Untamed Gardener: A throwaway love-knot

In wheat that does not rust

but brightens as it tightens

twist by twist

- Seamus Heaney

- Aisling Blackburn -

While there is some urgency to save the planet, we can find ways to enjoy doing something about it. I have a friend for whom protecting the environment and all who live there is top of her list.

We have a shared interest in plants and raw materials and of particular curiosity is the binding, plaiting and weaving of straw. I mean straw in the old sense of the word, anything that can be harvested and dried then treated in a number of ways to produce useful and decorative objects, used in ceremonies or indeed to be consumed as in the case of grains. Steffi was showing people at the Organic centre in Rossinver how to weave rye straw into harvest knots, from an old tradition of wearing and presenting these knots as tokens of admiration. There is something special about the first sowing made from the last sheaf, Briget’s day crosses, Halloween and the tradition of the Wren, which all involve straw in some fashion.

I recently took part in the workshop to harvest rushes at the Share Centre at Lisnaskea with Stephen McQuaid and following on from that a beginners weaving workshop in Belturbet where we made coasters and place mats. This is an example of using a natural resource that has been harvested sustainably. The rushes are cut using long sythe-like blades at a slow place, similar to when cutting long grass on land, any creatures are given time to escape and birds nests should be spotted in advance of cutting and avoided.

The cutting has to be done with care and a licence may be required. It is not an activity without risk and should not be done alone. In the ‘Hands’ series of traditional crafts, which can be viewed on YouTube, it is clear that rush harvesting was often performed as a community project. There is a lovely book, ‘Straw Hay and Rushes in Irish folk tradition’ by Anne O’Dowd that expands on this, and the many uses of natural materials in Ireland. Research for the book began back in the late 1950s and continued when A.T. Lucas, director of the national museum passed on the work to O’Dowd.

The true bulrush or club rush is Schoenoplectus lacustris, a bit of a mouthful to say or spell and it used to be known as Scirpus lacustris, which rolls off the tongue quite nicely and is easier to remember but taxonomists rule okay. It grows in shallow(ish) fresh water, lakes and rivers throughout Ireland, although I have only ever seen it growing in lakes in Cavan and Leitrim. It is a perennial that dies down in winter, and June and July are the best months to harvest it.

It is important for wildlife habitats(it oxygenates the water) and is a keystone species in the conservation of wetland ecosystems. And yes you can plant it in your pond, keep an eye on it, as with all perennial species it will need dividing occasionally.

I took a stroll in the walled garden of Florencecourt the other day with another friend. She remarked on the ‘green water’ and was it the dreaded green algae. I assured her that is was only harmless duckweed, ubiquitous in many parts of the world in still or slow moving fresh water. Lemma minor is probably the species we were looking at, and it turns out to be a new highly sustainable food source [rte.ie/ brainstorm/2025, Jansen and Jansen UCC].

They are already using a species of it in Thailand known as “Kai Pam”, where it replaces meat in traditional recipes. It will thrive in rich water and is less dominant in low nutrient situations where our more delicate species prevail, as in bogs and other wetlands. In those places, you will find many interesting creatures, that don’t like rich water and need oxygen to thrive. The common darter dragonfly may live up to 5 years underwater, imagine what a lack of oxygen does to just that one species.

When a body of water gets filled up with plants and algae(the bad stuff), it no longer has sufficient levels of oxygen to sustain many forms of life, which ultimately also affects the quality of our water, so we have a vested interest in taking care of what we put down the drain and how we grow our food. There is no doubt that it is up to the powers that be to ensure and enforce the protection of our waterways and we can do our bit as well.