July 2021 – Week Two

Glad to say that everyone in the Ratz household has now had two Covid-19 vaccinations, so Bill Gates can enjoy tracking our every move. Sadly I probably have to point out that was my attempt at humour, I’m sure Bill Gates has better things to do. We all had Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccines and apart from the expected mild immune response effects we have had no problems at all.

Image of Coronavirus from CDC

Back to the Ratz garden. The lawn clover has been joined by these purple flowers. They are Prunella vulgaris, or self heal. As you might imagine this plant was used medicinally. It was used on wounds traditionally, modern research shows that it is high in vitamins and antioxidants. It can be eaten in salads or made into herbal tea or a pesto.

The Lychis coronaria is doing very well and I’m happy to say attracting the bees.

The Alstromeria add a dash of exotic colour.

My hedgehog friend came to say hello again.

Then wandered off to hunt for insects in the clover.

Meanwhile, there was a very strange bird on the peanut feeder early one morning.

The Mahonia, or Oregon Grape as it is sometimes known, has produced distinctive blue berries. The young blackbirds have been learning from their parents and flying up to snatch the berries off. As you can see from the stripped stems they are getting very good at it.The latest “lawn weed” to flower is the sweet smelling Yarrow, Achillea millefolium. As you might guess it was named after Achilles; apparently he used it to staunch his wounds on the battlefield (and we all know how that worked out for him). However, it is claimed to have medicinal properties and is apparently edible. It was also used instead of hops at one time to make beer, you can find a recipe here.