On the other side of the world…

Sweet CornA big thanks to our good friend (and musical collaborator) Paul Greenstein, formally of these parts now based in Melbourne, Australia for sending us some pics of his great garden taken last week. Just look at the healthy looking sweetcorn above!

I’m finding it hard not to be too jealous as it’s well dormant in our garden here and at the present moment it’s freezing and the rain is tipping it down! Paul was saying the other week it hit over 40 degrees and was leaving the garden looking a bit bedraggled. It looks good to us Paul!

Globe ArtichokesOn the great looking globe artichokes above he told us, “We left them a bit too late, so they’ve opened up, but we already ate a few and they were delicious. Apparently the second year is when you get a better crop, although they did pretty well for the first year. It’s been really hot, which tends to make the flower heads open more quickly.”

Aubergine

We love the aubergine above as well,  “We’ve got about five plants, but so far only one aubergine! Well at least it’s a big one” he told us, great stuff!

Below’s a kent aka jap pumpkin. “No actual pumpkins as yet, and it’s taking over the garden. We also have a load of tomatoes and courgettes just ripening up, so we’re planning to do a load of tomato sauce and various pickles.” Brilliant!

Jap (kent) PumpkinAnd finally a photo of a very hot looking cat!

Hot CatGreat stuff Paul, we’re loving your gardening pics.They’ve now whet my appetite and I can’t wait until the spring!

Have a listen to some good tuneage at his Soundcloud page here. Here’s a collaboration from a few years ago with myself (as Madtone) and Paul under his Audiovert guise.

 

Dub gardeners of the world unite

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!

Two for the daynurse crew

Busy Signal – Money Flow/Greetings (Ribbidibi)
Two videos in one as played by The Rt Hon David Rodigan over the past few weeks which utilise a couple of familiar rhythms from yesteryear. Especially for everyone who’s suffering with the pre xmas flu!

Every night is dub night here

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)

Everything in the allotment is rosy

Green high weeds_FlissA big thanks to Fliss who produced the great Gardeners Delight fanzine for sending us some pics of her new allotment in deepest South London.

I asked her for some before and after shots but as she says “as it’s such a huge plot it is hard to capture in a definitive before and after way! It was literally covered in hip-high weeds at the start, in early May (above). I must admit some of them got up to neck height before I could tackle them, too!” I understand 100% and looking at the pics here, you’ve done loads of work on the plot and it shows!

Abundant allotment best_Fliss

Allotment Sept 2014_FlissAnd below are the results of her hard work plus some grapes and tomatoes which she received as gifts from other plot holders. Great stuff!Gifts and harvesting_FlissFliss picked two corkers of tunes to accompany her pics. The first being Desmond Dekker with “Beautiful and Dangerous” as an ode to the many and interesting bites, stings, scratches and scrapes she got into along the way.

Rose chafer beetle_Fliss

And the very excellent “Young wings can fly” from Johnny and the Attractions which she dedicates to “the mighty rose chafer beetle that alarmed me when it flew so noisily above me when gardening. A new discovery on me, those things, they’re very weird!”

By the way Gardeners Delight Issue 1 is still available and well worth buying (it would suit beginners and anyone interested in growing veg and fruit) and Fliss is still producing more fanzines which is admirable in this day and age what with online blogs etc.

There’s a recipe fanzine called “Eat Y’self Fitter” inspired by songs from The Fall, Tambourine Dream (great name!) all about Brian Jonestown Massacre and The All Thrills, No Frills Music Bill which has features on record shops, strange vinyl and an interview with Robyn Hitchcock, which sounds well up my street! All these are available on her Etsy page here.

Thanks again to Fliss for the great pics of her allotment and If you want find out more about her plot and how it’s progressing alongside other interesting stuff have a look at her great blog here.

Guy Fawkes on Stella

Sounds from The South 13 – Nightmare in New Cross
Our contribution to The Dirt this week is a true halloween tale set deep in South London. Tune of the week is from the The Wailers with Fire, Fire. This is the last show on a Sunday night when The Dirt moves to it’s new spot on a Monday, same time, same channel. Keep it locked!

Have a listen on play again here and Sounds from The South is 7.30 minutes in. Cheers again to Si, Ricky and Paul!

The little greenhouse of terror

Tune in tonight from 6pm to 8pm for The Dirt’s Halloween special on Fab Radio International here. At around 6.15 our weekly spot Sounds From The South will feature a story about a scary Halloween party in a South London pub’s beer garden! Thanks to Maz and Marc B for getting us that invite for a night I’ll never forget!

Lager & Lime

Liming_FlyerHere’s news of an early session (6pm-9pm) we’re involved in up at LimeWharf early next month. The last one there was great and a good time was had by all, and thanks to all the DJ’s including The Rhythm Doctor and Thea (MADONJAZZ) and Mark G from Penge Jazz who will hopefully be making another appearance with us in the spring/early summer at the venue for another Saturday all-dayer if it all goes well!

So put the date in your diary a free early friday night session of Reggae, Disco, Soul and Funk on 7th November 2014 at LimeWharf, Vyner Street, London E2 9DJ with The Rhythm Doctor, Weeds up to me kneesOne Deck Pete and Hayereyah on the mike and harmonica. A cheap and early night out!

Crank up those greenhouse bass bins!

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!

Pots across the pond

A big thanks to our good friend Nic G The Fellow Traveller who’s now relocated to Glendale in California and sent us these pics of his landlord, Mr Gonzales’ garden. We love those Cacti by the way, if only we could grow them over here!Nics_pots_3

Nic_cactus

Nic_pots_chilli_1

As Nic told us in his email, the garden is a chaotic collection of buckets, pots and wheelbarrows, well up our street and all of the stuff in pots (but not the lovely Fig tree) have been started from seed. Those chilli’s are looking great! I reckon Mr Gonzales would love the Vertical Veg website. Cheers for these Nic, and do keep us updated!

Nic_Pots_2

Nics_figs

Nics Pots_4