Good herbs to use include chamomile, calendula and lavender. To make a skin toner, mix 25% rose vinegar with 75% cooled, boiled water – or use infused cooled boiled water. Experiment first on a patch of skin – I am fine with neat rose vinegar, but some people may find it too strong, in which case dilute it 50/50 with plain or infused water (cooled chamomile tea is lovely and adds extra soothing properties.) Soak a flannel in the vinegar and place on the skin to soothe minor sunburn or itchy skin (avoid contact with eyes and sensitive or broken skin, it will sting.) I apply it to insect bites and nettle stings too, to soothe them. You can use this to make many things including: (The dark is to protect the beautiful colour from fading.) I use jars with plastic or coated metal lids as the vinegar can react with plain metal. Store in a dark cupboard in a labelled jar. Strain through a fine sieve or muslin, discarding the rose petals into the compost heap. Put the jar on a sunny windowsill for a week (a bit of a challenge I know in a British summer…!) shaking every day. Place the petals in the jar, pour on the vinegar and replace the lid. Rose petal vinegarġ cup of cider vinegar (or white wine vinegar) It looks and smells gorgeous and has so many uses. When I have enough dried petals, I will use them to make fragrant rose vinegar. Today (two days later) the petals look like this: I bought several from the little hardware shop in the village where my dad lives in Thailand they are so useful. I choose the most open of the fragrant blooms from my rose bushes, picking the petals off into a bamboo herb dryer which resembles a large dish. This borage has self sown from borage planted in the two herb beds by Jekka McVicar last year bees are loving it. I’m growing many varieties of edible flowers as companion plants and for the restaurant at the kitchen garden beds at Roth Bar and Grill, Bruton. I’ve grow them for personal use and also for clients – my flowers have been used in photoshoots in London, to decorate wedding feasts and have even sailed the seas on smart yachts! Some of my potions made using edible flowers The article includes lots of recipes and ideas for growing and using edible flowers. I wonder if he likes edible flowers? Rose petals and my article Permaculture Magazine is on tour with Neil Young – this is especially exciting for me as I have been listening to his music literally for as long as I can remember (so long that Ihave most of his albums on vinyl as well as on my iPod.) When I was 17 I made a pair of jeans covered with patches like those he is wearing on After The Goldfish and wore them all of the time, they took a lot of sewing (my autocorrect wants to change that to ‘After the Goldfish’!) Sadly I wasn’t able to buy a ticket for his concert but at least I will be sort of there through my writing. My article on growing and using edible flowers, including many recipes, is in the current issue of Permaculture Magazine (International) and the new publication, Permaculture Magazine, North America. The edible flowers here are beginning to bloom in abundance, adding beauty and colour to the garden and food, with the added bonus of smelling amazing and feeding the bees. On Friday I harvested the first of my roses to dry the petals. RHS No Dig Allotment Garden Talks and Workshops.
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