Category Archives: Jobs to do

Rising to the top in a cosmos style

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It’s near enough November and the cosmos (we assume they’re cosmos but we can’t remember where they came from as we didn’t sow any cosmos seed unless they were part of a beebomb or a wild flower mix) is throwing out some beautiful flowers and there’s a few buds still left to open. Let’s hope the cold weather and frosts holds off.Talking of weather, we’ve had a good few inches (feet even?) of rain over the last few weeks so the pond is near enough full to the brim (above). Who would have thought it looking at the pond at the start of this year below (before we relined it here).

And just to let you know This is a Music Show 138 is up on the cloud…

How we learned to stop worrying and love the bin

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When we first moved in we didn’t really know that much about composting and stuck everything into the classic wooden compost bin like large twigs, sticks and evergreen prunings. No wonder years later they still hadn’t rotted down. We filled that wooden bin right up and also had a pile of cuttings and prunings that we piled up at the bottom of the garden and covered with a tarpaulin (below) for some strange reason.

We considered either burying it, having a monster of a bombfire (the neighbours would have loved that and so would’ve the fire brigade) or paying someone to take it away or hire a skip. None of those ideas were followed up as we had a brainwave: Why not get one of those brown refuse bins and fill it to the brim and within weeks the stuff will soon disappear. I mean they now cost £80 a year from the council but imagine how much it would cost if you had to get a skip or pay someone with a van to take it up the dump?

Now that brown bin has been a godsend with material that we can’t stick in the compost bin and every week we love filling it to the brim. We cut our branches as small as possible (except any Pyracantha as that’s a killer to break down), we jump up and down on the contents and also leave the top open and leave it in the sun so it can dry out and then load it with more.

Got any good tips on how to put the most in your weekly brown bin without having that lid open when the garden refuse people come and collect it? Do send them as we’ll use them don’t you worry!

This post was written with the latest This is a music show (137) on in the background. There’s some great stuff as per (including this lovely Jamaican Ballad above from Joe White and Chuck backed by Baba Brooks and His Recording Band) so if you love music via shortwave radio you’ll love TIAMS! Big up Daz Man for posting up the show and to Your Host for doing it.

Scaring crows (and parakeets, squirrels, pigeons etc.)

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Stevyn from Iron Feather Journal was the first one to suggest us getting a scarecrow and now we’re seriously considering it. Here’s our favourite local one at One Tree Hill Allotments. Very scarey indeed! It’s those hands in the pockets and the WW2 metal helmet that does it for us.

It has been rumoured that on a full moon it walks down to Honor Oak Park train station for a wander on the platforms looking for a chocolate machine. Send us your favourite scarecrow pics (No pictures of Jon Pertwee please) and we’ll post them up.

The death of a cob

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We’ve just come back from a visit from Shannon’s today and this is the first thing that greeted us when we came back. We’re now thinking of starting up in nature photography and jacking in this gardening lark what with our brushes with nature this weekend.

We are even really considering a scarecrow (as suggested by Stevyn of Iron Feather Journal fanzine) as there was a cat sleeping possibly 3 metres away which didn’t deter the pesky squirrel consuming one of the many corn cobs that had formed on our plants we purchased from Shannon’ early this year. There’s two cobs left and they’ve been taken off. The really hot pepper plant beside it hasn’t been touched, we wonder why?

And on a good note here’s what we bought in Shannon’s earlier this morning, some Garlic bulbs and Shallots to overwinter, even though we didn’t have much luck with them last year. We will do as we always do, try again! Gardening eh why do we do it?

Blame Jimi Hendrix or Humphrey Bogart for these!

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Growing giant sunflowers come with various different problems. You have to stake them up to stop them snapping in the wind, keep the slugs and snails off them and there’s also the pigeons and squirrels to contend with. Now the Peckham parakeets are onto them.

It’s not the best photo as it had to be taken clandestinely but there’s at least three birds on the nearest sunflower the one with the multiple heads and one perched on the one furthest away (which hasn’t any flowers) on lookout duty.

It’s funny as when these birds appeared the pigeons and squirels were nowhere to be seen, the same as the cats. You just can’t win! More on those pesky parkeets and the origins of where they may have come from here.

Sunflowers, snails, slugs and squirrels

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The weather has been a bit changeable of late to say the least. Some of the sunflowers have been attacked by snails, slugs or squirrels but there are some that have out outmaneuvered them like the one next to the garage (above). It’s so tall nothing can climb it without a bit of work and is a little way out from the garage roof so the squirrels can’t even reach it from on high. This one above is at least a ridiculous 10 feet or more! We’re going to try and save some seed and if anyone fancies a swap for something just as crazy we’ll be game. We go for anything labelled as “Giant” “Rare” or “Out of this world” so if you have anything to exchange, drop us a message via comments!

Another thing with this changeable weather is it is a breeding ground for slugs and these are the gits (above) we have to contend with in SE23. They’re sturdy old things and we think they’d return if we collected them all in a bag and slung them up the local park. These are not common or garden slugs these are south London slugs and they mean business!

At least the pond has been loving this present weather even though we haven’t. The fish and plants seem happy with the rising waterline and if you stand still for long enough you’ll see mini-frogs jumping about in the areas around it. Let’s hope they gang up all together and teach those damn slugs a lesson!

Tales from the heap

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The other week we cleared out some grass clippings and recent vegetation from out of the dalek compost bin and stuck it into the old fashioned “out in the elements” heap of old next to it. Up until a few days earlier the wooden frame was full of a few years worth of sticks and ivy that had never rotted down but we moved that into the local council’s garden refuse bin leaving the bottom of the dalek with a load of brandling worms chomping their way through some well rotted warm debris.

Well we looked in the “Open to the wilds of SE23” compost area today (we took off the once stylish now mouldy, bath mat cover first) and gave it a good fork over and it seems to be rotting much quicker than it was in the dalek, not sure if it’s the weather or just being outdoors but whatever it is, it’s working well (see above).

The quarter full darlek (above) is also doing well, there’s less brandling worms compared to last time we looked which means it’s on its way to maturing. Composting well is a bit of a science but it’s worth delving into (no pun intended) as your garden will thank you for it!

Madness, madness, they call it (zuchinni) madness

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Big thanks to our good friend across the pond Justin Patrick Moore for sending us this picture of a volunteer (plants that self seed) zuchinni (aka courgette) that has come up on the compost heap. They thrive in rich soil so a compost heap is ideal. To say the plant is going mad is an understatement!

We only got one plant that we got from a new seed supplier we found out about this year and it’s really suprised us as it’s so large. We only sowed two, one got eaten by slugs and snails and this one has gone barmy, taking over the garden path. Only a couple of fruits so far and one of them was one of those forgotten ones which grew to a fair old size!

Looking at Justin’s site here we were reminded of this tune below and a great episode of  Wireless Nights (Megahertz) from a while ago available to download here. An interesting listen if you like all that shortwave radio business! Cheers Justin!