Fresh as a summer breeze
Country Life UK|June 05, 2024
Once associated largely with gin, there is a host of easy-to-grow botanicals that will enliven both cocktail hour and mealtimes
Natasha Goodfellow
Fresh as a summer breeze

THOSE of us inclined to a large gin and tonic at the end of the day cannot fail to have noticed the rise of the word ‘botanicals’ in recent years. Where juniper, orange peel, angelica and coriander seeds were once the botanicals of choice in gin, these aromatic fruits, herbs and spices are now being joined by an everswelling chorus of ingredients, from pepper- mint and kelp to bog myrtle and Douglas fir.

Although it is perfectly possible to grow your own Douglas fir or juniper (indeed, Juniperus communis is in decline in the UK, so you’d be helping to preserve the species), you would have to wait some time for a worthwhile harvest. Happily, however, there is a host of quick-cropping plants that will serve the same purpose, adding complexity, flavour and character to your drinks—as well as to your salads, jellies, teas or to whatever else you choose to add them.

The following plants are easy to grow and will all attract pollinators to your garden, helping to maintain a healthy ecosystem. You’ll also be reducing your food miles and, if you pick them at their peak and grow them without chemicals, getting top-notch quality, too (organic fresh herbs and specialist ingredients are surprisingly hard to find in the shops). Perhaps the greatest joy of all is how little effort they are. Once planted, simply remember to water in dry spells, mix yourself a drink, pluck a leaf or flower or two to add to it, then sit back and relax.

Lemon verbena (Aloysia citriodora)

Deliciously scented and alluringly sweet, lemon verbena is one of the real delights of an edible garden—although it does need a spot in full sun. Native to South America, it is tender in the UK, so it’s best grown in a pot where it can be brought indoors or into a greenhouse when temperatures drop. Water sparingly over winter and move outside in April, when new leaves will slowly appear.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 05, 2024 من Country Life UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة June 05, 2024 من Country Life UK.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من COUNTRY LIFE UK مشاهدة الكل
Save our family farms
Country Life UK

Save our family farms

IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
A very good dog
Country Life UK

A very good dog

THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
The great astral sneeze
Country Life UK

The great astral sneeze

Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
'What a good boy am I'
Country Life UK

'What a good boy am I'

We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Forever a chorister
Country Life UK

Forever a chorister

The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Best of British
Country Life UK

Best of British

In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Old habits die hard
Country Life UK

Old habits die hard

Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
It takes the biscuit
Country Life UK

It takes the biscuit

Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
It's always darkest before the dawn
Country Life UK

It's always darkest before the dawn

After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
Country Life UK

Tarrying in the mulberry shade

On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024