Category Archives: From our guest contributor

Trees and pears in north London

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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.

Harvest time in a Skybird Radio International style

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Cheers to our good friend in Cincinnati, Justin Patrick Moore for the pictures of his harvest from the other day, some brilliant eggplants (aubergines) there and is that a small cucumber? Brilliant stuff Justin.

And from Spike from Morschen43 in Le Puy-en-Velay some great Haricot Beurre (butter beans) which he said “has a nice taste and are delicious with tomatoes” and talking of tomatoes, here’s his first Black Crimea beefsteak (below)

And below a Beefheart (also known as Coeur de Bœuf or oxheart tomato). Wow they look great! Cheers for sending them on Spike as they look great.

And talking of the great captain himself:

 

Referencing Manuel Göttsching

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An excellent rework/re-referencing by Alex Kassian of the excellent E2-E4 by Manuel Göttsching with the Mad Professor’s Qantas Crazy remix heard on the excellent Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room show the other week on IDA Radio here.

Tune into IDA Radio in Tallinn here every Monday from 9am for an great show featuring ambient, dub, reggae, funk, house and whathaveyou from The Rhythm Doctor.

We do love Sueño Latino of course but we also love the original version by Manuel Göttsching over two sides of an LP!

Road sign of the week

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Thanks to Debby H for sending us this great “geese crossing” road sign from her locality in north London. “The geese used to live by the pond in North London Business Park. That area has been (and is still being) redeveloped. We don’t know if the pond is still there, or if the contract work has frightened the geese away. We haven’t seen them lately.”

“When we first moved here, the geese would cross the road to go to a grassed area, then cross back again later, to go back to their pond in the business park. There would be a small procession of them crossing the road, and the cars would all stop for them. They didn’t hurry either!”

Brilliant stuff Debby!

Cosmos from north to south

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Thanks to Adrienne for sharing these photos of her Cosmos that is looking very pretty. This was grown from seed passed on from our gardening friend in north London Debby H. This is what gardening is all about, sharing and passing stuff on! Cheers again Adrienne.

Anyone want any tomatoes?

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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

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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

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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

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We don’t usually look back in time but by chance we saw this earlier, which originally was posted on Weeds on July 10th 2016. Have a read/listen. Thanks again to Steve Barker for sending us this at the time!

Socialism train

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!

Commuter stress in a Lake District style

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Cheers to Rich in the Lake District for sending us this the other day and wrote “This got me pondering the problems people encounter when trying to get to work on time.” He added “You get used to that sort of congestion up here. We even knew the shepherds!“ Brilliant Rich, we love the photograph!