_{My mom, @lizziesworld who passed away on the 20th June 2020 joined this blockchain community in June 2017. Her blog posts were never long, but almost every single day for three years, she shared her gardening knowledge, tips and adventures. I have now decided to compile a few of these "snippets" randomly every week and re-share them with all of you on Thursdays... because that was "our day"... as most of you know.}

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LIZZIE'S SNIPPETS No. 6

A weekly gardening blog, with content originally written by and now dedicated to the memory of my beautiful mom.

The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden Than anywhere else on earth. - Dorothy Frances Gurney

The King of Weeds.

Published Aug 27th 2019

Most people consider the dandelion a weed. However, in my book, it is a herb and a very valuable one too. The flower, apart from being really beautiful, is also very sensitive to the weather and will close the petals if rain is coming - it also closes at night - but when the sun shines, it opens up to all its glory and spreads its leaves out too. Insects love this flower - especially the bees and it is one of the first flowers that the bee visits in spring. When the flower turns to seed, it is still beautiful - how many of you know about blowing the delicate seeds off to see what the time is? - I did this as a child, every puff is counted to read the time.

However, this humble plant is so good for health - every part can be eaten - flowers stems and roots - they all are good for the health of your body. The roots when dried can be ground down and used as coffee, the leaves can be added to salads or stir fried, or steeped to add to a glass of water for health. The juice of the leaves can be applied three times a day to get rid of warts. When using leaves for a salad, only use the new leaves as the older ones are bitter. Always harvest the leaves in the morning - and the flowers when the weather is good. The roots are best harvested in autumn. Dandelion wine is delicious and good for you. The name comes from the fact that the leaves resemble the teeth of a lion.

That awful mealy bug

Published July 20th 2019

This nasty bug is something all gardeners hate and if left unchecked, can kill your plants. It also is a pest for those indoor plants and can make them look really unsightly. This pest sucks the juice out of plants and will eventually kill them. The mealy bug secretes a honeydew that attracts ants who love to feed on this and also help to spread the pest.

Plants that are in a position that has bad circulation often get attacked by the mealy bug especially indoors. You can wipe down indoor plants with cotton wool dipped into warm water to remove this pest - make sure you get into all those small crevices. By keeping ants away from all plants will help to keep your plants healthy.

A new addition to my salads

Published May 16th 2019

I am not sure how many people know this, - but I found this little tip the other day and am quite thrilled about it. A few weeks ago, I planted some peas - the first time for me and the seeds have now popped up and are growing nicely. Now, I love peas as a vegetable and can remember my late dad growing lots of them on our farm and we used to pick them and eat them raw - there is nothing nicer than a freshly picked pod of peas!

However, I have now found out that you can pick the new shoots before the flowers have formed - about 7 or 8 cm in length, then use these to add to your salads. These little tips taste just like peas and are wonderful to mix in with the other salad ingredients - plus they look so attractive with the small leaves and curly tendrils. As your pea plants develop, more new shoots will form for you to harvest.