I like old Nigel Slater, he’s from the midlands, got a smart old garden and loves his herbs too. A top quote from his telly show last night that made me laugh, “I just can’t sleep if I haven’t got a freshly baked cake in the house”. Sounds like he hasn’t got much to worry about has he? (Triple dipped recession, alien invasion, global warming, bills, asteroids exploding into the earth, more bills, etc etc.)
Tweetah – Issue zero – A5 24 pages £1.50
We were very sad to hear that the excellent magazine Woofah (edited by John Eden) folded as it was a well produced and an informative reggae/dancehall/bass related read (and always well designed too!). It’s always the way isn’t it?
Last week on John’s Uncarved blog I noticed he was selling a fanzine called Tweetah. This is material that was intended for the fifth and final issue of Woofah that never materialised, bah! It’s a great little read, has an interview with David Rodigan, Carlton “Killawatt” Valley and a piece on Tony McDermott, designer of classic greensleeves album covers (Scientist, Lone Ranger etc) amongst other stuff. RIP Woofah! An excellent read for only £1.50 from http://www.uncarved.org/blog/
I heard a great thing off a mate of mine yesterday, that estate agent’s signs were all the rage on his allotment with everybody on the hunt for them. It turns out the poles that hold them up are ideal for using as wooden stakes when making raised beds and they’re a lot cheaper than shelling out cash for wood at wickes. Another use for the damn things rather than making snow shovels out of them!
Talking of making do, old tight git here recycles all his plant ties and gardening wire. I get an old jam jar, stick the plastic plant ties in them and wrap my old gardening wire around the top (it’s a dual purpose thang, innit?) I used this highly sophisticated method yesterday when taking the sweet peas off the old apple tree prunings in the back.
I am fast becoming a man with no mates with my collection of jam jams, 2×1 off-cuts and old plastic margarine tubs from around the world. “Sorry I can’t come out for a pint tonight as I have a big box of used 2BA screws and panel pins to sort out into their respective jars.” Brilliant!
If my Maria Thun biodynamic sowing and planting calendar 2012 goes AWOL I pop over to this site to see “what time it is”…
http://www.the-gardeners-calendar.co.uk/MoonPlanting.asp
Guts – brand new revolution
Here’s a lovely old tune heard on this week’s gilles peterson show from last year. A nice bit of Latin-tinged electronica that puts me in mind of a very slowed down version of the excellent “together forever” by exodus (as played by the late great larry levan) crossed with fela and freddy fresh. A great combination. Tune!
Here’s a well simple gardening tip which is so obvious but one I am very guilty of forgetting on many occasions and that is labeling your seed trays or rows of seeds when sowed outdoors. All it takes is the time to get a felt tip pen and write on a plastic seed label, simple! So why do I now have a lovely butternut squash on what I thought was a cucumber plant?
While looking through a 1960’s gardening book the other week I noticed that the chap who wrote it was photographed doing all the jobs in a lovely shirt & tie combo and sharply creased trousers. How the hell did he manage to work in all that get up?
When I was at the council there was a guy there who everybody knew as “Mr Clean”. He would always have on a crisp white shirt with a purple westminster council tie underneath his pristine council issue coach-drivers type jacket (which he’d get dry cleaned every few months!) There was a method behind his madness as when it came to working his excuse was that he couldn’t as he didn’t want to get his clothes dirty. It paid off as I never ever seen him do any. He was an expert with his custom made long-handled litter picker and could reach deep into bushes and shrubs to pick up coke cans/weeds without actually stepping on the soil, brilliant! I doubt if that sort of thing could happen today. Nice one Mr Clean!
Funnily enough last Thursday I chatted to another council gardener who was dressed unworkmanlike as well, in a lovely pink Lacoste polo shirt with the collars turned up (that isn’t going to get too dirty is it?). After watching him pull out summer bedding and perennials I asked him did they dump them like they used to do in my day at the council. I was pleased to hear they didn’t but composted all the bedding and gave away perennials including ornamental foliage plants to schools and charities. The usual practice years ago was to pull up the plants and spring bulbs and put them in brown sacks and give them to the binmen to take away but we’d give them out to keen gardeners we tipped off the day before while the gaffer weren’t looking. Waste not want not and all that!
Here’s a great tip from the folks at my local garden centre, Shannons in Forest Hill. Ten days before you wish to harvest your potatoes, cut the top growth off (leaving a little stalk so you know where the spuds are when you come to dig them up!) The plant will then put all it’s energy back into the tubers (ie. the potatoes) and give you better skins. I didn’t know that!
Dennis Brown – Say what you say (Joe Gibbs)
It’s funny, I love Dennis Brown but I’ve never heard this track before and the first time I did was only last week when I downloaded a recording of King Sturgav Hi-Fi (sound system of the great U Roy) from the late 70’s from the excellent website “who cork the dance” http://www.whocorkthedance.com/sturgav.html
The recording isn’t exactly hi-fi quality but it’s a great piece of reggae history on tape/MP3. Big up the late great D Brown! While I was writing this singing to the song on headphones, my 14 year old daughter came in very concerned and asked was I okay as I sounded “slightly high.” What, on a Thursday night on a glass of cheap Marks’ Sauvignon? I wish, It must be my bad singing!
The garden is approaching the end of the growing season so now’s the time to put those hardy veg in to “overwinter” over the cold months and utilise your space to the max. The plants will make a start now, go dormant over the winter period then perk up in the spring, giving yourself a head start on the veg front next year. Vegetables like spring cabbage, kale, spinach, broad beans, peas, even lettuce (look out for a hardy variety like “artic king” at the garden centre) can be put in now for overwintering.
Last week I sowed some broad beans, onions and garlic. You can grow onions from seed but the most convenient way is to grow from “sets”, mini onions (think pickled onions in their skins!) that’ll save you time and effort. I got a bag of about 50/60 for £3, that’s well enough for yourself with loads left over to pass onto a gardening mate or two.
I prepared the area as per, taking out weeds, stones etc and made two rows about 10″ apart. I then sowed each set 5″ apart and buried them with about a quarter of an inch of soil above the top of the set to stop the birds and squirrels from having them. Don’t use force pushing them in or you will damage the sets. All you have to do then is watch for weeds and damage due to wildlife trying to rob them off you (you could even put a net over them on their early days if you’re keen!) and wait. Do remember to stick in some sort of plant label as you might forget. I do it all the time, that’s why I have a squash plant growing up some canes like a cucumber at the moment!
I’ve also started off some garlic. These are from a bulb not unlike the ones you use in cooking. Just carefully break it up and put the cloves in the ground instead of the pot. You don’t want to use any old one from the supermarket as you don’t know what variety it is and if it’s suited to you local climate so get especially for the plot from your garden centre. With planting just carefully put them in (flat end down) with about a quarter of an inch covering over the top so the birds can’t see them and space them about six inches apart. If you’re doing them in rows keep those about 10″ apart. There you go, how easy was that?
* An Englebert Humperdinck song no less!
