Thanks to Mike & Julia (Wonderful pictures as always Julia) for sending some updated pictures from their garden near Coventry at the weekend. As Mike said “It’s actually sunny today. Not sure how long it will last though!” We are with you on that. Thanks to plantnet.org we’ve got some Michaelmas daisies and some dahlias. Lovely stuff!
Seen on our travels the other day around Clerkenwell, a bonkers-style bird nesting box made from an old builder’s boot. Wonder does the steel toecap keep in the heat at night? And do you reckon that there’s a camera in the heel part to document the future bird resident’s progress?
A big thanks to whoever it was (it may have been Penny Golightly) who told us the best way (and the cheap as chips way) to grow those expensive culinary delights called pea shoots, is to get the seeds from those packs of dried peas that have the salt tablets in them. Discard the seed tablet and then sow away. Above are a few we sowed a couple of weeks ago, get those scissors out!
Also, we are confused as what is the best way of preserving chillies as we are having a glut of them (a nice glut to have by the way) here. As you recall we have tried the “hang them out to dry” method but we’ve been told about the freezing method, which we are trying. Any other good ideas for preserving chillies?
We managed a few hours in the garden this afternoon and it was nice to be able to spend some time out there. We picked our beef tomatoes (above) from the polytunnel, and a couple of hours later a sauce was made (then later frozen) with a couple of chillies added to give it some heat.
In the tunnel we gave the workbench a bit of a wipe down, as we’re a bit paranoid that diseases and the like can spread quickly so we always check there isn’t a build-up of water on the plates below the plant pots, cut off anything that looks dead or damaged and also check any that we may have missed out while watering. The tunnel is starting to fill up now as we’re bringing in anything that could be damaged by the frosts (in a few weeks’ time?) and starting off some vegetables including parsnips, carrots and some onions and garlic in large tubs.
We also stuck some onion bulbs outside (above) after clearing an area in the side bed and made sure to put down protection from any birds and squirrels who fancy nicking them.
And we just seen on Facebook that Bez has just got himself a polytunnel, good stuff. That’s a nice sized one!
The other month we got this great multi-coloured Bolivian Rainbow Chilli Pepper plant from Herne Hill Market that is now housed in the polytunnel and seems to love it in there so much as we are now getting more great purple flowers. Great stuff!
We’ve just finished a new mix for an up-and-coming Imaginary Stations related project and found this lovely bit of Electronica from Classical Mechanics called Porphyry off the “Sealand” LP on Bandcamp and you know we anything Guy Maunsell related! More on Sealand (AKA Fort Roughs or Rough Towers) here and here.
And one that got away. Thanks to DJ Frederick for spotting this cracking version of The Horse on the GRC site after we chose another classic from a collection on there. Drum solo!
And as Fred pointed out, The Horse by Cliff Nobles & Co was an important tune on Radio Veronica (we just read it was the signature tune for their popular travelling mobile disco, the Veronica Drive-In Show). There’s always a radio connection and it certainly connects us all! Have a good Sunday all.
This afternoon we cleared an area (which once housed a greenhouse many moons ago) in preparation for a polytunnel which will arrive sometime this week. Thanks to Alan C who gave us some great advice about purchasing one, as we didn’t know much about what was on offer out there.
We weren’t the only ones that were excited today, there were a Blackbird and a Robin who swooped down a few times even when we walked a little way away, we must’ve disturbed some food in the area or someting.
Thanks to Debby H for sending us this great “geese crossing” road sign from her locality in north London. “The geese used to live by the pond in North London Business Park. That area has been (and is still being) redeveloped. We don’t know if the pond is still there, or if the contract work has frightened the geese away. We haven’t seen them lately.”
“When we first moved here, the geese would cross the road to go to a grassed area, then cross back again later, to go back to their pond in the business park. There would be a small procession of them crossing the road, and the cars would all stop for them. They didn’t hurry either!”
Brilliant stuff Debby!
Here’s a very chilled 6.04 minutes by High Skies called The Shipping Forecast off an LP called Fluidities by Jonathan Hughes with guests. An excellent ambient track with a nautical theme.
And talking about nautical themes, here’s a photograph of the sea from Herne Bay taken yesterday evening. Zoom in with a magnifying glass and you’ll see from left to right, a very tiny Red Sands Sea Fort, a container ship passing through the wind farm and next to that an even smaller Shivering Sands Sea Fort.
If you remember, Red Sands Sea Fort was where the classic Dangerman Not So Jolly Roger episode was filmed in 1996. Pictures from the show above and below, and the whole episode is up online here. The picture below features the very large (250 ft) Medium Wave antenna of Radio 390 that was still in operation on the fort.
And here’s a version of a important tune that featured in the show. For more on the actual tunes played on the show, have a look here.
Here’s a book we discovered again in the Weeds gardening bookcase (above). It’s a wonderful book, interviewing gardeners and asking them that one big question “Why do you garden?” All sorts of mad stuff in here from a man who mows grass for the council to commercial rhubarb growers in Yorkshire who grow it under candlelight (below).
We’re asking you the same question. “Why do you garden?” Answers on a postcard or to one deck pete (at) gee male dot com.
