The foxtail lily is looking a bit twisted, but you would be if you’ve been imprisoned inside a cloche/terrarium for the past few weeks but it’s off now and hopefully we’ll see some action and some untwistedness.
Also behind it are those mini cloches we found in the street here which are protection for some tomato seedlings we’ve put out very early as an experiment. You never know what this weather will bring!
It was a lovely sunny (Good) Friday yesterday so it was all hands on deck in the Weeds garden. The seed spuds from Shannon’s have now been put in. The great Joe Maiden used to say Good Friday was traditionally the day for planting your potatoes but Marie Thunn (who knew a bit about gardening as well) didn’t think yesterday was the best day according to the 2019 edition of her book (below).
Using a tip passed onto us by an old gardening friend we put some ripped up leaves of comfrey in the hole first before putting the seed spuds in which is supposedly good for helping them on their way.
Talking about knitbone (another name for comfrey as is bruisewort) we started a new batch of comfrey liquid in a lovely 1980’s Boots fermenting bin (above top). Don’t it look great?
To the handfuls of leaves and a small amount of water we added some borage and nettles for good measure and finally a brick to weigh it all down with. Now all we have to do is let the rotting (and ponging) begin! It may niff a bit it’s a damn good feed, cheap and easy to make! More on the David “Don’t call me Dave” Blaine-type-magic of comfrey here. #keepitcomfrey!
And after a good day’s work in the garden it was nice to unwind with some well downtempo business below, an aural equivalent of a Radox* bath. * Other bath salts are available as they say.
We send a big shout to Dr Strangedub and DJ Baby Swiss for playing the new tune “This Frequency” from Jazz’min Tutum & Madtone at 56.55 minutes in (here) on this week’s Echo Chamber on KFAI. It’s a show worth tuning into if you like the reggae, dub and chilled side of life!
A big thanks to Andy ‘Madhatter’ Holmes and Pete Haigh from Funkology on BBC Radio Lancashire’s On The Wire for alerting us to this early Philly tune from Ruth McFadden. And what a tune!
We’re expecting some cold conditions this weekend in London town (with a possible low of 1 degree) so the cloches and covers are still in place in the garden. The terrarium found in the street many moons ago is nearly being lifted off by the foxtail lily growing inside it (post from February here). We don’t want to take it off yet just in case. Look closely and you can even see the flower stem ready to reach up to the sky, and it’s not even Easter yet!
Now here’s a mad tune for a Friday night, very New York 80’s sounding, think New Order, Jah Wobble and ESG. This is one big tune! It’s off the Poli-Ritmo E.P. (available here) by Internal N.Y. Rhythms on Optimo Music and a belter it is, tribal with some added dubwise goodness! One for blaring out loud while hunting down that horticultural fleece!
Dub for a cold Thursday night from the great Gregory Morris and if the weather forecast is to be believed, a cold weekend too. Where’s the spring gone? Answers on a postcard please (as John Peel used to say)…
We’ve just heard from an old workmate, Fran Sandham who has done a fair few things since we parted company at the workplace many moons ago. One being trekking across Africa on his todd, writing a very entertaining book about it “Traversa: A Solo Walk Across Africa” (half of the way through at the moment and it’s excellent stuff), owned a donkey and a mule for a short period of time (not many people can say that) and worked what looks like a miracle on his garden in the Wirral. Most of the work was done by himself but as he says “I could have done with the Time Team to dig it all up.”
We love a before and after pic here at Weeds but the “before” pics sent to us by Fran made us think “blimmin’ ‘eck” and a few more choice words too! I know Weeds HQ was in a bad way when we moved in with its mummified underpants, handfuls of lurid coloured plastic clothes pegs and knackered pushbikes lurking in the undergrowth (a reminder here) but that’s nowt compared to what Fran must have experienced looking at the pictures here.
If you look at the “After” pics below you’ll agree with us here how much hard work went into the restoration of the garden as it originally would have been (in a 1930’s Art Deco style). He described the work involved as “one of the labours of Hercules.” It looks brilliant but I can imagine there were a few wheelbarrows worth of rubbish have been moved and a few skips involved. Fran we salute you!
Big shout to our good mate Ciarán over in Vancouver for sending us more pics of his chilli seedlings (see previous post here) and they’re looking even better than they were last month! As he told us “We’ve just had one of the driest and warmest March’s ever. We had loads of days in 20’s and they were loving it.” We are well jealous here as it’s cloudy and grey outside this morning and looking at the BBC Weather for SE23 it’s saying “Light rain showers and a gentle breeze”. Damn! Great Chilli pics by the way Ciarán!
We welcome all gardening related pics here, just drop us a line at onedeckpete(at)gmail.com
Wow! It clocked nearly 19 degrees here in London today and what a pleasure it was to be back out in the garden! The newly transplanted silver birch (originally found in a carrier bag in the street two years ago post here) is now surrounded by a circle of broad bean seedings (masterpiece green). Cleverly inspired companion planting or just plain daftness?
Weeds were taken out and beds tidied up with a hoe. The grass was cut, some seeds were sowed: a row of white borage and some night scented stock. Whether they’ll take as you never know what the weather will bring over the next few weeks but it’s worth a chance.
Thanks to our good friend Nancy B for recommending the lovely clematis montana to go against the grey fence (this fine specimen was bought from Shannon’s last year) which is now making a bit of a growth spurt complete with flower buds! There was plenty of splashing around of comfrey liquid around all of the garden too so all of the plants could get a spring feed before the gardening season properly kicks off.
And indoors there’s a few varieties of tomato seedlings on the kitchen windowsill suprisingly not as leggy as they’ll usually be if we’d have sowed them at xmas which is customarily for us here at Weeds. Here’s hoping they grow up strong!
The big question is though, will the sun be out tomorrow? And do remember to adjust those clocks tonight.
So spring has finally arrived! It’s now time to scrape the mould off those gardening gloves and that inch of dust from your kneeling pad. When you’re next out in the garden dangle a speaker out of the back window and play some tunes as we all know music and plants go well together.
The first recommendation is for all who love a certain brassica from Helsinki-based composer Jukio Kallio featuring some tinkling on the old Joanna. This’ll get those broad bean seeds a germinating!
The next is a lovely piece called Garden Dub for the tripped out gardener in us all from Pale Rider, a solo project featuring one half of the Nashville/New York dub duo Phase Selector Sound. Lovely stuff! Leave the top window open in the greenhouse so the treble can escape and float around the neighbourhood.
Weeds up to me knees 