Columbia Road Market 22
The market was full of life early again this week with many more varieties of plants now on sale including Camellias and Witchhazel (Hamamellis) in flower, and tall Lemon trees hanging with Lemons, as well as lots of garden perennials sold as bare root plants. I was tempted by these as my garden looks entirely blasted and I am eager to bring it back to cultivation and life after the winter chills, but I am not quite ready to risk planting anything new yet.
Several stallholders showed their faces for the first time this year and I was especially pleased to welcome back Mick and Sylvia, the herbsellers, who have their nursery in Hainault and are highly respected stalwarts of Columbia Rd with their outstanding selection of herbs. I was impressed their fresh Mint (Mentha Spicata) plants, grown outdoors under nets, and I bought one Garden Mint for mint sauce and salads and one Moroccan Mint for tea. It cost me a fiver for the pair. I planted them in this pot (Garden Mint on the left Moroccan Mint on the right) on my kitchen window sill, which means I can bring them hastily inside if the temperatures should plunge again.
I cannot grow mint. I have no idea why but it withers and dies almost as soon as it is brought through the garden gate. So I look longingly at other peoples rampant mint patches.
I can almost taste that mint. I have mine in a pot in the garden though. No signs of life yet! I do think that it’s always best to have a new plant every so often.