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Category Archives: Dub Gardening
Trees and pears in north London
Thanks to Debby H for sending us some pictures yesterday. The first is a council planted hibiscus tree (as Debby said, it was common practice for councils to plant London Planes in the capital and not much else, years ago). The tree seemed to be surviving well during this prolonged drought we are going through this year. Sadly, her plant at home (below) is not doing as good as the above example and “has shed its leaves in favour of producing a flower.” That is so sad but what a wonderful flower.
We were told recently by a chap who cultivates and sells plants for a living, that it will be next year where we may see what damage has been caused to the plants through the stress of this drought. Some good news though, as Debby picked her pears and herethey are in (below). She is now waiting for them to soften up and ripen. Thanks for the pictures and for keeping us updated.
Preparation, preparation, preparation
This afternoon we cleared an area (which once housed a greenhouse many moons ago) in preparation for a polytunnel which will arrive sometime this week. Thanks to Alan C who gave us some great advice about purchasing one, as we didn’t know much about what was on offer out there.
We weren’t the only ones that were excited today, there were a Blackbird and a Robin who swooped down a few times even when we walked a little way away, we must’ve disturbed some food in the area or someting.
Please don’t take our sunlight away
Thanks to Debby H for this great (inverted) image of the partial eclipse last night taken in north London at the maximum at 7.13 pm. What an excellent photograph!
And here’s two eclipse related tracks, the first from the The Eclipse Band with a very aptly titled Daylight Robbery. And another, from DNN called Eclipse Dub.
A mad one for a Sunday
An absolutely bonkers tune heard on this week’s On The Wire here originally from 2007 by Paul Rooney called Lucy from Lanchashire.
Fenny who played said tune, mentioned that Lucy is a spryte that was found in a pair of puma pumps that were hanging on a telegraph wire over a bus stop on the A666 also know as the Manchester Road, Bolton Road, or Blackburn Road.
Well worth listening to all 16 minutes of it. More on the release here and more on Paul Rooney here. We are ashamed that we never knew about this tune the first time around.
“The stories outline the role of dub music in thwarting a Satanic prophecy of world domination originating in the witches cauldrons of Lancashire, and involve the many correspondences between Lancashire and the Satanic: the Pendle witches, the A666 motorway, The Fall’s occult interests, and many more.”
The new wave of continuous wave
This great track above was heard on this week’s Echo Chamber on KFAI (here) which is as you know, a great show from our Dub Gardening friend Dr Strangedub and DJ baby Swiss.
The track is from Jah Wobble and Youth called “Inspector out of Space” and it’s the Youth Inner Space Dub. There’s some morse featured a few times throughout the tune. Any CW people out there that can can decode it for us?
Talking of Samuel Morse:
Anyone want any tomatoes?
A bit thanks to Alan C who sent us up some great pictures of his harvest from his Corfe Mullen allotment down in Dorset. First off is his polytunnel that looks so abundant with growth even with this heatwave and lack of rain.
“The polytunnel is a bit messy as you can see (above) but the picture is after I had harvested so there will be plenty more. This is the side with cherry-type tomatoes (toddler), the plum ones are on the other side. You can just about see a couple of Midas chilli plants in pots at the back as well.”
He went on to say, “The extreme weather and ongoing drought hasn’t been good for some things, the peas and beans are struggling, and the potato crop was down with a lot
smaller spuds, but the squash don’t seem bothered.”
If you remember Alan has lots of tubs of potatoes on the go, which is a great idea. “I harvest twice a week, and this is today’s return (above) – over a kilo of spuds from the one tub I emptied (about 15 more tubs left to go) and nearly 1.5 kilos of tomatoes. Plus, a slightly overgrown cucumber and a nice onion and beetroot.”
“We were already struggling to eat the tomatoes I picked last week so I now need to come up with some new recipes for them, we can give some away, but the neighbours don’t want any more and my daughter is allergic to them.”
Cheers for the pictures Alan and everything is looking brilliant down there and I imagine he’s put in a lot of hard work with everything, especially with watering.
Anyone on here know any good recipes for a glut of tomatoes? We’re thinking of a big pasta sauce and freeze it but it’s all about what space is available in the freezer isn’t it?
Edibles from north London
We heard from Debby H in north London yesterday as she sent some great photographs of how her garden is doing. She wrote “We grew Capri Red pepper plants last year and tried to keep the plants going over the winter. I was convinced that at least 2 of the 3 plants had died, but they came alive again in June and are now bearing large peppers again!” Wow they look great Debby; they are some large peppers!
We love her first harvest of potatoes (above) and the picture of her Cherry tomatoes that “have gone wild” (below).
She also told us about the greengages she harvested this year, “This is a tiny fraction of the many kilos that our one tree has produced this year. We have never had much off it previously. It must be the heat!” Whatever it is they are doing brilliantly. Cheers Debby!
One for the sunrise posse
Today’s picture is the wonderful yellow variant of the Marvel of Peru which we grew from seed. Lots of trumpet flowers this morning, from mostly yellow, some yellow to a couple of pure white. Will they be there this afternoon? Possibly not. A crazy plant for sure!
To accompany the picture, we have an excellent chilled track and one especially for a Sunday morning, a “forgotten” track from Club Soda, Sara Loreni, Daughters & Sons, Funksonik called Basso e Batteria (D&S Megadub) from Flexi Cuts out of Italy.
Have good Sunday!
It was ten years this month: Weeds on the wire
Socialism Train – 19 in a socialist reggae style
Big thanks to Steve Barker from the excellent On The Wire on BBC Radio Lancashire for supplying this ace reggae chart for us. On The Wire has been playing the best in reggae, dub, electronica, ambient and all sorts of eclectic business weekly for over 30 years and is available on listen again here.
So here’s the tunes and there’s some crackers on here. If the tune is not featured, click on the links to view on youtube.
Cheers again to Steve for the chart, shouts to Fenny and Jim at On The Wire too. Keep up the good work!
1. Ethiopians – Socialism Train
2. The Mighty Diamonds – I need a roof
3. The Heptones – Equal rights
4. Peter Tosh – Get up, stand up
5. Burning Spear – Social living
6. Abyssinians – This Land is for everyone
7. Derrick Morgan – People’s decision
8. Max Romeo – Socialism is love
9. Dillinger – Crashie First Socialist
10. King Tubby – Big Youth fights against capitalism
11. Freddie McGregor – I’m a revolutionist
12. The Youths – We a socialist (version)
13. Prince Jazzbo – Step forward youth
14. Jeb Loy Nicholls – To be rich (Should be a crime)
15. Still Cool – To be poor is a crime
16. Johnny Clarke – Declaration of rights
17. I Roy – Every mouth must be fed
18. Gregory Isaacs – Working class
19. Screechy Dan – Raise Your Glass Fi Di Working Class
To listen to the wonderful programme that is On The Wire, it is no longer on BBC Radio Lanchashire but check the blogspot here.
It’s also on Totally Radio on Sundays at 6pm here. It’s well worth a listen.
Here’s a great tune that was played on last week’s show from L.S. Diezel & Launch DAT called “Poor Man’s Glory”. There’s even a south London Tai Chi connection with this one!