Wonderful stuff found this week while doing a shortwave mix from Céline Dessberg with a track called Сэлэнгэ “Selenge”. For a second the start makes you think of PIL’s Flowers of Romance and it’s even got a bit of the Get Carter’s about it.
As it says on her Bandcamp: “Selenge is an enchanting instrumental in which Céline’s Yatga (traditional Mongolian harp) takes the spotlight, weaving haunting melodies over a foundation of groovy soul instrumentation” and they’re not wrong!
Thanks to Mike & Julia from near Coventry for a couple of pictures from their garden. Plant ID is giving the above as clustered bellflower (Campanula glomerata). Looks brilliant!
Below is a flowering corner complete with their lovely dog and great to see that their Ceanothus is doing well. Hope all’s well Mike & Julia!
We’re not feeling too hot here at Weeds HQ but hopefully it’s something some antibiotics can sort out. Talking of hot, it’s supposdly going to be 18°C overnight with some crazy rain (which the garden needs at the moment to be honest).
To cheer things up here’s something we haven’t heard in ages, first heard on one of Mikey Dread’s JBC Radio shows many many years ago. Quality tune!
A big shout to the staff at Honor Oak Park train station for maintaining the wonderful display of pelargoniums there. They get a good daily watering and when we have some comfrey liquid ready, we pop some in. We think they’re serious on the annual stations in bloom competition and with that display they should be!
We’ve taken some cutting from said plants (above) and they seem to root very quickly and now flowering after not many weeks.
While we’re looking at flowers here’s a new poppy from this morning!
Here’s a wonderful tune and wonderful video too from Stereolab with their radio and TV related tune, Aerial Troubles. Dance around the coax to this as it’s a good one!
Often short-lived, the flowers of the poppy are something to behold as they say. We took a trip down the garden this morning and took a couple of photographs and the two at the top are now missing a few petals, it’s a case of catch them when you can!
Those two are a result of randomly flinging the seeds about and the bottom is the oriental poppy (a perennial) we grew from seed a few years ago and it just keeps on giving. Poppies are go!
The clouds are going grey and that day of supposed gardening may be not materialise but we found this and things seem to be a lot brighter in our life. It’s possibly the craziest version of Sleng Teng ever! Hats off and umbrellas up to the great Center of the Universe. Cheers to Jesse Yuen for inspiring us finding this.
And if rumour has it, all the secrets to life (and sleng teng) are possibly contained in the first few seconds of this.
Never mind the brollies, have a good Saturday grapple fans.
We’ve had this in the garden before and God only knows how it actually got there (have they self seeded themselves or are they the fruits of our anarchistic “throw them anywhere” sowing method) but it’s the wonderful quaking-grass. It’s only a small plant but is great close up and we’ve just found out that the seeds are good source of food for the birds.
We’ve got a flower on our courgette plant we sowed in a pot when we thought it may be a bit late so it’s always worth trying! How’s people’s gardens going? Do send some pictures please!
Also this weekend on the shortwave bands Imaginary Stations bring you Starship Skybird. The show is broadcast on Saturday 7th June 2025 at 1100 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and then again on Sunday 8th June 2025 at 0900/1300 hrs UTC on 6160 kHz and at 2000 UTC on 3975 kHz and 6160 kHz (via the services of Shortwave Gold).
Start the countdown to this weekend when you can strap yourself in for a trip of a lifetime. Tune in, make yourself a cosmic cocktail if that’s your thing and enjoy the sounds of space.
There’s all sorts of space madness with music (and some great jingles) you may have never heard before from DJ Frederick and Justin Patrick Moore and at 6.15 mins in there’s One Deck Pete presents a ride into space on a 60+travelcard mix. Grab yourself a shortwave radio or tune in via here.
Cheers to our good friend across the pond Justin Patrick Moore for sending us a picture of the mullein plant in his garden. Justin mentioned “I let the plants grow when they pop up, even though some consider them a weed. People smoke the leaves for lung issues and make an oil from the flowers for ear infections. Its a medicinal weed, that in its second year, goes up past the knees!”
And thanks to Justin for forwarding a great tune named after said plant from MF Doom. Cheers Justin!
Last year we picked up this Mullein from a community garden’s summer fair, which we have just read that it may also be known as cowboy’s toilet paper. We were told in its second year the plant will send up a stem of yellow flowers and it looks like it is on its way with them now. It was only a couple of quid as well. More pics as they flower.
We’ve just tapped up AI and it gave us another few names for Mullein: “velvetplant,” “blanketleaf,” “hare’s beard,” and “flannel plant.” Thank you AI.
And here’s the lily we got for a couple of quid at Crystal Palace the other week. We were expecting something quite large but do you know what, it isn’t all about size is it? Great for a couple of quid.
Please send us details of any plant sales you know about and ones you are involved in and we’ll give them a plug and it doesn’t have to be in south London either.
Weeds up to me knees 