Just snapped this from the top of compost bin number one. I will call this work of art “Memories of a christmas past”. A happy New Year from Weeds Up To Me Knees!
Memories of a compost past
Reply
Category Archives: Jazz Gardening
Throw mi corn
A couple of posts ago (Cloches over the Westway) I mentioned seeing The Clash at The Corn Exchange in Bury St Edmunds many moons ago. I’ve googled the venue to see if it was still there and was shocked to find out it’s now a Wetherspoon’s! I’m very glad though to see it has 5 Star food hygene and WiFi and that the interior is very posh (see below) but there are a few questions I would like to be answered. What are the quality of the Sausages included with their all-day breakfast like, has DJ Derek ever had a pint in there and is there a dress code? I am on the phone to JD Wetherspoon now…
One to watch the garden shed fly away to by…
Decadance Vs Italoconnection – On and On (Fears keep on) – Leo Mas & Fabrice Danceology Dub Mix – Disco Modernism 003
What a lovely old tune! First heard tonight while sorting a mix from soundcloud to stick on the stereo. This track is featured on a great mix from A love from outer space (Andrew Weatherall & Sean Johnson) at the Electric Elephant in 2013. An excellent tune from an very excellent mix tape. Funnily enough I’ve just picked up for a quid in the local charity shop another classic from Mr Weatherall, the Skunk Weed Skank mix of James’ Come Home , an oldie but goodie!
Top of the pile(s)
There’s not much gardening been done in good old London town this week due to the Christmas festivities/very wet weather but this morning I did rip up a few big cardboard boxes from the kid’s christmas presents (image above with brandling worms posing at the top of the pile, the vain gits!) and whacked them in the compost bin in layers in between some kitchen waste (remember to keep your pile well-balanced, man!) And the more varied stuff you put into the heap, the better quality that will come out of it and all that good compost is free (and you can never have enough of it!)
Compost bin number 1 can’t take much more now so the other darlek type one I’ve just emptied (bin number 2 which I got gratis off the council, so check if you can do the same!) will now be the one I’ll start to fill again. Talk about full circle!
While down the bottom of the garden I noticed there’s still a massive pile of cuttings/prunings that couldn’t go in the bins and that I need to get rid of, so as soon as it all dries out (some chance with this blimmin rain) I’ll be getting that incinerator back into action (cue neighbours complaining and slamming their windows shut!)
Also one last thing. I’ve got some assorted herbs on my kitchen windowsill (Basil, Lemon Balm, Coriander and the like) and it’s attracting a lot of mini-flies even in this climate. Any ideas how to keep them away?
Cloches over the Westway
I was rummaging through some boxes in the loft for some horticultural fleece the other day and found a cassette by a band called Bongo Joe featuring a cover of “Sympathy for the Devil” that I acquired many moons ago in 1983. The band featured a couple of members of St Alban’s legendary punks The Tea Set (Nick Egan and Nick Haeffner), samples of Florence Nightingale and Neville Chamberlain and backing vocals from one of Bananarama, a bonkers combination to say the least (more on the St Alban’s punk scene from that time here.) I then became misty eyed while I recalled how I think I might have obtained the tape. People who dislike punk nostalgia please look away from your screens now…
In 1978 me and a mate decided to hitch-hike to Bury St Edmunds to see local heroes The Specials supporting The Clash. I haven’t much memory about the actual gig but I do remember coming out of it with my mate and being surrounded by an angry gang of hairy bikers (not those two chefs off the telly who I’d like to think would rather give you a pork pie recipe than a good kicking.) These lot were hell-bent on inflicting some damage on us, the largest and more leather-clad one out of them all screaming at the top of his voice “You f-ing punks are dead,” nice! My 16 years of life flashed in front of me, then out of the blue a punk came to our rescue, grabbed both of us and whisked us away. The next minute we were in The Clash’s hotel room and I remember being very excited being there and seeing Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon dancing around to some mad dub coming out of their ghetto blaster (something off Joe Gibbs – Chapter 3 possibly?) I was very shocked as well (being a very naive 16 year old at the time) to see quite a few girls sitting outside in a line outside the band’s room later. Mary Whitehouse wouldn’t have been too happy about it.
After a short while in the hotel (the party being quite a tame affair by the way) we got a lift south from the punk who introduced himself as Nick Egan and told us about his band The Tea-Set, (their grafitti used to adorn a motorway bridge on the M1 around Hemel Hempstead, ever seen it?) We also found out that The Clash got their stage gear made for them by some nice little old ladies in North London, great eh? After our lift I kept in touch and I am sure it was Nick who sent it to us.
I’m now feeling very nostalgic, spiking up what hair I have around the sides like a post-punk Roger De Courcey and contemplating doing the punk kicking dance, even though I could only manage a minute or so these days! I’ve just thought wouldn’t it be great if the remaining members of The Clash (R.I.P. Joe Strummer) are now enjoying the delights of gardening in their older age…
Anyway, have a good old xmas holiday and remember it’s not long before those potatoes have to be chitted!
One scotch, one bourbon and one (special) brew
Popped out in the back garden for an hour and a bit this afternoon while the sun made a suprise appearance. I mainly tidied up and “tipped around” with a hoe (as my good mate Leo used to say at the council, and I tell you a lot of “tipping around” was done on a friday afternoon!) I also made up the levels on the raised beds with some top compost now ready from one of my bins. You always could be doing with more of the stuff when you see how good it is and there is never enough! I still haven’t perfected the recipe yet as there still a lot of unrotted eggshells and slivers of potato shoots but that isn’t much to complain about as the stuff is well rich and will do the garden well!
I also made my first batch of “One Deck special” a combination of comfrey liquid and the muddy stuff that comes out of the bottom of the wormery (essentially worm wee!) It has a dubious look and I wouldn’t advise you to smell the stuff as it’s well putrid and I’m sure mine has maggots in it too (nice!) but I’ll be feeding me plants a watered down version of it next year and I’ll let you know how I get on.
Earlier this week I found a great site called “How Jamaica conquered the world” which has some great podcasts featuring how the Island has influenced the world from sport to music and more. Click here for the list of the episodes which range from Arthur Wint (Jamaica’s first gold medalist), The fair city of Birmingham, The birth of Hip Hop, Easy All Stars, Toronto, Lover Rock and much more. Well interesting stuff from Roifield Brown delivered in a different style!
Stop stop start again
http://soundcloud.com/mr-scruff/mr-scruff-band-on-the-wall-dj
Mr Scruff – Band on the wall, Manchester – 2.11.2013
Here’s a lovely one that’s been on play again all week at the Weeds HQ, a great 5 hour mr scruff mix from earlier this month with a nice reggae interlude (from 1.03.00 featuring Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown and Al Campbell) amongst loads of other good stuff. It’s even downloadable for nowt for a limited period too! One to play full blast in the greenhouse while cleaning the mould off the windows!
The above classic is featured on it too. I only know this one through it being sampled on 80/90’tunes so it was great to hear the original, bonkers. Big up the scruffy one!
And while we’re there, here’s an extended mix of the Gregory tune Mr Scruff played, with the Christine vocal. A tune! Thank you one John Lydon for playing it on BRMB Radio in the late 1970’s for this one.
New Cross, New Cross
Yesterday I popped into Dig This Nursery which is just opposite the station in New Cross. Their record shop (spotty vinyl records) has now grown since the last time I was there, then it was just a couple of record boxes now it’s housed in a back room with lots more rows of vinyl and a nice little Reggae section and definitely worth having a look at if you are around the SE14 area (reminds me of a mini Rat Records.) A garden centre with a second-hand record shop, why hasn’t anyone thought of this concept before?
I saw an LP in there by the Calypsonian Mighty Sparrow which had a track on it called No Future, sadly not a Calypso cover of the Sex Pistol’s classic God Save the Queen but one about the evils of “hard drugs” which the lyric encourages the listener to “see a movie or take a hunting trip” instead of “taking a fix.” Cruel sports or hard drugs, I’d pass on both of them!
I was chatting to Mihaly one of the nice chaps there and he mentioned that when it came to plant feeding, they use well-rotted Horse manure. They use this method on their Tomato plants (they have an annual Tomato festival where they grow 72, yes 72 different types!) and it works like a treat. If all goes well I will be getting a bag off them in the spring to try and will do a weeds up to me knees plant trial (“this one has had the horse dung, this side hasn’t, can you see the difference?” etc). Also their seed range for kids has taken off too. Great stuff!
Everybody loves a spud
This might seem a bit previous but I’ve just found out the date of the next Potato Day & Seedy Sunday in London. Save up your seed, save up your quids and get up there!
Sunday 26th January 2014
11.00am-3.00pm
London Potato Day & Seedy Sunday
Sydenham School
Dartmouth Road
Forest Hill
London SE26 4RD
It’s a good one to break up the post-Christmas/skint at new year comedown too!
Flying tonight?
Big shout (and Happy Birthday too!) to our good friend Doctor Strangedub for telling us that the last post but one (A blast from a bonkers past) reminded him of Bedward the flying Preacher, another non flying event. For those who don’t know about Alexander Bedward the flying preacher, let Prince Fari tell you about him.
And let wikipedia tell you more!
Weeds up to me knees 