Category Archives: Dub for the greenhouse

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!

Every night is dub night here

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https://soundcloud.com/dubmatix/dubmatix-celebrate-my-love-1

Dubmatix – Celebrate my love (featuring Jay Douglas) – Victor Rice Dub

Here’s a brilliant dub by Victor Rice of a track by Dubmatix I had no idea about until I heard it on the brilliant Addis Pablo live at Kingston’s Dub Club 3hr mix on youtube which we featured in a post a few weeks ago here.

And below is the vocal version which is great too, the both of them from a few years ago but still sounding very fresh! Two tunes that will blast any stubborn mould clinging onto the inside of your greenhouse windows!

Dubmatix – Celebrate my love (featuring Jay Douglas)

Crank up those greenhouse bass bins!

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Found a couple of links to Kingston’s great Dub Club. Firstly a great 3hr youtube live mix including Addis Pablo and the suns of dub at the controls from last year. Brilliant is not the word. Tune after tune!

Also a great soundcloud page full of dub club mixes and related roots recordings.

Don’t call this a “roots revival” as it’s never been away!

Everything’s gone green

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moody birdA big thanks to Simon, Ricky and Paul at The Dirt (“a gardening show like no other“) on Fab Radio International for having our “sounds from the south” feature on the show. The Dirt is now available as a podcast on their web page here and also on i-tunes. Great stuff!

Have a listen tomorrow night live on Radio Fab International from 6-8pm if you fancy listening to a great gardening show with a difference, and if all goes well the second offering of “sounds from the south” will be aired around 6.20-6.30pm.

And don’t be fooled by the picture of the “cuddly bird” above, that’s no cuddly bird, that’s the Peckham Parakeet, and it could have your arm off if it wanted to. All will be revealed on tomorrow night’s “sounds from the south.”

The Impressions – Minstrel and Queen – ABC Paramount

Luciano – Paradise 

Typically tropical

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A big shout to Phil Harmony for putting us in touch with Jackie and Robert from the Prince Valley Guesthouse (and the adjoining coffee farm there too) in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and thanks to them for getting back to us.Night blooming CEREUS ready to openWe’ll be featuring a piece on the guest house in the very near future and tonight looking at the pictures we have of it, this plant has really knocked us out. The two pictures taken by them show a plant called a Night Blooming Cereus, and what a plant! The flower only blooms at night, very fragrant and is only a very short lived affair. More on the guest house and their coffee farm very soon!Night blooming CEREUS. Very fragrant and blooms only at night.

Praise be the rain!

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King Tubby’s – King At The Controls – Black & White

A big thanks to Si Diamond and all at The Dirt “a gardening show like no other” on Radio Fab International for having us on the show as from tomorrow night as a weekly feature. Listen out for “Sounds from the South” as part of the new format. The show’s going to be good, “something is coming” indeed!

We at weeds will be definitely cracking open a bottle of a major supermarket’s finest and tuning in tomorrow night from 6-8pm, I mean what’s the alternative, Deal or No Deal or Antiques Roadshow? Best of luck to The Dirt!