to eat directly

We will meet at the main entrance of the park, the one near the children’s play area and the small building beside the plant swap centre.

The walk will go ahead, come rain or shine!

365 Frankendael day 88

365 Frankendael, Foraging, Urban Herb Walks

Three lovely people joined me to learn about Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata, NL: weegbree) this afternoon. We made Ribwort succuss honey, Ribwort ointment from Ribwort infused oil and learned of the many ways in which Ribwort, and it’s sister Greater Plantain (Plantago major), have made themselves indispensable to communities around the globe.

We harvested a small paper bag full of Ribwort leaves from the meadow section of Park Frankendael and whilst doing that noticed some other very lovely plants…


Here is a tiny section of the meadow with St. Joan’s / St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum, NL: Sint Janskruid), Red and White clover, Ribwort and more.


Above is Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum, NL: Grote kardebol) in flower. That beautiful ring of tiny blooms will move as the flower head progresses into an equally stunning seed head.


Chicory (Chicorium intybus, NL: Wilde cichorei) in flower, I think this is the most beautiful blue in the plant kingdom. It always calms and cheers me when I am fortunate enough to see it.

Here is a a very furry looking and feeling clover, Hare’s-foot clover (Trifolium arvense, NL: Hazenpootje). A very pretty spreading plant which really livens up this already beautiful meadow. Its silky flower heads bob about in the breeze and I must say that apart from the hairs, it looks almost good enough to eat. I can only find confusing information about the eatability of this plant online and no reference to it in my wild food books. I did fine one definitive “don’t eat it” reference on a useful website, which is good enough for me to say – probably poisonous, not one to eat.

365 Frankendael day 87

365 Frankendael, Foraging

I’ve been preparing for tomorrows Ribwort workshop but found time for a few photos of other herbs in the park..


This one shows the signature red spot in the centre of a Queen Anne’s Lace flower. Apparently, if you eat enough of those spots alone you may experience a hallucinogenic effect. Not sure about that but I think they are really pretty flowers and they signify the Wild Carrot growing beneath. As I mentioned on the herb walk yesterday, I’m not a big fan of hunting for wild roots, due to the harm it causes, and less still of the carrot family, due to the numerous toxic family members, but it’s good to know that Wild Carrots are around.


The photo above is of Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) in full bloom.


And here is a field of Red Clover looking very fertile in the park.


Lastly today, is a Garlic Mustard plant with ripe and dry seeds – well until it rained again today. I took two seed pods home and will save them for sewing in my street or nearby next spring. I love that plant!