Any ideas on the fungi that is attempting to take over our ornamental Cherry in the back garden? Any hints on how this can be sorted? Answers on a postcard please…
And talking of Cherries… (this youtube clip name checks the excellent Echo Chamber radio show on KFAI!)
It’s that time again! With the seed potatoes I bought at the Potato Fair and Seedy Sunday the other week I’ve started “chitting” them so to get the spuds off to a good start.
All that entails is simply getting the seed potato, placing them upright in a suitable container, an old egg box or a clean seed tray with the “rose end” upwards (the end that has the “eye’s”) and put in cool, light and airy place, away from frosts and let nature do it job. Mine are in the back room by the patio doors. I’ve just checked them now and I must have put a couple by mistake the wrong way around as yellow buds were starting at the bottom. No bother, just turn them around if that happens.
In a few weeks you will get nice tight buds forming not those long yellow shoots you get when a potato starts to spout inside the spud bag! I’ve also felt-tipped on the box what variety they are and if it’s an early or a main cropper, as it’s very easy to get confused having bought two varieties.
We were told a great tip last year from Shirley Calgary who said “Actually you do not need the whole potato – I have cut the potatoes in 2 or 3 pieces as long as you have a sprouted or sprouting eye you are all set.” Brilliant!
Remember to tell everyone else in the house that they are special seed potatoes or you might have them cut, boiled and served on your dinner plate like “lewishamgardens” did. That’s a crime!
Heard on this weeks Echo Chamber, a lovely middle eastern inspired slow-mo bass heavy track with squelchy acid overtones and available as a free download too! A track to listen to while out in the back garden on a warm summers evening sipping on some char of the Moroccan variety.
It’s a shame it’s February and zero degrees outside, roll on the summer!
Horace Andy – In the light/In the light dub
An excellent oldie but goodie heard again this week on an old episode of the Jahman Hi-Fi Roots Soundsystem podcast from New York. A lovely 70’s dub too!
As requested by lewisham gardens (a great blog by the way!) here’s the few seeds I swapped yesterday. The potatoes are chitting in an egg box in the back room, the daffs are in the front garden and the raspberry canes are getting a soaking as we speak! Big up the potato fair and seedswap!
I’ve just come back from the Potato Fair and Seedy Sunday at Sydenham Girls School and it was great! It was £2 to get in, all seed potatoes were 15p each and I spent just under a tenner. For that, I got 3 Raspberry canes (£4.50), 10 tubers of Orla earlies and 10 Sarpo Mira (£3) and a bag of 10 Daffodil bulbs (£1.50).
The atmosphere was well friendly and there was free advice galore too. I learnt a great tip from Colin from Thompson & Morgan who told me his grandad used to say you can plant potatoes in the ground if you can put your whole hand into the soil and leave it in there comfortably for ten seconds. That would prove that the soil is warm enough, brilliant!
As for the swapping it’s a great idea. Just bring what you have and exchange for what they have on offer. I swapped five packets of veg seeds (Kale, Cauliflower and the like) and got in return Baby Leek, Borage, Chamomile, Foxglove and Scabiosa. Excellent! There was a girl there who had two A4 typed out sheets worth of seeds to swap, all of them painstakingly put in tiny packets in her bag, how great is that?
More details about your local Potato Fair and Seed Swap from http://www.potatoday.org/potatodays.htm
The London Charity Potato Fair and Seed Exchange
Sunday 27th January 2013
11.00am-3.00pm
Sydenham School
Dartmouth Road
Forest Hill
London SE26 4RD
A last minute news flash about a seed swap event a stones throw from the weeds up to me knees HQ tomorrow. It looks a great day out and I’ll definitely be wandering up there if the weathers okay and I have a spare tenner in me pocket.
As it says about the event on the web:
At all these events in addition to a huge range of seed potatoes, there will be our Heritage and Heirloom seeds, onion sets, shallots and garlic bulbs, fruit trees, soft fruit and other edible plants such as rhubarb and asparagus.
If you’re up there I’ll be the one trying to do deals with the stallholders with bags of small change and old washers!
Andrew Weatherall – The White Light Mixes – White Light 74
Here’s a deep little mix to listen to while getting a little introspective reading the small print on the back of the seed catalogue/bank statements. A well ambient selection from the DJ who is also a secret radish grower so I’ve been told. Features a couple of nice tracks by Dustin O’Hallaran (above) and touches of Suicide and Morricone in there too, moody!
In a different stylee…
Carlton & Leroy – Not Responsible (Lord Koo’s)
An excellent seven inch from 1974 on the Lord Koo’s record label by Carlton (Patterson) & Leroy (Smith). The flip is an excellent version from the King (Tubby’s), “Psalms of Dub”. If it sounds familiar, it’s because it’s also the rhythm track of Mikey Dread’s “Love the Dread” released a few years later. Bought for a couple of quid years ago at the excellent Rat Records in Camberwell Green.
There isn’t going to be much gardening done today, I tell you! Thank god the worms are in the garage and I’m warm in the house. If I was working on the parks for the council today, the kettle would be on, a topic for the all-day discussion chosen and a family pack of povvy digestives purchased for the long day of non-work inside the confides of a park keepers hut (10ftx10ft)!
This is the only gardening that is going to done here today, the leggy Coriander and Basil seedlings on the kitchen windowsill:
And our mate Nigel Slater’s favourite, Lemon Thyme purchased for a quid or so off ebay a few weeks ago (Terracotta pot and saucer optional. Bought from the local garden centre for around around about £1.50):
Big up the council work ethic of yesteryear!
Weeds up to me knees 