Monthly Archives: April 2020

Earthbeat, earthbeat

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Yesterday we had some well needed rain but the dullness in the sky didn’t help spirits indoors. It’s still a but cold today but the sun is peeking out every now and again and we’ve been doing the same but with a hoe, knocking off any weeds etc.

We’ve been noticing that the spuds are starting to show through now so whilst we had the hoe in our hands we started piling just a small amount of soil around the growing tips of the potatoes to protect them from a late frost. Later on in the growing season we’ll carry on with this mounding up (AKA “Earthing up” ) which prevents any of the spuds close to the surface going green. More on “Earthing up” here.

And the seed potatoes that are growing under the black membrane which was used for under the decking are coming through too (we won’t need to earth them up but a little bit of soil can be put over the growing tips as frost protection). And even though us lot in lockdown are a bit fed up with the rain, at least the garden and the fish are loving it! #pondsnotdead #lockdowngardening

There’s good jobs and bad jobs!

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Well we finished the big job of clearing the ivy off the front garden wall (there’s still a little bit on the top right hand-side but that’s covering part of the wall that’s fallen down) and getting rid of the weeds so we can start again from afresh. There’s still the odd bit of ivy root in the ground that when it starts to grow again will need knocking off with a hoe. Some parts of the ground were so hard we couldn’t get the garden fork in deep enough but on those bits we just ruffled the surface a bit. Once we have that bit of rain we’ve been promised this week it will hopefully look like it’s all been forked over well!

And a job we do hate is draining off the liquid from the bucket which houses the brewing comfrey liquid. To say it smells is an understatement. And for God’s sake don’t even get any of the stuff (even if it’s been diluted) on your gardening gloves or clothes.

More on making your own excellent (but stinky) comfrey plant feed here. Comfrey is a must-have in the garden as it’s great for the bees and for plant food! You’ll have to be careful though, as the plant has a tendency to take over if you don’t regularly check it.

Radio connects us all, don’t it?

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Here’s today’s recording of One Deck Pete’s “Radio connects us all” mix off an online SDR which was transmitted via Channel 292 earlier. Added percussion, noises and fading effects thanks to the groundwave propagation and that thing called the ionosphere. Tune in and drop out!

B is for borage, L is for lockdown

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It started cold and bleak today so we stayed indoors wielding a paintbrush this morning. The weather did improve and come about 1pm it was beautiful as this bee on the borage can testify.

We have borage popping up everywhere this year, we bought some seeds a few years back and it now self seeds all over the garden. It’s a plant well worth growing for the bees to enjoy and for the flowers you can put in Pims and also salads (and it has herbal medicine uses too here) but we love it for the leaves that can be chucked in into the compost heap or comfrey liquid for a bit of extra goodness.

Everything in the vegetable beds are cracking on at a good rate. We are packing a lot into the home-made raised beds but why not? The ones above contain potatoes, tomatoes, peas, carrots, peppers and whatever else can be crammed in. We only have limited space so we’re taking a chance on what’ll grow.

Also don’t be fooled with this present run of sunny weather, next week it goes down a few degrees and it always good to be aware that you may get a late frost which can wipe out a lot of stuff so regularly check the weather forecast just in case.

We’ve still got protection over the top of the tender plants at night (we close them up about 6pm so any further heat that the sun produces can be trapped in until the morning) and it ain’t anything fancy. We’ve got large jam jars, plastic cloches, an old window frame and recycled polythene tacked onto the cold frames. With this gardening malarkey you can’t take anything for granted, especially UK weather!

We hope the growing is going well in your garden. Anyone fancy sending us pictures of what they’re growing so we can post them up on the blog which’ll give us all more encouragement during this lockdown. Do get in contact if so.

#gardeningduringlockdown #lockdowngardening #sleepinginlatertocombatlockdown #sniffindisinfectant

Forget what we said about seed tapes

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There is a downside to seed tapes we found out after buying a bargain assorted vegetable tape off ebay. Turns out the names of what seeds they are, are only at the beginning of the tape (not all the way through) and now we’ve sowed a few we have no idea what’s what except brussel sprouts. Who told us seed tapes were a good idea?

And after a couple of hours hard graft today the front wall (nearest the road) can now be seen, trouble is the mass of ivy on the top right of the picture is covering a piece of wall that isn’t there. We’ll get back to you tomorrow with our solution to the problem.

And the first delivery of guinea pig straw (with added roadent waste) was left on the garden fence in a plain carrier bag with no note but we had a vague idea what it was when we spied it. The contents have now been dumped into the heap and we will keep you updated on its progress. We’re an interesting lot aren’t we? Blame the lockdown.

Essential lockdown shortwave listening

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https://soundcloud.com/thisisamusicshow/this-is-a-music-show-060

Here’s last week’s excellent This is a Music Show with some great stuff on it from Tortoise, Stereolab and Aphex Twin and lots more. And it’s all in something called Comb Stereo too! A show well worth tuning into to as per. A big shout to “Your host” and also Daz Man for the nice SDR recording.

https://soundcloud.com/djfrederick/free-radio-skybird-april-26-and-may-3-2020

And here’s this Sunday’s episode of Free Radio Skybird in a clean audio preview style. It’s a well interesting mix up with Justin Patrick Moore’s tribute to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge in the Radiophonic Laboratory (at 24 mins in), One Deck Pete with “Radio connects us all” (35 mins in) with some great tunes from Sasskia, Mokka and Camille Murray and at 46 mins in we have Shane Quentin from the Garden of Earthly Delights radio show who brings us a lesson in “Radio Re-flex-ology” with the likes of F.C. Judd G2BCX, Ronnie Bond, The Pixies and Barry Blue.

Music will see us through these mad times, it really will.

The link between composting and lockdown lunacy

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It is a bit difficult to do it with a darlek type bin but we got a garden fork into the compost heap today to give it a good mix up and to get some air to the pile. We could feel a bit of heat in there while we were doing it so it looks like the heap is working.

Since the lockdown we’ve taken the composting a bit more seriously because we’ve got more time on our hands, anything suitable goes in pronto and a trip down there with a single tea bag is not unusual!

We think the neighbours may have noticed our passion for the heap too as we were asked did we want a weekly bag of straw procured from a guinea pig hutch. Turns out the straw and any guinea pig product is alright for composting as it’s classed as a “brown” and would be ideal if you recently had a load of grass clippings deposited as the straw would add a bit of dryness to the heap. We’ll keep you posted on our guinea pig hutch gifts and let you know if they are any help or not!Apart from the composting a good bit of gardening was done in the front, weeding and attacking the ivy on the garden wall and learning that some of it is in fact holding up the said wall. There may have to be a compromise tomorrow when it comes to finishing the job because of that. We’re clearing all of the two tier bed and when things get back to some sort of normality and garden centres are open again we’ll fill it with some shrubs and grasses but it’s good to see it so clear for once! #lockdowngardening

And lay the seed tape on the ground

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We received a part of a seed order we forgotten about from Thompson & Morgan this morning. It was a favourite vegetable of ours beetroot and what was good about it was they’re of the seed tape variety. There’s no fiddling about with trying to sow the seeds thinly, spacing them out evenly or trying to keep them in a straight line, the tape does all that for you. We are getting used to this seed tape idea even though it’s been around for a while!

And the seed potatoes we planted straight outside rather than under the cold frames are starting to show through the black membrane that was used for putting under the decking. All we done is cut an X in it and plonked in the seed potato. The membrane will keep the weeds off and hopefully keep warmth in the ground. We covered the tips of the buds this evening with a bit of soil just in case a frost comes out of nowhere!

Talking of potatoes we’re in the process of tidying up the front garden that isn’t really doing that much. We may copy an idea of a neighbour of ours who the other year sowed some potatoes in his newly designed front garden as they are supposedly good for breaking up compacted soil we were once told at the council. It may be a while before Shannon’s is open again where we can pick up some shrubs so we might as well make use of the ground and grab some potatoes into the bargain!

One alternative to lockdown lunacy

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This Sunday coming 26th April 2020, DJ Frederick’s Free Radio Skybird will be broadcasting another show in its weekly spring run at 1100 UTC (1200 UK) on 6070 kHz via Channel 292. 

This week’s episode features Justin Patrick Moore’s Radiophonic Laboratory and One Deck Pete’s “Radio connects us all” mix featuring Patrick McGoohan, Sasskia, Mokka and Camille Murray. We’ve also the debut of Shane Quentin from the excellent Garden of Earthly Delights radio show who’s bringing us a bit of “Radio Re-flex-ology”.

Tune in using your shortwave radio in the 49 Metre band on 6070 kHz or by using the link here. It’s going to be one interesting hour!

What you can actually do in ten seconds

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A big shout to Gerry Hectic who told us about this compilation when they were originally looking for contributors. This compilation has over 200 10-second tracks and is released by ATTN:Magazine here. What’s great about it is that ALL proceeds from the sale of the set are donated to the charity Cool Earth who work alongside rainforest communities to halt deforestation and climate change.

There’s ten seconds from a variety of sources including Gerry Hectic, Justin Patrick Moore and Madtone amongst many many others! Cheers to Jack Chuter for including our track!