Category Archives: Jazz Gardening

A sunday in seedy sydenham

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Love sensation I’ve just come back from the Potato Fair and Seedy Sunday at Sydenham Girls School and it was great! It was £2 to get in, all seed potatoes were 15p each and I spent just under a tenner. For that, I got 3 Raspberry canes (£4.50), 10 tubers of Orla earlies and 10 Sarpo Mira (£3) and a bag of 10 Daffodil bulbs (£1.50).

The atmosphere was well friendly and there was free advice galore too. I learnt a great tip from Colin from Thompson & Morgan who told me his grandad used to say you can plant potatoes in the ground if you can put your whole hand into the soil and leave it in there comfortably for ten seconds. That would prove that the soil is warm enough, brilliant!

As for the swapping it’s a great idea. Just bring what you have and exchange for what they have on offer. I swapped five packets of veg seeds (Kale, Cauliflower and the like) and got in return Baby Leek, Borage, Chamomile, Foxglove and Scabiosa. Excellent! There was a girl there who had two A4 typed out sheets worth of seeds to swap, all of them painstakingly put in tiny packets in her bag, how great is that?

More details about your local Potato Fair and Seed Swap from http://www.potatoday.org/potatodays.htm

A seedy sunday in sydenham

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The London Charity Potato Fair and Seed Exchange
Sunday 27th January 2013
11.00am-3.00pm
Sydenham School
Dartmouth Road
Forest Hill
London SE26 4RD

A last minute news flash about a seed swap event a stones throw from the weeds up to me knees HQ tomorrow. It looks a great day out and I’ll definitely be wandering up there if the weathers okay and I have a spare tenner in me pocket.

As it says about the event on the web:
At all these events in addition to a huge range of seed potatoes, there will be our Heritage and Heirloom seeds, onion sets, shallots and garlic bulbs, fruit trees, soft fruit and other edible plants such as rhubarb and asparagus.

If you’re up there I’ll be the one trying to do deals with the stallholders with bags of small change and old washers!

A council workers dream come true

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westminster council moment 1.13 (lo)There isn’t going to be much gardening done today, I tell you! Thank god the worms are in the garage and I’m warm in the house. If I was working on the parks for the council today, the kettle would be on, a topic for the all-day discussion chosen and a family pack of povvy digestives purchased for the long day of non-work inside the confides of a park keepers hut (10ftx10ft)!

This is the only gardening that is going to done here today, the leggy Coriander and Basil seedlings on the kitchen windowsill:

the only gardening done today (lo) 1-13And our mate Nigel Slater’s favourite, Lemon Thyme purchased for a quid or so off ebay a few weeks ago (Terracotta pot and saucer optional. Bought from the local garden centre for around around about £1.50):

Lemon thyme on window lo)Big up the council work ethic of yesteryear!

I’m too cold, I’m too cold, I’m too cold

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The above features versions of Keith Hudson’s Hot Stuff (and boy do we need something hot!)

I couldn’t believe it, the sun came out last Sunday so I moved the wormery (a bucket I found in the street perched upon an old xmas tree container which catches any liquid) into the garage as the forthcoming cold months outside won’t do the worms much good. I’ll pop in on a weekly basis and top up with kitchen peelings, tea bags etc and see if they are still okay. There was a good bit of liquid in the bottom bucket which I’ve drained off and will use as a great plant feed this summer comng. All for nothing by just keeping your kitchen waste!

The pots on the kitchen windowsill with the seeds I sowed just before xmas are coming along, the Corriander is looking a bit leggy but I’ll use the seedlings for cooking so nothings wasted, the Basil seeds did germinate but are very slow off the mark but that’s to be expected at this time of the year. Also I’m holding off a while with starting the Tomatoes indoors as last year I sowed them far too early and they were well lanky when finally put in the garden. A lesson learned, don’t be too keen!

allotment keepers handbookFor the second time now I got this great book from my library, The allotment keeper’s handbook (a down to earth guide to growing your own food) by Jane Perrone (The Guardian 2007). The first time I got it out, I renewed it to the max allowed as it was so informative, trouble is I dropped it into the bath by accident so had to return it with my head down in shame! On getting it out again a year later, it looks like someone has done the same and possibly dropped it out in the garden too! If you’re getting an allotment or thinking of starting to grow vegetables in the garden/patio at home this book is a must. It covers everything including composting, planning and preparation, heritage seeds, the magic of Comfrey and some mad tips too (starting seeds off in empty egg shells, I never thought of that one!) An informative read with some humour throw in to boot. A book not to read in the bath tho!  Have a look a Jane’s blog which is great too.

Free planter of the week

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Champagne charlieHow good is this for a posh planter-to-be? This ex-champagne box was left for the binmen outside someone’s house and it caught my eye ironically on new years eve when I was on my way to the offie!  This’ll need a good few holes drilled in the bottom for drainage, a bit of waterproofing and then it’s ready for some potting compost and away we go! Champagne charlie indeed!

Thinking outside the compost heap

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throw away the keyI found this brilliant tip last night while flicking through the magazine I bought at the market the other day. It suggests keeping your gardening tools in a fake compost bin on the allotment. How great is that? I mean whatever next, storing those important insurance policies in a hidden drawer beneath a raised bed, the spare house keys dangling on a string between the runner bean canes or keeping your passport in a plastic bag submerged in the garden pond? Excellent.

On that note, a big Happy New Year to all our gardening and music friends out there and we wish for some better weather in 2013. As I’m writing this the rain is lashing against the back window, not a great sign but we live in hope!

Super black market clash

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grow man grow!It’s great what you can pick up cheap at a market. Yesterday I had a mooch at the out of date magazine stall at Leather Lane and found a gardening one from April 2012 with a free pack of 5 varieties of brassica seeds on the front. There’s purple sprouting broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, calabrese and kale, all for the bargain price of a quid, how good is that? There’s also an article  about egyptian walking onions in it, something I’ve been thinking about trying next year. Definitely keep ’em peeled!

howling at the moon Also, today through the post I got the 2013 edition of Maria and Matthias Thun’s Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar. Big thanks to our good mate Scarlett Cannon for getting us into the old biodynamics lark. It might be bonkers but it’s costs nothing extra to try (that’s what we like!) and it’s something that hasn’t done us too badly this year even with the rubbish weather we’ve had. The latest guide has a nice piece on Maria, who passed away earlier this year at the grand old age of 89. A book worth having a butchers at (and it comes with a handy wallchart too!), available for around £7.

Finally a big thanks to everyone who has got in touch with us and had a butchers at the blog this year. A big festive greetings and best of luck in the garden for 2013 to all! 

Herbman hustling

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I tidied up the last of the autumn leaves after slipping on a wet pile of them by the front door the other day when popping out a bag into the dustbin and whacking my shin on the doorstep. When collecting leaves I use the old council workers trick of using two bits of hardboard to grab a big load and then put them into a black bin bag. Rather than chucking it in the dustbin, I’ve stuck it at the bottom of the garden and will forget about it until next year when they’ll have turned into some great leaf mould. Excellent stuff to add to your soil and all for free!

cabbage patches and allI took the netting off the pond today as most of the leaves are off the surrounding trees now and put it over the overwintering cabbages to stop those pigeons and birds from having a go at them. Notice the once big pile of prunings behind which is now a lot smaller, thanks to the incinerator! I’ve stuck a row of broad beans behind the cabbages to overwinter too.

Herby HancockLast weekend I treated myself to a few terracotta pots and saucers (about £1.50 for both from the local garden centre, Shannons) to stick on the kitchen windowsill and sowed some corriander and basil then covered them with a small plastic sarnie bag until they germinate. I also bought a lemon tyme plant off ebay for £1.99 and that’s up on there as well. Herbs, you can’t beat em!