Category Archives: From our guest contributor

The cosmos are still flowering (at this time of year)

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We heard from Rich in the Lake District who has just came back from a break in the highlands of Scotland and sent us a couple of pictures below. Some fine stuff there Rich, thanks for the photos.

Earlier this year we sent him some cosmos seeds thanks to Debby H. The plants went into the front garden and have been doing well (top picture). The big question he asked is “We’ve been staring at those cosmos plants which are really thriving and have large blooms. Is that normal for Nov 1st?” We don’t think it is Rich but it’s brilliant to see them doing well up there and still at this time of year too!

Flowers may be on their way

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Great news from Debby H in North London. It looks like her strelitzia (bird of paradise plant) may be going to flower! We’ve just looked online and it mentioned that, “Indoor flowering is rare in the UK and usually requires a mature plant (at least 5 years old) kept in high-light, warm conditions. Great stuff Debby, let us know how things progress.

Meanwhile up in the lakes

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A big thanks to Rich in the Lake District who took the above picture at 7.46 am this morning and as he said, “I would assume that the shepherds were suitably panicked.” Yes we couldn’t agree with you more. He told us “We had 9cm rain yesterday and the wind speed on Skiddaw was recorded at more than 100mph. I’m staying indoors!”

We’ve just been in the polytunnel thinking it was a good idea to do some tidying up while the wind was rattling around us, never again!

Gardening is a collaboration

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Cheers to our good mate Gerry Hectic for letting us know about Gardener’s World Episode 29 where as he says, “Never thought we’d get electronic music on Gardener’s World – about 30 mins in…” “Join Jason Singh for an unusual journey through the garden, exploring the hidden sounds of plants.” The episode is available here.

It really is bonkers stuff as Jason uses a biofeedback device to come up with some ambient soundscapes by hooking up plants to a laptop. Tune in above and below for some top biosonification business.

 

And we love this tune. Thanks again Gerry and wonderful stuff Jason, it’s well up our street!

 

More from up in the Lakes

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Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for another two great pictures. He took these from a couple of walks he’s been on recently, taking advantage of some good weather. He even managed to see a couple of Deer on his travels. Great stuff Rich and it looks lovely up there!

A Sunday afternoon dub discovery

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Cheers to The Rhythm Doctor for letting us know about a great LP called David Rodigan’s Dubwise Shower on BBE bandcamp here. There’s some classic stuff on there including the above horns cut of Delroy Wilson‘s “Have some mercy” that we haven’t heard before.

Also a version of Gregory Isaacs’ “Walk right in” by Sylvan Morris & Andy’s All Stars.

 

And talking of said tune and thanks to Steve Barker playing it on On The Wire a while ago, here’s some Banjo Dub!

Keep watching those northern skies

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Cheers to Rich up in the Lake District for sending us some pics taken above his house when trying to capture the latest aurora activity up there. He may not have caught the northern lights but the milky way counts as some heavy stuff. Lovely pictures Rich!

He was telling us that last week was wet and windy in the week. I wonder if we’ll be getting some of that weather down here this week?

And a couple of skyward related tunes for you.

Views from France and north London

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Thanks to Debby H from north London who has just come back from Fréjus in the south of France. Before she left she took a couple of photographs from there. The first (above) is the sky at dusk, looks wonderful Debby! Red sky at night and all that…) and a cork oak tree (below), as she said “There’s loads of them around Fréjus where we go. Apparently they were the original source of cork, at least for Europe.” We didn’t know that and Wikipedia reckons they are the source of the core of cricket balls too.

She went onto say “Since we returned, the zephyranthes bulbs have given us one last flower of the year” (below).

“We have brought indoors our ornithogalum plant as it’s now getting too cold for it to be outside at night. We only got one flower from it this year but last year we had loads.” (below).

“Each spring we prune our indoor geraniums, let the cut-off parts root in water and then plant them outside. We generally get a good display, and they are still going strong now. A photo is attached. This also shows our sedum in flower” (below).
Great stuff Debby and good to hear from you, do keep us updated on how things progress. Thanks again!

A view from a garden in the Midlands

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Thanks to Mike & Julia (Wonderful pictures as always Julia) for sending some updated pictures from their garden near Coventry at the weekend. As Mike said “It’s actually sunny today. Not sure how long it will last though!” We are with you on that. Thanks to plantnet.org we’ve got some Michaelmas daisies and some dahlias. Lovely stuff!

Dubwise and otherwise

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Big shout to our radio collaborator Jesse Yuen, for sending us last month’s and the month’s before Dubwise and Otherwise show this morning. Both shows are well worth listening to for some genuine Sunday morning chilled vibes.

The show is broadcast once a month on Radio Cazimi, an online community radio station based in Walyalup/Fremantle, Western Australia. (Walyalup is located at the mouth of the Swan River and of course Jesse’s other show was called North of The River Swan!)

We’re half-way through the Springtones show at the moment and it is cracking! We were scratching our head’s thinking “Where do we know the intro from?” and it’s The Aloof with Never get out of the boat, a tune we only had in our hands last night while rearranging our records.

We’ll check out the Soundcloud link in a couple of days for yesterday’s great show. Cheers Jesse!