Category Archives: Found on a skip or for the binmen

A bit of improvisation

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The weather doesn’t look that great tonight, what with a forecast low of 4 degrees C. That’s the trouble with this time of year, we get a little bit of sunshine over a weekend and we think that the garden is under starters orders.

We’re a bit paranoid here, so we went out earlier and put what jam jars and a couple of plastic cloches that we had over some plants. We even improvised using those little plastic containers that glacé cherries come in, put over some small seed potato shoots. Let’s see how we get on with these tonight. Tomorrow isn’t looking good at 3 degrees C either so we reckon we’ll be putting them back on tomorrow too. It’s better to be safe than sorry as they say.

And just to add to the drama while we were out the back we were treated to a short hail storm. That’s all you need when you’re running about the garden at dusk covering random plants with glacé cherry containers and jam jars, what must the neighbours be thinking?

Spring has spung?

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We’re supposed going to be seeing highs of 19°C today in SE23 with a bit of a high wind and drizzle, madness! Looking around the garden this morning (to the beautiful audio background of swearing scaffolders working on the estate behind the bottom of our garden), it looks like sprung may have really sprung this time. Those seed spuds we put under the bin bags the other week (above) are starting to sprout (we had to lift the plastic to find the sprouts at first and give them some guidance) and there’s progress in the ones under the window frame even from a couple of days ago (below).

And meanwhile in Portland, Maine …

Thanks to our good radio/music friend Justin Patrick Moore for passing on a photo from his cousin Joseph taken in Portland on Thursday. Crazy weather indeed!

And here’s another in our series of Maunsell Seafort influenced music, a tune from Magic Panda out of Norfolk.

And lay the binbag on the ground

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Over the last couple of days we’ve been out with more bin bags and the remainder of the seed potatoes so much so there’s no more left to plant. We are still very early with planting (the great Joe Maiden RIP used to say Good Friday was the traditional seed potato planting day) so let’s hope the weather is on our side and if it’s not, we’re hoping the bin bags do their job!

And for no reason at all here’s a gem from Creation Rebel, the title of the classic LP Dub from Creation. First heard here on a tinny transistor radio played by the great John Peel.

Change up business

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After work yesterday we did a little bit of de-weeding down the “wild bit” at the bottom of the garden. It looked alright during the height of its wildness over the last few seasons (above) but now looks pretty unkempt come this time of year.

We had an idea to keep the back of the area (that doesn’t get that much sun which is the main problem) still a bit wild and go back to growing some vegetables at the front. More on Bill Shimmers’ wonderful wildlife ponds that influenced us to make our own low-tech versions using the odd Dutch pot and large margarine tub that are plonked in the wild area here.

Once we cleared the front of the area and seen in plain terms what we had to play with so to speak, we popped down the nearest B&Q and got a bag of seed potatoes (Maris Piper of course!) for just over £4 and will start the chitting process over the weekend. We may even start a couple off under the old window frame we found in a skip years ago. The pic below is what we had growing in there a good few years ago (spuds, onions, broad beans and strawberries.)

Remember it may be cold and rainy and there my be the odd frost to come in the post but if you get out there now and make a start, that’s one less job for you once the garden heats up and all hell breaks loose. It’s strange as once it starts, it’s mid-summer before you know it.

The soundtrack to writing this post is last Monday’s Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room from IDA Radio. There’s some great stuff as always on the show including Brian Eno/Jah Wobble from the 1995 Spinner LP (the one with a spanner on the cover). Well worth a listen on a chilled Saturday morning.

A little bit of give and take

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And found yesterday outside a garden wall was this nice plant pot even though it was on the heavy side and took a bit of effort to take home. As soon as we got it in the garden we plonked in a smaller pot which has a potato plant growing in it and it looks like they were made for each other. Keep ’em peeled!

This one goes out to all plant givers and seed swappers

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One thing’s for sure is that the whole idea of seed/plant swapping, finding stuff in the street and the idea of giving not to receive (but then someone gives you something out of the blue) is well up our street. It cheers up the garden for less pence and there’s a possibly that you’ll be growing stuff you’d never even think of growing. This morning we noticed some fruit on one of the chili peppers we were given the other week. We reckon the weekly dose of liquid plant feed helps and we were just thinking even the comfrey plant we made the feed out of was given to us by a mate earlier this year.

Sometimes you don’t have to look that far to find stuff. Once we awoke up to a lovely empty champagne box on our doorstep with no explanation here that is now looking a bit older with some mint in it by the pond.

Or the time when we found a silver birch seedling in a plastic bag in the street here when we were on the way to a mates. That was back in 2017 and it’s grown a fair bit since! And here’s the tree today.

A big shout to everyone who has swapped, given and received and all the tweeters that have put us in the direction of cheap seeds at the likes of Lldl and Ebay. We salute you and may your garden be abundant and we hope someone leaves a gardening gift on your doorstep, gives you a pot of something out of the blue or you walk past a garden wall that has something interesting with a “Take me” note on it. Big up the “Giving circle” or whatever it’s called.

Seek and you may find

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Found last night amongst a pile of books on a garden wall with a “please take” note beside them was this one called “Delphiniums for All” published by The Delphinium Society. The address of said organisation as stated on the back is “Takakkaw, Ice House Wood, Oxted, Surrey”. What an address!

Any book that starts with “The title of this booklet is not a joke, nor is it a meaningless catchphrase made to snare a few extra members for the Delphinium Society” has got to be good in our eyes. This bit is classic too: “No, every gardener can grow Delphiniums and, indeed, millions do; the catch, if catch there is, lies in the subtitle “A guide to growing good Delphiniums”. Brilliant.

It’s not a bad book actually, containing 48 pages of info from obtaining the plants, soil preparation, planting and cultivation in some great detail. It must be from a long time ago though as the advice on slugs and snails is mostly about using chemicals that you don’t want get your hands on (and definitely not get on your hands) and probably not available anymore as they are well on the wrong side of health and safety.

They do mention anti-slug methods like using “abrasive material such as, sifted weathered ashes, sharp sand, egg shells, holly leaves as the slimey marauders detest gritty surfaces” which sounds a good idea unlike the nuclear waste-like chemicals.

As we always say, keep em peeled when you’re on your travels as you’ll never know what you’ll find.

… you’ll sing again, shal-lots in Forest Hill*

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We’ve had some shallots sitting about in a bag for weeks and noticed they were looking like they had to be put out soon or they’ll go mouldy, so yesterday (on the eve of the official start of spring) we undertook a little job in the garden.

Years ago we found an old window frame on a skip and over the years it’s had many uses but since lockdown it’s been lying up against the back fence in retirement. The weather’s so changeable at the moment we knew those shallots had to be put in under cover, so the window frame had a bath in warm soapy water and is now back in service.

We got some bricks to make a simple support to put the frame on and then dug out a good bit of soil out of the space within, then made a small compost trench with a little bit of kitchen waste pinched from the top of the compost heap (whilst we were there, we gave the heap a bit of a fork over and a mix). Also using a trowel, we fished out about two buckets worth of decent compost (Black Gold as they call it) from the bottom of the heap which we put on top of the compost trench and then covered that with the soil we initially took out and there you go, we’ve now got some shallots “under glass”!

All of the shallots went in, had a light water and then we gave the bed around it a little hoe over (top pic) and then gave the path next to it a good old sweep. This gives a nice contrast between the bed and path making the bed look like it had a good few hours work on it. A trick learnt from the council. Now we have to wait and see. Springtime weather, do your job!

* To the tune of “Tulips from Amsterdam”.

Life on the wild side

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It’s going to be hot this forthcoming week, we’re looking at nearly 30°C in SE23 and we think the garden is going to enjoy it. So get the watering, weekly feed and any fiddling with a hoe out of the way early and then park yourself in the shade and enjoy the weather.

The courgette/zucchinni plant we stuck in a pot as we couldn’t find any space (above) is doing well, giving us some nice flowers. The area around it with the raised beds of potatoes (below) are also on their way but impatient as we are, we keep looking around the plants and still only getting golf ball sized spuds.

The one raised bed of tomatoes are now setting fruit and we’re checking that there’s no side shoots forming and tying the main stalk to the support canes when we remember.

And on the wildlife tip, we’ve put another “pothole pond” down the wild bit (below) after being influenced by Bill Shimmers’ great pond here. We stuck some wood leading into the water after Bill mentioned in his reply of our effort on Twitter. “Any water body adds extra wildlife habitat to a garden. One thing I always include, any steep sided ponds need a sloping shelf or ramp to allow critters to get out as well as in. Stones or branches will do.” Our one is not exactly steep but we’re including the sticks to add further disguise to the former B&Q product container.

And in our main pic this week are the inhabitants of our pond, well part of the mob that are in there at the moment. And the big question is where do they disappear to? Enjoy this great weather when pondering on that thought.

Funny what you find (version 2)

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The other day on our travels we found three small fibre/recycled card pots and also some giant wooden lolly sticks (for use as plant labels) alongside some plastic plant pots which we didn’t pick up as we have enough of them. It’s funny what you find when you’re out. Keep ’em peeled as Shaw Taylor used to say!