Life on the wild side

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.

Smells like comfrey liquid

“Well it’s that time again when the comfrey does a grow”. As you know, we like to do gardening on the cheap and there’s nothing more economical than making your own comfrey plant food. The darker it is and the smellier it is, is always a sign of a good vintage and definitely one to pour out of an old plastic orange squash bottle 1 part comfrey to 10-15 parts water (depending on the thickness/darkness of the feed). There’s lots online about the magical comfrey liquid including how to make it and how good it is. Have a look here for more info. Do remember to wear some gloves as the leaves can irritate the skin.

We have stripped the plant at the bottom of the garden (above) which is out of the way from view and the plant is looking well bare but don’t worry those leaves will be back in no time to harvest and if you do let the flowers grow the bees love them.

As for our comfrey brewery, ours is kept well out of the way of smelling distance of humans and has at most times a lid on it. We use an old 80’s Boots fermenting container (remember those Boots wine/beer making kits?), a good old housebrick and a little bit of water. What goes in is the leaves and stalks and add nettles, Green alkanet and borage to give it an extra kick. We wait till the liquid is well dark and very carefully strain the liquid (you get any of it on your clothes and you’ll forever be smelling it.) It’s good stuff and a nice thing to pass on to felllow gardening friends but make sure the container it’s in don’t leak or you’ll never be hearing from them again!

X-Raydio on Channel 292

Tune into X-Raydio tomorrow at 2200 UTC (2300 U.K. time) on Channel 292 on 3955 kHz for a show features a piece on Bone Music by Stephen Coates from The Real Tuesday Weld and also a couple of flexi discs mixes.
The first is at 31.55 mins in from Shane Quentin of The Garden of Earthly Delights and at 46 mins one by One Deck Pete called We Love You Lyntone. Tune into Channel 292 here if you haven’t a shortwave radio for something a bit different!

Behind the screen please

Tune into X-Raydio tonight on WRMI at 2200 utc (2300 U.K. time) on 9395 kHz for a bit of an ultrasonic treat.
The show features a piece on Bone Music by Stephen Coates from The Real Tuesday Weld and a flexi disc mix by Shane Quentin. Thanks a million to Stephen and Shane for contributing to the show.
So this evening, slip into one of those light hospital gowns, tie up the back (or is it the front?) and tune into something a little bit different on the shortwaves.

The reggae gardening connection

It was nice to be out and about this afternoon after the last couple of years of isolation. Today’s treat was a bus trip to Deptford for the Lewisham Soundsystem Trail. Rather than roam about the various events going on, most of the afternoon was spent in The Albany’s back garden with Dennis Bovell and friends (including the great Gladdy Wax, Dub Vendor All Stars, Pappa Face and Gaffa Blue). Some great tunes, good vibes and sunshine with a community garden as a background. There were some great ideas on show including carrots in plastic dustbins, ingenious stuff.

Things are on fire so to speak  in our garden too, the risk we took with the early planting of the seed potatoes has paid off. There’s flowers a go-go and it’s not even June yet. Now we’ll be waiting for the foliage to die down for some fresher than fresh new potatoes.

And as for those foxgloves, they’re on a triffid-like tip and we’re not going to complain.

And we’re not complaining about this tune either, it’s a nice chilled Sunday evening affair  from Arutani called Wasting Time. Tune in and really drop out to a tune with a Laut & Luise connection.

It’s the little things in life

We took a walk in the garden this morning to check on everything especially stuff that was undercover in old jam jars and home made cloches as it’s been quite cold the last couple of nights. By the way if you ever need a last frost estimator you can check here but it’s only a guide. We do it the old fashioned way and check the weather forecast.

On the inspection we saw that the Egyptian Walking Onions were bursting into life and it looks like there’s a start of some topsets forming (above).

And these (above) are the first of the Mashua that has come up too which we got from the seed swap a few weeks ago. These Nasturtium type plants have edible tubers if you get the right conditions which we’ll doubt we’ll have in SE23 but who knows, stranger things have happened.

More stuff up our street

A couple of local events happening soon which are well up our street so to speak. The first is the Open Day at Farmstead Road Community Garden which features a Seed Swap amongst other stuff. It’s on Saturday 12th March 2022 from 10-1pm at Farmstead Road Community Garden SE6 3EH.

And at Glengall Wharf Gardens SE16 6NF is a “playful, practical interactive workshop on Permaculture ethics and principles” which sounds good to us! It’s on various dates and more info is here. They’ve other good courses on there as well so have a look at what’s on offer here. As we keep saying, roll on spring!

Out there on a Wednesday night

It’s looks like the cold weather is about to hit SE23 tonight, minus 4 or what? We suggest whacking the heating up and chilling out with the mix below recommended to us by our good friend Marc B.

It’s a very tripped out hour from Biscuit (Good Morning Tapes) for the Twin Womb radio show on Noods Radio (Bristol) from December last year. God knows what you’d call it but once you immerse yourself into it it’s serious stuff. One for the headphones crew!

More on Good Morning Tapes here and on Noods Radio (who have a plethora of great shows) here.

Seed swap alert, seed swap alert!

We’ve just found out about the Incredible Edible Lambeth Seed Swap and AGM at the Garden Museum, 5 Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1 7LB on Saturday 12th February 2022 from 12 noon – 3 pm. The cost is by donation and looks like to be a great event. As it says on the Eventbrite page “Meet up with fellow gardeners, share seeds, tips, stories and connect with the community” sounds good with us! Tickets available here.

Have you news of any other garden related events for 2022, if so send us them in the comments with an email and details with location, date and price.

And while we’re on the subject of seeds…