Category Archives: Jobs to do

Sprouting spuds in the springtime

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Joe Maiden (RIP) used to say that Good Friday was the ideal time to plant potatoes. Meanwhile, Spike from Morschen43 in Le Puy-en-Velay, France, plants his around April 10th and if all goes well, they’re ready to eat by July 6–7th.

We got ours in a few weeks ago in the raised bed (and some in another bed under jam jars) with plastic covering them, and they’re already sprouting. There’s still a risk of frost though, so we’ll be putting the plastic back over them in the evenings to keep them from any cold weather or potential frost damage.

We checked http://www.lastfrostdate.co.uk above again and hopefully we should be okay, but you know what the weather will be like, it could be snowing here tomorrow and then a heatwave over the Easter weekend. We say stick your spuds in but keep an eye on the weather and if there are frosts forecast, stick some fleece, fabric or net curtains over the top! Good luck.

A heavy duty gardening report from France

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Thanks to Spike from Morschen43 for sharing photos of the back-breaking work he’s undertaken in his garden in Le Puy-en-Velay in France this week (more on his great garden here). Seeing the couch grass dandelions and the pickaxe, fork and shovel, we’re breaking into a sweat just looking at the pictures. As he told us “The most used tools used in the work were a fork and a spade”. You’ll all agree he’s done a great job to say the least after looking at the “after” pictures at the bottom of this blog post!

Cheers for keeping us updated and we’d love to see how the garden progresses throughout the year. You’ve done well this week Spike and we are never going to complain again about working hard in our garden looking at these pictures!

Influenced by Bob (sort of)

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It was funny old weather in SE23 yesterday, it started misty and kept like that for most of the day, followed by some sunshine at lunch and then by tea-time the mist had returned and it felt rather wintery.

At lunch we nipped out and did half an hour out in the back. We sowed some wildflower seeds in one of the raised beds and some veg in another and stuck some polythene on the top which we were going to throw out.

Earlier this week we saw on Facebook, Bob Flowerdew in his veg patch (that looked like the size of a normal back garden!). He was explaining that before the winter he put a load of organic material on the soil then slung some black covering over the patch. Over the winter it rotted away now leaving the beds a bit richer and weed-free rather then they would have been if he had just left them exposed.

We reckon that’s a great idea, but what would the neighbours think if half our garden was covered with a black tarpaulin (the likes of which goes over a car on bricks on a driveway). A few sheets of plastic over raised beds are enough for us. Hope all’s well in everyone’s garden and with any seeds that may be germinating! Pictures please.

Things are waking up

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It’s been lovely over here since Monday and things are starting to wake up, especially these Marvel of Peru (AKA the Four O’clock Plant) seeds that have germinated that we got from Real Seeds. It’s a bit of a mad plant, as it says on wikipedia here, “The flowers usually open from late afternoon or at dusk (namely between 4 and 8 o’clock), giving rise to one of its common names. The flowers then produce a strong, sweet fragrance throughout the night, then close in the morning. New flowers open the following day.” We will keep you posted on developments.

As for the toads in the pond, it’s looking rather hectic there!

A bit of a prune for a plum tree on a sunny afternoon

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Cheers to Spike from Morschen43, for letting us know he was out in his garden in Le Puy-en-Velay in Southern France today, giving his Quetsch plum tree a bit of a prune and for sending us some pictures.

The weather looks great over there, he was saying it was sunny and around 11 degrees C. That’s a nice extended pair of loppers in the bottom picture Spike and do keep sending us those garden updates please.

Around the world on the 45th Parallel

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Last weekend, Imaginary Stations beamed their Annual 45th Parallel Midwinter Broadcast via the ionosphere using the services of the great Shortwave Gold. From a secret shortwave laboratory in the mountains way up north, the broadcast had tracks featuring the circle of latitude, music from above, below and along the magic line, and also tunes to keep us warm during this mid-winter season thanks to DJ Frederick and Justin Patrick Moore.

And at 07.15 One Deck Pete brings us a mix called Above and Below the 45th Parallel.

Tracklistings:
Radio Lario – 30 Degrees North
Boca 45 – Forty Five
Haj i Ji – Above and below (RSD remix)
The 45 King – Armen
The Soulfulists – 4 degrees warmer

So get wrapped up, get a cup of hot cocoa in your hands and make sure you’re wearing those warm comfy slippers and enjoy this show of the highest (45 degrees) order,

Well it looked smaller on the website

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We popped to B&Q this morning to get a container for a newly aquired mimosa plant that we can’t decide where to actually put it in the garden. One in a pot may be good and can be moved around until we find the right spot. The pot was bigger than we thought!

Buses connect us all

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Here’s KBUS from last weekend, a tribute to the ‘umble autobus from Imaginary Stations. There’s all sorts of bus related tunes from DJ Frederick and Justin Patrick Moore and the show really is the ticket if you love bus travel!

The show includes at 03.49 a mix from One Deck Pete called Mind The Closing Doors and here’s the tracklistings:
Alan Doyle [f/ Steph Simon] – Confessions Of A Bus Rider
Hoovobot – No fair Bus Fare
The Salsoul Orchestra – Chicago bus stop
Lifetime Pineapple – Double bus fare

Big up the bus!

From pirate ships on the North Sea to the French countryside

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A massive thank you to Spike from Morschen43, who is located near Le Puy-en-Velay in Southern France. He sent over some snaps of his house and garden yesterday, and a nice slice of the world it is.

You might remember Spike from his track “MV Ross Revenge (For Ever!)”, a tune we love and featured in a couple of our shortwave mixes. As well as making music, he loves a bit of horticulture too!

As well as growing flowers he grows vegetables as well, and we’re loving the veg patch below. For those who know us, you know we have a soft spot for a good runner bean cane! The long row of canes and that classic wigwam structure to the left are right up our street. We’re already looking forward to seeing how the vegetable garden progresses as the seasons change (more photographs later this year please Spike!)

Spike spent yesterday giving his roses some attention. As he said, “Roses need concentration and attention for cutting.” He’s right there! When we worked for the council, many years ago, there was no love for the craft. No one cared about achieving that classic “rosebowl” effect or making sure the cut was just above an outward-facing bud. They’d just hack them all down to a uniform two feet! It’s good to hear that there are people who still care.

To go along with the photos, Spike picked out a track from his Bandcamp, a duet titled “J’Aime Les Brunes Sans Filtres”

 

Cheers for the photographs of your great house and garden, Spike! Keep those pictures coming as the garden grows as we’ll be well interested in how you get on in that great vegetable patch.

A Saturday tune

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Here’s a great tune recommended by our good mate Will Jeff who presents the great Lingua Franca show on Love Will Save The Day FM (below). He told us about the artist Land of the Loops and The Bundle Of Joy LP. It’s a great set and we picked this tune from it called Multi-Family Garage Sale (Bargain-Bin Mix) as we love a garage sale and a bargain. The bass puts in mind of a certain Peter Hook(y). Land of the Loops is an artist well worth investigating and do check out Will Jeff’s output on LWSTD-FM!