English City Garden

It was beautifully sunny on the weekend, and I sat on my balcony in east London drinking pomegranate lemonade. Here is me tending to, what my bf calls, my plant babies:


While I was revising I distracted myself by watching Alys Fowler, and then got very excited about being able to make your own falafel from the beans that you grew. I was amazed to discover that you could grow pea shoots even from a box of dried peas, and they make a good salad leaf (behind me). I then got some free seeds from the BBC:


What I am spraying are my carrot babies that are not quite yet carrots. Man they are slow to grow. I've also been growing beans and peas and salad - hopefully in the summer my life will be full of french beans. Except I have no clue how much they produce.



My dad also bought a book for me yesterday by James Wong who is an ethnabotanist (someone who studies the agricultural customs of a people) and has been trying to get people to grow their own drugs. No, not the kind that accompanies rock 'n' roll - he's written recipes to help cure all your aches and ailments from herbs and flowers, from a herb butter to help migrane to rose and clove hair removing sugar (like the kind used to wax hairy arabs, except the cloves are a mild anaesthetic - useful!). The book also comes with some photo and video extras to help you along the way, which is cool. All the recipes sound really interesting and makes you think about how much you spend on medicine and cosmetics... if any of these are effective I will definitely be blogging about them and replacing them for my shopping list at Boots.

James Wong making a Nettle and Chamomile Tea for Hay Fever

I watched a couple of episode of his series called Grow Your Own Drugs, and the way he concocts these remedies is much like cooking. In one of the shows I watched he made a eucalyptus rub, much like Vicks vaporub, and it's practically the same product and really easy to make. Apparently James Wong was inspired by his grandmother who used to make all manner of remedies using things in her Borneo garden (he is half Malaysian) and that it is even easier to make these things in a western kitchen where we are more well equipped. James Wong will also be at the Chelsea Flower Show this weekend - my mum is going to be there too with Tourism Malaysia and is going to get him to sign the book :p