Category Archives: Jazz Gardening

Woop-woop! That’s the sound of da fleece!

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fleeceI popped into Shannon’s yesterday and grabbed a big roll of horticultural fleece for around £6, which will come in well handy over the next few weeks. Some of my tomato plants were started off well early (there’s even a couple with flowers on them!) so after a couple of weeks in the mini-plastic greenhouse I’ve recently put them outside. On the nights I now cover them over with fleece. If you want to do it cheaper you can always use old net curtains or as Joe said, some sheets of newspaper draped over the plants.

I was listening to a recent Gardening with Tim & Joe on BBC Leed’s and Mr Maiden was saying even though some shops have tomato plants for sale, it still doesn’t mean that it’s safe to stick them outside as there still could be a frost for a good few weeks yet. And also chatting at Shannon’s yesterday I was told it’s not just frost you need protection from but also damage from cold winds and rain.

I also treated myself to a couple of Courgette plants as the seeds I sown haven’t amounted to much. You really don’t need more than a couple of courgette plants as you’ll be overwhelmed with the bloody things come autumn!Courgette_2

There’s a box on my doorstep (what I’m a gonna do?)

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Box on the doorstepA big thanks to the mystery person who left this excellent champagne box on my doorstep early this morning. It’s exactly like the one mentioned on the blog many moons ago here and it’ll make a great planter just like the last one. Please own up as it’s a top gift!

Grow wild seeds

Today I also received my free packet of seeds from BBC Countryfile. Guess what planter they’ll be sown in? Big up John Craven, champagne boxes and people who leave great gifts on your doorstep! Thank you!

They’re under starters orders

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I’ve got a collection of leggy tomato plants waiting to go in the garden until after the risk of frost has gone, like I have every year. After starting them off on the kitchen windowsill a couple of months ago, I put them in the plastic mini-greenhouse outside with the front open during the day to harden them off. This weekend I stuck one of them under the terrarium outside and also sowed  a mixture of seeds beside it. There’s onions and garlic on their way in the bed behind and in the raised bed furthest away have seed potatoes under a good deal of earthed up soil. Seed bed of the weekThe bed at the bottom of the garden which I was going to keep veg-free this year has now a row of leek seedlings which I sowed indoors on xmas eve last year and a couple of courgette seeds which went in over the weekend under jam jars for extra protection. The rest is a mixture of flowers, a purple sprouting broccoli gone to flower, rocket and strawberries. It won’t be long now until “they’re off” and we can’t wait!back bed of the week

There’s a duck in my fishpond (what I’m a gonna do?)

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We’ve got a small pond at the bottom of the garden and as there’s no electricity supply down there, there’s no pump, so the quality of the water can be something to be desired at the best of times but there are a few goldfish in there (bought years ago from lewisham’s “premier” pet shop) and they don’t seem to mind.

Yesterday around lunchtime looking out of the kitchen window, I saw our cat frantically fly down the garden path towards the pond where I was sure I saw something bobbing about on the top of the water. On closer inspection it turns out it was a duck, how mad is that? Duck Rock_3I originally thought to shoo it out as I reckoned it would probably half-inch the fish that’s in there but as the picture (below) shows it weren’t bothered, but rather preferred their food which was floating on the top of the pond.

The cat wasn’t too keen on it being in the garden but the duck didn’t seem to care, as at one point went to sleep with his neck resting on his back in the middle of the pond while our feline friend was on the side, fuming!duck rock_1The duck stayed in there for over two hours before flying off in the direction of Catford to the relief of our cat who for a long while later, stood guard at the side of the water waiting for it’s return.

I tell you what, the water looked a great deal cleaner after the duck’s departure. Big up the South London duck!Duckrock_2

Rocksteady fridge magnet of the week

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Rocksteady partyToday I popped into an excellent exhibition in Soho after our friend Izzy in Whitstable heard it advertised on BBC Radio London last week and thought it might be up my street. It certainly was!

The exhibition is called ‘Record shops of Soho from 1946 to 1996′ and is at 2 Berwick St, London W1F ODR until the 20th April and open from 10 am to 7pm each day. The exhibition is a joint venture from Museum of Soho and The British Record Shop Archive.elton johnI was chatting to Leon from The British Record Shop Archive and it turned out I had met him when he had a record stall in Camberwell Market years ago. I recalled to him that the time I met him, he mentioned that he had in his collection, a great flyer to a “Rocksteady Party” from the late 60’s in Brockley he had found in a record sleeve.

In a remarkable coincidence this afternoon, he had on his person a copy of the flyer made into a fridge magnet (Main image). And what a magnet!  Love the tea stain too, well authentic!

He also told me that someone he knew actually popped to the address a couple of years ago to see if Stella was still there, to ask about the party and the reggae scene in South East London. Sadly the owners knew nothing of a Stella. Does anyone out there know Stella and who Chang’s Rocksteady Sound was?

So if you fancy seeing Soho record shop paraphernalia from yesteryear and vinyl related gear we at weeds implore you to go to the exhibition before it’s too late. Well worth it!

For how much longer do we tolerate no gardening

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seed tray businessThe other morning I had a look at our good friend Scarlett’s great blog Heavenly Healer and was reading about her seeds now coming up (including cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and aubergines) and it’s nice to see someone else on the “twirly” tip!

I’ve started off some seeds in the back room in a cheap plastic propagator and they’re coming on slowly. Also every year I’ve a few leggy tomato plants sitting on the kitchen windowsill waiting to go out once the risk of frost has gone and this year is no different!Kitchen plantingThere’s one egg box of potatoes still chitting away merrily in the back room. Spring please come soon so we can do some gardening!chitting march 2015

It came from Shannon’s

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EremurusThanks very much to the good folks at Shannon’s for getting back to us about  the unknown bulb in the last post and for sending us a picture. It turns out it’s Eremurus aka foxtail lilly or desert candle. Matthew Wilson mentioned in a piece in The Telegraph from 2003 (here) that “The plant grows away quickly, forming a rosette of blueish-green leaves up to 4ft high, from which the flower spike begins to rise during late April. By late May the spike will have risen as high as 9ft high, more typically 7ft or so, topped with densely packed buds that gradually relax into flower.”  It’s definitely one mad plant and one that’s well worth £7.99!

DayofthetriffidsThanks again to all at Shannon’s and I will be sending pictures when it’s in bloom, great stuff!