*Sung to Crass’ “Banned from the Roxy”
We mentioned the other week this great quote from Terry Walton; The motto of a dedicated allotmenteer is ‘never buy what can be reused or borrowed.’ Well here’s something which was found outside a sandwich shop last week. They’re originally used to house mushrooms but these trays make handy plant pot/seed tray holders and they’re working well inside the plastic greenhouse. Why buy when you can find, eh?
I spent a few hours in the front garden this morning as it was so nice (and the front was well overdue a tidy-up.) The only trouble was I couldn’t find my usual gardening gloves so did most of it bare-handed without any hand protection. Am I suffering now? Too right, me hands are as sore as anything and talk about blisters!
First thing tomorrow morning (er, midday) I will be popping down Shannon’s for some decent gardening gloves. The ones below are my favourites (as they remind me of my council non-work gardening days,) what are yours? Please send us pics of your favourite gardening gloves to the usual email: onedeckpete (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll show them in our new feature “Gardening gloves of the month.”
Talking of gloves, I remember a couple of years ago when I was on a course ran by our good gardening friend Scarlett I was introduced to the latest in hand protection technology, “Gloves in a bottle.” Now you’re talking, luxury!
Talking of Morrissey, a mate met him once while his band was supporting The Smiths on a couple of dates on a tour years and I recently asked him “Was Mozza a good bloke?” to which he replied “Not really, he had a really clammy handshake.” How can you judge a person by his or her handshake?
Rodigan mentioned on his show that this tune doesn’t sound dated today even though it’s from 1976. We agree Roddy, this tune from Inner Circle featuring the late great Jacob Miller still sounds fresh!
The weather forecast for London tomorrow is mostly dry and cloudy. “Mister, can we have our Sun back please?”
Tune in to this Sunday’s David Rodigan’s 1 Xtra radio show for a special with the great Lee “Scratch” Perry. Last week Rodigan mentioned that the show will be bonkers, Rodigan will be selecting while the Upsetter interjects vocally as if “in the dance.” Tune in live on Sunday night at 7pm or play again here.
Spring has well sprung and today it’s looks like it’s sprung a blimmin’ leak as it was tipping it down most of the day here. The Egyptian Walking Onions are starting to form topsets, boy what a mad plant that is! Mine was originally obtained from Shannon’s a year or so ago and the plant below is off one of the top-sets which I didn’t give away.
I grow it as I love how bonkers the plant grows rather than to eat it. If anyone fancies growing some, let us know later in the year and I’ll gladly pass on a couple of seed onions (for the price of a stamped addressed envelope, remember those things?) 
All of the plant is edible and here’s what it says about that on egyptianonion.com; “Egyptian Walking Onions taste just like a regular onion, only with a bit more pizzazz! Small onions form at the base in the soil. They can be eaten and prepared just like any other onion. The hollow greens may be chopped to eat like chives or green onions. They are excellent when fried, cooked in soups, or raw in salads. The topsets are excellent when peeled and fried.”
Also I’ve been noticing how mad the Comfrey has grown (it’s to the right of the Red Hot Poker above and swamping the Lupin!), the one above came from a root given to us from our good friend Scarlett and it’s nearly five foot now! If you rip off some leaves every now an again and let them rot in a bucket with a small bit of water for a couple of months you get some great liquid plant food. Putrid is not the word to describe the smell of the stuff while it is fermenting, it smells ten times as worse as it looks (and it looks pretty bad to say the least!)
Thanks to Steve Barker and the On The Wire Crew for these two half term specials played on last week’s show:
Prince Buster’s All-Stars – Idi Amin – Prince Buster
A tough horns led 1970’s instrumental with a nice dub to boot!
Two tunes to play loud on the i-pod while walking around the back garden in the dark with a torch looking for those pesky slugs and snails.
There are many things in life that are eternal…love, family, kids…good friends…songs you write and Jah music. Reggae has and will always be. It has an eternal flame. It is not a fantasy, passing fad or illusion to paraphrase a line from a big tune from MC Charlie Chaplin. Reggae is with you for the long haul because it is a music that can reset the mindset, a sound that can turn your world perspective upside down and bring an inner peace. I feel this happens because Reggae is the heart beat. Its a life line…There are however some other things in my life that are older than my love for Reggae. I have been sharing this life with a cactus from about the age of 8. It has travelled with me through different stages, places and countries.
During childhood, my neighbour in Walthamstow, dear Mr. Golding, introduced me to this cactus with Australian roots. I am not sure how it ended up in East London but the cutting he gave me thrived well in a pot filled with half soil and half sand. As a student, cactus came with me to Essex University, where my studies in Sociology and Government were also enhanced by a fledgling education in Reggae music selection. Tunes this cactus heard. Wheel and come again selector!
After Essex I moved back to London flat sharing with mates, Alister and Skev in Hackney. A nice bright spot in the kitchen by the window was it’s home for another 8 years. I then moved from place to place, East London to Haringey Green Lanes and the prickly friend came with me every time. Ironic during all these decades, its stunted growth, always being in pots, enduring those heavy winters, the cactus never bloomed.
1992-3 was a good time for me musically. I’d set up my own label, Kebab Kulture Music and several 12″ singles of mine became hits in Cyprus. During that time I came and went to the island of Aphrodite 12 times until I finally decided to repatriate, return to the land of my birth and yes you guessed it, the cactus came with me, as a small-ish cutting in my shoulder bag.
The Mediterranean climate is conducive to cactii. We have our own prickly pear, ‘baboutsosiko’ variety, which has an unusual if not acquired taste as a fruit. These grow throughout the island like weeds. When we bought our first house in 1998 I decided it was time for cactus to be planted in the garden, in the earth, to live and be free. This was also the first time the plant managed those characteristic orange flowers. What a sight!
Cactus however took over like the Triffids on heat. Within three years half the garden was green and very prickly. What a ting! I had to cut it though, as everything else was suffocating – being taken over.
Something like 27 bin bags were filled with cuttings and disposed of. It felt sad in a way so I kept a large cutting in a big pot. Every year it still blooms and is so beautiful…I asked one of my kids recently, what came first Reggae or the Cactus. And of course they replied Reggae…and I answered amusingly….Cactus…Well, for me at least….
A big thanks to Haji Mike from the beautiful island of Cyprus for this piece and a shout to Dr Strangedub for starting off this dub gardeners around the world series! Remember you don’t have to like dub to send us your pics. Gardeners around the world with all musical tastes are welcomed!
The Allotment Almanac – Terry Walton – Bantam Press
Here’s a brilliant book I got out of the library the other week. It’s by Terry Walton, a long standing organic gardener (who gives out advice in various magazines and radio programmes including BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show) and the book documents a year on his allotment which is located in the Rhondda Valley, Wales.
There’s tons of advice (chitting broad beans in an airing cupboard, how good is that?), tales from the plot (the social life and what goes on around the site; “In Albie’s Cafe, celebrating with a brew”), he’s got a bang on attitude (“The motto of a dedicated allotmenteer is ‘never buy what can be reused or borrowed and where spending is necessary, use your money wisely and the harvest will be both plentiful and rich'”) and stands up for us people who use the biodynamic approach (“Never mind which method of gardening you choose, however odd it seems: it’s the results and successes that count. If it works for you, why change?”) Too right Terry!
Also includes writings on wormeries, composting, raised beds, greenhouse gardening and lots more in an organic style. A must-have for the shoestring gardener and allotment holder, from beginner to experienced. Around £12-£15 to buy new and well worth it!
Another tune from the Tuff Scout Camp, this time from Dionne Reid with “She Can’t Dub” the B side of the “She can’t” single. Loosely based on the classic Bob Andy “Unchained” rhythm (a corker of a track too), this has “summer tune” written all over it. Big shout to all at Tuff Scout for releasing it and to the Rt Hon David Rodigan for playing it on his show.
Weeds up to me knees 