Semper sursum*

*always aim high

I have a silly little joke with myself that if an agriculturalist or an historian is uncertain of the origin of an exotic organism in the UK, the safest bet is to ascribe it to the Romans. After the empire crumbled, we had 600 years for the trail to go cold, so no-one is going to argue with you! According to the web site historic-uk, they revolutionised our agriculture and diet by the introduction of..

asparagus, turnips, peas, garlic, cabbages, celery, onions, leeks, cucumbers, globe artichokes, figs, medlars, sweet chestnuts, cherries, mint, coriander, rosemary, radish, white cattle and, notoriously, rabbits. Oh, did I mention grapes?

We have had a day when MrsM notices interesting things that I have missed and I take the pictures. First of all at one of our favourite places, Bridewell Gardens - a charity that uses an old walled garden to  help people restore their mental health, by nurturing plants to create a quiet, beautiful place.

The extras all came from there: some kind of eggs on a head of Phacelia/fiddle-neck ((c) MrsM); bee orchid ((c) MrsM); superb box knot-garden, which they keep free from box tree moth by the use of traps, not sprays; bladder senna

Then we stopped at North Leigh Roman Villa (ruins), isolated and deserted, sophisticated and lavish - prompting the questions "what happened to all this?", "where did these people go?". So the stones in the main were laid by Roman hands - or by their slaves, more likely. And I'm pretty sure that this behemoth among gastropods (maybe 4cm across) is Helix pomatia, a Roman snail ((c) MrsM). Curiously, this is missing from the historic-uk list. I wonder if I have been set up

This evening we watched 'Six Inches of Soil' - a documentary about three inspiring young people seeking to practice a new revolution in agriculture, focussed on regenerating soils that have been depleted of organic matter and biological activity by 80 years of over-cultivation and agrochemical excess. New minds revisiting some old truths