Love in a mist, it’s (not) so dumb

Here’s a few pictures from around the Weeds HQ garden.

We’ve had the above for a few years now and it pops up every year in the wild bit at the bottom of the garden. It’s quaking grass and we’re not sure who we got it off, but it was off a gardening mate somewhere (if it’s you, do remind us!) from 2023. It’s only small but it’s interesting stuff. Original post here.

The above is also in the wild part of the garden. Nigella or love in a mist is a great plant and as soon as the seed pods are ready, it’s a seed to chuck around the garden in an anarchic Crass-like sowing style. You’ll get results and it’s a great plant to cover a large area.

One of the great poppies that are just popping up all around the garden. They can seed where-ever they want in our garden, as we love them so much.

And finally, the mad plant that is the teasel. Bought off the internet (post here) and then moved from its original location. The wind blew it over last week and we’ve staked it up but before we did, it tried to straighten itself up hence the mad angles. Unless they always are like that!

Let’s hope the weather is better where you are tomorrow and you can get out in the garden!

Opening doors

Cheers to Will Jeff for letting us know about this great tune by Jack D called Opening the Door. It’s got a touch of the Ghost Towns mixed with a chilled out Renegade Soundwave. Cheers Will!

And now from the north of the Capital…

Great to hear from Debby H in north London this morning, she sent us pictures of her phormium tenax before she goes away for a while and here’s the how the flowers are developing.
She also sent us pictures of her Peonies (below), as she said “Not so many flowers this year but still pretty!” They look great Debby, hope all’s good with you and ta for the pictures.

The wonders of modern radio

It was the first time in a bit that have we listened live to The Rhythm Doctor‘s excellent Waiting Room (every Monday morning from 9-11am UK time) out of Tallinn, Estonia.

There’s some wonderful chilledness at the start (17 mins in) that stopped us our tracks when we were filling up our watering can to give the garden a bit of a quick water. We potted up some seedlings just as it got to the dubbed-out section (55 mins in) and by the end of the show when he plays some shackleton stuff, we had enough of the heat outside!

RD played the wonderful Two Lone Swordsmen track Neuflex as mixed by Dry & Heavy which is a classic. Great to hear this again, crazy stuff.

Do yourself a favour this Bank Holiday Monday and chill out in the waiting room for a couple of hours. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, today’s show is now up online, so you have no excuse.

We didn’t see Gene October sadly

A million thanks to Araba for getting us tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show this week (above, the crowd in full swing). We didn’t take half as many pictures as we should have, but here’s a couple of snaps of stuff that really caught our eye!

Belfast sinks and taking cuttings

We’ve a couple of weeks off work so we’re trying to get some jobs done around the garden, weather permitting. The first job was done on Monday, which was getting rid of a load of roots of a climber that had taken over a large Belfast sink. Once they were taken out and transferred by a B&Q quid bucket to the wild area at the bottom of the garden, the massive sink was moved by hand using some bits of wood, a garden fork and spade.

The sink is now in its new position and we’re using all the space to the maximum. It now contains three tomato plants (complete with canes found in the street), a couple of Defender marigolds and some freshly sowed free herb seeds (thanks to Penny Golightly for the marigolds and passing on the information of the free seeds from the Wildlife Trust as part of their 30 Days Wild initiative. By the way, the offer is still on here.)

And now after years of not doing so, we are finally getting to realise that taking cuttings isn’t that hard, all you have to do is keep your fingers crossed that they take. Here’s some cat mint (nepeta) that has now taken and even flowering.

 

This evening going to hit the sack early as we’re off to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show tomorrow, we’ve never been before and have no idea what to expect. We’ll be bringing you a report as soon as we can. We’ll be the ones walking around the site with the large framed rucksack on our backs.

More potatoes from Dorset

Cheers to Gerry Hectic also in Dorset for sending us a picture of his potato plants, he said “think I might have got a bit enthusiastic about the spuds, I’ve some in an old water butt and a big plastic pot; got a bean growing up the fence too!”. We think they look great Gerry, you can never have enough potatoes!

Dub for a cloudy Saturday morning

A nice bit of dub from Madmax Hifi (ft Sir Jama and Couleur d’Opium) out of Peypin D’Aigues, France. As it says on their Bandcamp, “the track moves away from war, greed, and the chase for money, reminding us that true wealth lives in love, peace, freedom, and the heart.” Too right mate! Wishing a good weekend to all the dub gardeners out there! (Above: crazy shapes by the pond this morning)

A Lewisia not in Lewisham, but in the Lakes

Thanks to Rich in the Lake District for sending us this great picture of a hanging basket he has there with a Lewisia in it. He said they had forgotten all about them, “these popped up while we weren’t watching.” We’ve never seen them before, but they look great! Possibly a plant to acquire here we reckon.

North London potato update and more!

Following on to our potato post the other day, here’s how Debby H‘s in north London are doing. As she said “They were supposed to be earlies, but I think we planted them too early as they took nearly two months to show any shoots. However, in the past week, they have shot up!” They are looking great, we always think if you can protect the plants from the frosts (under fleece or plastic), it’s worth getting them in early as you can (within reason of course).

She also sent us a picture of one of her tomatoes (above), which is looking well healthy. Also, a couple of pots of dwarf sunflowers and the two right at the bottom what we think are a phormium tenax, which is about to flower! Thanks for that Debby, do keep us updated as we do love those reports from the other side of the Thames.