The best veg is yet to come (vertically)

Posted on June 25, 2014 by onedeckpete

Bessie Banks – Don’t You Worry Baby The Best Is Yet To Come

What a tune! Heard on this week’s episode of “the gardening show like no other” The Dirt on Radio Fab International (22nd June on listen again.) Some great stuff on there this week as per including Mark Ridsdill Smith of the excellent Vertical Veg who picked this track and who is big into growing food in containers.

Mark mentioned some great tips like using those black plastic buckets that get chucked outside Florist’s as containers to grow in, he advocates wormeries (big up the brandling worm!) and says on his website, “there is no reason why most of our fresh salads, herbs, fruit and vegetables cannot be grown on our streets, window sills, balconies and back yards.” Too right! Have a look at his website as it’s great stuff. Who needs a blimmin’ garden!

Dub like shower

Posted on June 23, 2014 by onedeckpete

Sizzla – Rain Showers (Bronx Dogs Dub Mix)

A nice super-fast Sizzla remix from many moons ago by Bronx Dogs (personally, I play the dub at 33 and pitch it up) but still a tune! Lovely speeded up tubby “squawky” high pass filterisms in the mix too. Sounds fast the first time you hear it, but after a few plays it makes sense!The tune does sum up tonight well though, I’d just finished watering the garden and low and behold the heavens opened! Here’s a pic mid-shower (above.) Not too much colour in the back at the moment just shades of green but it won’t be long until that starts changing. Notice the fence has now been completely painted, that didn’t take too long to finish did it? Only 2 years!

I’ve also stuck in an old photo (below) of what the garden was like when we moved in six years ago. Talk about nervous breakdown material, bonkers was not the word!

Below: An old sink, the plastic greenhouse back in business after the £10 replacement cover (Ta Penny Golightly for sparking the idea!), a sunflower, tomato and a dahlia in some reused ready mix cement tubs and just in shot, one of those blue mushroom trays. Give it up for the (multi-purpose) plastic mushroom tray!

Sizzla – Rain Showers (Bronx Dogs Vocal Mix)

Olla, olla, olla. Oi, oi oi!

Posted on June 22, 2014 by onedeckpete

A shout to Mihaly at Dig This Nursery for telling me about this mad watering device. An Olla used in the garden is a terracotta vessel buried in the ground for keeping plants well irrigated without wasting water. More info on the humble Olla here. Pics taken from the Oyana website who produce them.

They’ve got some Ollas in the window boxes on The Hobgoblin next door to the nursery with some well healthy looking plants in them and Mihaly told me that they haven’t been watered for a couple of weeks. No idea how much they cost but it’s an ingenious idea. Invented by the chinese many moons ago I was told!

Marvin Gaye – Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) – Tamla Motown

****Update****

I’ve just had an email from Guillermo from Oyana:
“The Ollas I am producing now will all have glazed tops. The reason for this is because they lose even less water as the water doesn’t evaporate through the neck. Also, they won’t have any stains of fungi or mould growing which may happen if not glazed.”

“Dig this Nursery prices of glazed top ollas are: £9 for small and £15 for the big one and It will be London’s first stockist.”

Brilliant stuff! Thanks for getting in touch!

Shabba on a pushbike, OK*

Posted on June 21, 2014 by onedeckpete

*Sung to Crass’ “Banned from the Roxy”

A big shout to our old friend Ben M for getting in touch with a pic of some nice bike rack-style recycling using one of those plastic mushroom trays mentioned in the “Left out for the binmen, OK” post last month. The bike is carrying some healthy plants on their way to his well tidy allotment in Leyton (below). I wish my garden was as weed free as that! Clever use of a plastic tray, ta Ben. Please send us your pics showing your usage of a mushroom plastic tray to onedeckpete (at) gmail (dot) com

Shabba Ranks – Big Time – Greatest Creation rhythm

A tomato called shabba

Posted on June 20, 2014 by onedeckpete

I found out the other day there was a tomato with the great name of Reggae Roma (aka the humble italian plum tomato that you get in tins in the supermarket.) I mean with a name like that, we had to grow one here! There was only one place that would know about getting them and that’s Dig This Nursery in New Cross (a garden centre, an organic food shop with a second-hand record shop in the back, what more do you want!) It’s my nearest tomato specialist and has over 90 odd varieties of tomatoes! Yes, 90+ varieties!

Tonight I popped in after work and a big thanks goes to Mihaly for sorting us out with a couple of roma plants. He’s one person who knows a thing or two about tomatoes if anyone does and knows a bit about growing them (some info here.)

The plants will be put in the ground first thing in the morning, in a hole filled with with a couple of ripped up comfrey leaves and then well watered to give the roots a healthy start.

We love the name here (it’s supposedly because the hanging fruits look like dreadlocks, huh?), what next, a cabbage named “trap”, a strain of dub-step carrots and a variety of onions that are “balearic”? Get on one matey!

DJ Algoriddim – Leaving Rome Version Excursion

(Early) spud we like

Posted on June 19, 2014 by onedeckpete

Here’s the first harvest of the spuds I planted “well early” under that terrarium thing I found in the street last year. As far as I can remember, these were “Swift” and the seed potatoes were from Shannons, chitted in an old egg box, planted under protection and tonight served with some Salmon. It’s good this gardening lark innit? Don’t worry that tinge of green (green spuds are not good!) on the little one in the left hand corner was cut off before eating!

Early B – History of Jamaica – Moa Anbessa

Can you hear me Major Tom?

Posted on June 19, 2014 by onedeckpete

Major Lazer (ft. Amber of the Dirty Projectors) – Get Free

A lovely old tune played to death by the Rt Hon David Rodigan. A bit of the chilled to the gills tunage rather than the usual “mad as” Major Lazer gear but bonkers in it’s own way! Dedicated to the International Space Station that was supposed to be visible in London tonight for the last time until a few weeks time. Did I see it? No.

Strike while the iron’s hot

Posted on June 14, 2014 by onedeckpete

Cornell Campbell – The Gorgon – Hot Stuff

Earlier today I watched a brilliant film about the great Bunny “Striker” Lee, “I am the Gorgan” at the BFI by Diggory Kenrick, I won’t say too much as it’ll give the game away but it’s possibly one of the best reggae history films I’ve seen. Some good clips, great animation and spot on with the facts!

Later on in the short Q&A session upstairs at the BFI, DJ Tony Williams who used to present the reggae show on BBC Radio London confirmed that it was a great representation of reggae history of the 1960’s/70’s. It even featured a gardening related piece, a Lime tree in Bunny Lee’s yard which grew like billy-ho once his mum named it “Bunny” after her son. Perhaps we should all start naming our plants and then watch them grow!

A couple of times in the film it featured a clip of Daddy U-Roy live on King Tubby’s Hometown Hi-Fi from early 1975. The quality is something to be desired but it’s quality all the same. Downloadable here.

Before the Bunny Lee feature there were a couple of films from Molly Dineen, one a short, a tribute to Sugar Lincoln Minott and the next, an excellent film from 1981 called Sound Business featuring Lloydie Coxone (who produced “caught you in a lie” and of the Coxsone sound system) and the Young Lion Sound from South London. It was a corker and a historical document of those times. It featured a dance in Brixton Town Hall where if it happened today, jobsworth council health and safety officials (with clipboards) would have closed it down within seconds. A piece of UK reggae history!

Dirt wears white sox

Posted on June 13, 2014 by onedeckpete

Thanks to Simon Diamond of The Dirt, “a gardening show like no other” on Radio Fab International from the city of Manchester for sending us this. It’s a top 5 of tunes his guests have requested on the programme.

1. Can You Dig It? – Rap Battle (Gardener Vs Slug.) Requested by Dan Woods from ‘Can You Dig It?’ They’re South London musical comedians in an allotment themed stylee and have been on Garden’s Question Time too! Soundcloud the tune here.

2. Oddysey – Going Back To My Roots. (The original by Lamont Dozier above.) Requested by Manchester’s gardener-in-residence, Sean Harkin. The National Trust have hired him to inject some new life into the city’s green spaces and to give inspiration to people to ‘grow their own’. How good is that! I bet he isn’t nipping off early on a Friday afternoon or spending most of his working day leaning on a hoe chatting to passers-by like in my old council gardening days.

3. Jimmie Rodgers – Honeycomb. Requested by urban bee-keeper, John Mouncey. He attends to the hives on the roof of Manchester’s Art Gallery with another beekeeper fantastically called John Peel.

4. Fela Kuti – Water No Get Enemy. Requested (repeatedly!) by Paul Exall from MORFF E.M. Technology. Morff promote bokashi, natural farming and cleaning up pollution on Manchester’s waterways.

5. Rt Hon Bob Marley – Get up, Stand up. As requested by Mary Clear from Incredible Edible Todmordon. A community growers group who campaign for local food. Good on you!

Tune into The Dirt on a Sunday 6.00 – 8.00pm on Radio Fab International here.

A taste of things to come

Posted on June 12, 2014 by onedeckpete

Matumbi – Man Sized Rocker (Instrumental) – Matumbi Music Corp

A couple of good things to look forward to if you’re down the big smoke over the next few weeks. The great Dennis “Blackbeard” Bovell will be playing some tunes upstairs at The Ritzy Cinema, Brixton for nothing (how good is that!) as part of David Katz’ Dub Me Always on Wednesday 9th July. More details here at their Facebook page.

Before then as part of James Lavelle’s Meltdown on Sunday 22nd June there’s a free event down the Southbank called “Sunday Come Down” featuring Don Letts (Not Monty Don), James Lavelle and other top stuff as the day goes on. Let’s hope the weather keeps up. Here’s the line up cribbed from here. I’m sure it’ll change but it gives you clue what to expect.
12 noon – 1.30pm Don Letts
1.30pm – 2.30pm James Lavelle
2.30pm – 3pm Voicelab
3pm – 3.30pm JP Duncan
3.30pm – 4.15pm Jeremy Deller Acid Brass
4.15pm – 5.45pm Horsemeat Disco
5.45pm – 6.45pm James Priestley (Secretsundaze)
6.45pm – 7.15pm James Lavelle

Johnny Clarke – Hold on/King Tubby’s – The Baddest Version – Attack

This Saturday coming (June 14th) there’s a special screening of the Bunny Lee Film “I am the Gorgon” at the BFI, Southbank plus after a Q and A session with the director Diggory Kenrick and the narrator of the film and the legend that is Dennis Alcapone. There’s still a couple of tickets left for £6.50 here. I’m going and if I get a chance I’ll ask Dennis if he’s into gardening!

Weeds up to me knees

Madtone, gardening and life

Category Archives: Jazz Gardening