Coronavirus Diary 49 – A thing of beauty

Traditionally gardens are meant to be a thing of beauty but when I started working on mine, there was nothing beautiful about it.

Now there is a lawn and a patio and a little though empty raised bed for herbs and vegetables but on my nighty patrol with the watering can to keep the lawn going in our 3 month long warm and sunny drought I came across a thing of beauty.

Though traditionally for many good purposes, few these days want to see too many of these weeds but it is it not the most beautiful weed or thing that you’ve seen all day?

Normally the non-gardeners amongst us would blow the delicate seed head out and make a wish but I know my lawn will soon enough have weeds making their presence known without any help from me.

Traditionally the whole dandelion plant can be eaten as with their similarly unloved weedy friends, Nettles, are full of goodness and been used for centuries as medicine as well as nutrition.

In the British Isles one of the most traditional drinks is Dandelion and Burdock which is made from the roots of both of these plants and occupies a similar though longer-lived place in our culture as Root beer has in North America.  I’ve never had Root beer but I’m quite a fan of Dandelion and Burdock.