Category Archives: Dub for the greenhouse

What will that weather bring?

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Heading for a heatwaveIt was officially summer on the 1st of June but you wouldn’t have thought it what with the cold blustery weather at the moment. Everyone still keeps on saying about this expected heatwave. Don’t hold your breathe…

Here’s a couple of tunes to bring some sunshine and warmth. The first is a West African Disco crossover called Ta Lassa (Hide & Smile Edit) from the International Soleil Band from Guinea. It’s from the early 1980’s and out on a 12″ on Soundway records as heard on the Tom Ravenscoft show last week. It’s one seriously good tune!

The second is one I originally heard on a cassette tape of Red Dragon‘s Rambo Mango Sound system from Jamaica in August 1989 bought in Brixton for a few quid around that time. The tune featured on it, is from the great Frankie Paul called I Want You on the classic Mister Bassie rhythm. Recently bought on 7″ for £8 inc p+p on discogs. A bargain for such a big tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGd9rHcsBSA

How do you make a Zen garden?

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A big shout to Dr Strangedub and DJ Baby Swiss from the excellent radio show Echo Chamber on KFAI who every Wednesday from the crack of dawn play the best in reggae, dub and downbeat.

On this week’s show they played Dr Strangedub’s “In the garden of dub” mix (above) from a couple of years ago celebrating the “pleasures of gardening, the roots of life and the seasons of nature.” We here think it’s great stuff and includes Singers & Players (ft. Prince Far I), Madtone, Leroy Sibbles, Jah Wobble, Lee Perry and lots more, dedicated to the late great Peter Sellers (aka Chauncey Gardner). More proof that music and gardening do mix!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psR8D8MNz1Q

The rebroadcasting of the mix comes at an apt time where last week Graham Porter on Gardening with Tim Crowther on BBC Radio Leeds said that we’ve now reached the point where tender plants can be now put out. But that’s after the plants have had a period of being hardened off, a good watering and some slug protection has been put down first. But do keep that fleece handy just in case and watch those weather forecasts as you never know if/when those damn frosts will reappear.

Lock up your tubers

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lock up your tubersLast weekend featured the fastest session of gardening in weeds up to me knees history! It was a quick pop out to the garden to stick something in the compost bin, feed those starving goldfish and to lift up a couple of Dahlia plants so they can be safely stored for the winter. My my my daliahThe frost earlier on this month had blackened the tops so I dug them up and cut off the stalks. It was then a case of cleaning off the excess soil, letting them dry naturally upside down and then sticking them in a cool place out of frost, light and heat which was under the stairs in a paper bag. I’ll keep a check on them over the winter just in case there’s any rotting going on. Graham Porter on Radio Leeds mentioned they can be stored in a tray of dry compost or the like as well.Adam and eveI’ve heard advice to the contrary but I do remember reading that Adam the Gardener (not a real bloke just a drawing in a book, above) starting them off in the spring and separating the tubers when new shoots appear thus producing a few new plants, how good is that?

Also James Wong mentioned that the Dahlia was originally brought to Europe from Mexico as an alternative to the humble Potato. Dahlia Dauphinoise anyone? Dahlia Chips with Cod and that pickled egg? Er, no thanks.

Respect is due…

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Sad news as another great gardener goes to that big greenhouse in the sky.

Joe maiden RIPThis week the great Joe Maiden from Gardening with Tim and Joe on BBC Radio Leeds passed away with prostate cancer. Very sad news indeed, as he was a man who knew his onions… (and carrots, and brassicas, and beetroots, and chrysanthemums, and dahlias, and roses, and agapanthus, and foxgloves, etc, etc.) He’ll be sorely missed. R.I.P Joe Maiden.

A surrealist style summer

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Here's gone summerAKA Is this the summer or are we in a perpetual state of hoping for one?

I’ve haven’t long got back from a family break in Camber Sands. The night before I left for the seaside I gave the garden a good old dousing with a hose, thinking it wouldn’t get another drop until I got back. All through that evening and during the night it tipped it down, great eh?

Yesterday I popped into my local supermarket to “get some bits” and said to the chap behind the till, “where’s the sun gone, mate?” as it wasn’t the best of days weatherise.

I thought I’d just get a smile or a jokey reply but he came back with a long bonkers theory that the british government are firing chemicals into the atmosphere during the evening (so no-one will see) to make sure our summers only last a few weeks or even days. The conversation went like that for a few minutes much to the disgust of the long queue forming behind me (he was the only one serving!)

I nodded and picked up my shopping bags. Judging by the weather forecast for the next few days, perhaps he’s right! Solitary squashOne thing in the garden that seems to like the rain, is the mad butternut squash that has filled the square bed at the side of the garden (only one squash on it though) and now trying to climb up the plum tree. Madness!

Ideal Guest House (Part 2)

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Flame vine

A big shout to our good friend Phil Harmony from Dubnight Radio Show, Berlin for alerting us to this great flower pic taken at the Prince Valley Guest House in the beautiful surroundings of the Blue Mountains, Jamaica.

A big thanks to the owners Jackie and Robert for getting in touch with the name of the plant which is the flame vine (Pyrostegia Venusta). Just how brilliant are those flowers? If you want to know more about this rampant climber have a look here. It says in some parts of the world it grows as a weed! Beats ground elder anyday!

jamaican jade

Last year we featured the Prince Valley Guest House and the great plants that are on-site. There’s some out of the ordinary stuff growing including (above) the Jade Vine (a member of the pea and bean family, can you believe?) The posts are here and here.

So if you’re travelling to the “the land of wood and water” (as Rodigan says,) spend a couple of nights at the guesthouse (with an adjoining coffee farm) as it looks a great place! More on the guest house here. Thanks to Phil, Jackie and Robert again! We love that tropical flower madness here!

A pre-gardening reggae apéritif

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We’ve woken up to a bright and sunny day here in London and just before a day of pottering about in the garden (or more likely, before the clouds go in!) here’s a wonderful bit of music to get you going.

It’s Chronixx doing a live set over some classic Studio 1 rhythms from his first appearance at Miss Lilys in New York City in 2012. Miss Lily’s looks a brilliant place, a restaurant, record shop and radio station, all they need now is a little garden centre at the back and it would be an ideal place for us here at weeds! Also, here’s a set Chronixx did there from back in 2014.

Some tunes to get you in mood for weeding, watering and taking off that horticultural fleece from the cold night just has gone (which you’ll more than likely be putting back on come this evening!).

Dub gardeners of the world unite

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Jochen harvest 2013

A big shout to Jochen of Splintercell Sound out of Germany for getting in touch and for letting us use some great pics of his veg cultivation. He’s been growing veg for a good few years in a limited space using minimalist techniques but still gets some great results (as these images show!) with the aid of his greenhouse and some tricks learnt along the way!

pollination in progress

Alongside growing other plants, he got fascinated with cultivating Bonsai. He read a lot about horticulture, studying books, blogs and online forums and did his first ‘experiments’ in the small yard of his parents house.

After school he completed an apprenticeship with a breeder of agricultural seeds, studied horticulture for one year, worked at the Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food and now is studying Urban Planning. Sounds like a good grounding for this veg growing lark!

Jochen 2013 greenhouseMost of the plants are grown in pots as he only has limited space and has a small greenhouse on top of his carport (above). As he says “it’s urban gardening!” Brilliant!

He grows a lot of different vegetables and plants and always tries to use special strains and varieties. He told us one year nearly every plant was blue; blue potatoes, blue kohlrabies, blue carrots etc. Brilliant, well up my street as blue is one of my favourite colours but I am not sure what I think if it was served up on my dinner plate!

inside the greenhouse_jochen

He also tries to grow something interesting like melons or special tomato or chili strains because of his limited space and he tells me that this years cucumber-harvest was amazing! I’ve only tried growing them outdoors twice and haven’t had much success but these below in his greenhouse look brilliant!

cucumber_jochen

Even more up our street, he’s part of Splintercell Sound and also promote a regular party called “Feel like Jumping” in Münster where they play (rocksteady, early reggae and dancehall and conscious Rap.)  Here’s a mix on their great soundcloud site (with lots of modern “roots” tunes!) which is well up our street :

https://soundcloud.com/splintercell/sets/promo-mix

And a couple of great tunes picked by Jochen as well, out of his many favourites at the moment, Tell them fi farm by Tydal

And Queen Ifrica with Make you rock produced by Silly Walks Discotheque

Big up Jochen, his veg gardening and the splintercell sound!

Nine below Zero

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greenhouse tipIt’s started to get a bit nippy out there now, so it will soon be out with the fleece, cloches and the like.

I’ve already stuck some pots that I reckon won’t make it outside in the plastic greenhouse for the time being and will be sticking some bubble wrap around them this weekend too for extra protection.

If it looks like it’s going to be a hard winter I might even stick the whole thing in the garage!