GROWING ON ROUGH GROUND
On a brisk, sunny walk on the verge of Salisbury Plain, a piece of stony ground which looked as if it had been cultivated at some point, was awash with clumps of cheerful, golden-yellow-flowered coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara. Seeing the flowers took me back to childhood. Being closer to the ground, I remember being fascinated by the sheer life force of the flowerheads heaving themselves up through a tarred pavement. The felted leaves follow on from the flowers. Poor man’s baccy is another name for coltsfoot. Going back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, the leaves have long been smoked as a cough remedy. summer. It is still too cool to use these, so I will resort to sprays for the moment.
Sowing and planting out
As the ground dries out, I will start to sow stubby-rooted Chantenay carrots and white and pink striped ‘Chioggia’ beetroot. I will also be planting out the salad potatoes which have been chitting on a windowsill.