Published on 12, July, 2020
....aka Battle Of The Borage
There have been rumblings for the past week or so but I thought now would be as good a time as any to get the show started. Today I sowed between 16 and 20 seeds.
I thought it might be nice for any members who want to join in to sow borage seeds and chat about it. We all know bees and pollinators need a helping hand and this is a lovely plant we can have in our gardens to help. The flowers are pretty star shaped blue, sometimes pink or purple. You can eat the flowers or put in ice cubes and you can use the leaves to make borage fertiliser for the garden.
I thought it might be a nice way to unite online friends by doing something remote in real life.
It does self seed so I take no responsibility if you end up with more next year! The more the merrier. Apologies if you have no outdoor space. Maybe do a bit of guerilla gardening if you can
This post was inspired by Jamie (who I cannot tag for some reason) and Number
So lets help our wildlife!
"No-one can do everything but everyone can do something".
12 more soldiers being prepared for future combat
Apparently they taste a bit like cucumber but I couldn't detect that. I haven't heard of starflower oil before bit just had a look. I like clary sage. And I've recently acquired a sweet majoram which is HEAVENLY.
Hi I'm a big borage fan they are so easy to grow and i love when the flowers first come out they start off a pinky colour. Sadly I've had to get rid of new seedlings in my garden this year as th aren't great for chewy little doggos but I've noticed them cropping up everywhere out front so we can still enjoy them. Fun fact: borage is the plant used in starflower oil supplements. As you say, you can eat the flowers, use them to garnish salads, decorate cakes and make teas out of! What a lovely thread out_of_step
Haha thanks!
OK mate, there can be no doubt - that is an impressive parade ground.
They look healthy! Good idea, you can never have too many
Great idea out_of_step
Here is my Borage seedling army.....all looking strong, healthy and ready for battle!
I'm thinking about sowing some more seeds incase i have to send in reinforcements
Thanks for the links Debbie. I love the woodland trust website. And I'd love to be able to spot more wildlife and be able to name it. I don't just mean "that's a bee" but the kind it is. Same with birds.
I think Debbie has got a talent for photography. Although a borage is a borage is a borage.
I'm waiting on a borage bot posting some fishy links.
Oh no, I feel I've started something I'm not going to be able to finish. Story of my life!!
Blimey - Out_of_step - LOOK ! LOOK !
Debbie (almost certainly the one from the Archers) has joined us for some fun ! Yay ! We're not alone !!
Where the hell is Jamie though? - Ultimately, all of this is his fault?
....And wait just one cotton-pickin-minute..........both those photos look VERY suspiciously similar ?!
Do you guys live together ? Share a back garden ? Shop at the same nursery ? Cheats - cheats !!!!
Nice idea
We have some seedlings growing already.
Here is a photo I took in our garden a couple of years ago.
I have tons of photos of bees on our flowers, including and especially lavenders, which they adore.
I must do a sort and put some more on Trisha s photo thread.
There is an astonishing different number of bee types in the UK alone (over 250).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bees_of_Great_Britain
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2019/05/types-of-bee-in-the-uk/
OK.
So I'll co-sponsor this post so that, when no one does anything much, (conceivably apart from Jamie and out_of_step), the desolate loneliness of having no responses to a post, can be shared between us.
I reckon there is a good chance that the MODS will jump in - perhaps in 48 hours or so - with something like "I'm pleased that you are trying to grow Borage together, yet apart, and thought other people might be interested - but they are not - so here are a selection of gardening related helplines for you."
[meanwhile, Number is secretly preparing the side meadow lands whilst a team of crack geneticists are engineering the first Trifid/Borage/Fifi Flowertot hybrid seed, designed to levitate, cure cancer and grow to the moon.]