Grow Your Own Drugs – S02E03
BBC2 – 6 April 2010
3/6 – Exotic Plants
Ethnobotanist James Wong investigates plant based medicine.
Although his natural remedies for everyday minor ailments frequently use plants that we would consider to be exotic, many of these will grow really well in our own back gardens.
James shows us how to use lemongrass in an insect repellent spray, transform olive leaves into a pampering face mask, make a soothing burns treatment from aloe vera and chamomile and, perhaps most surprisingly of all, reveals that, not only can you grow tea bushes in this country, you can also turn them into a zingy mouthwash to help fight plaque and freshen breath.
Members of the public, in need of help, give his remedies and beauty treatments a go.
ooh didn’t it look great when he was slicing up the lemongrass and then flicking it on his arms as an insect repellent. I’m so pleased that he featured lemongrass as it’s a favourite scent of mine. I love the smell of the essential oil! Also thanks James for telling me how to get it growing at home from the stalks you buy in the supermarket. I am so going to try that along with the ginger! I’d be interested in trying to grow a tea bush but six years is a long time to wait for a crop.
My aloe vera plants are still not looking too healthy and that’s from the trauma they suffered during the summer of 2006 when I was at mum’s and she wouldn’t let me bring them in the house. So they had to fend for themselves outside during a period of freakishly hot weather in July. The good news is that last year one of them started to grow “babies” or whatever aloe plants do, and they are looking quite healthy. To think that they lived very happily in my old bathroom for years with no interference from me.
I’ve always wanted an olive tree too but again, climate may not be too great for them, so I may never get any olives, and the trees are usually pretty expensive. I would be interested in trying to make the olive leaf face mask though, that looked great.
