Category Archives: Jobs to do

Who would have thought it, in January too!

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We had no idea that the weather would be so nice today, the north of the UK have had power cuts and storms galore yet the sun was out in SE23.

We took advantage and cut down the dead wood on some rosemary, thyme, oregano and some mint in pots (the only way to grow mint unless you want to plant to take over your garden). Above is an example of some other dead wood in the sun.

We also moved some dormant plants about and gave them a little watering in. There’s a forecast of rain tomorrow but we had a nice “red sky at night” so we’re a bit confused. Not sure if we’ll be able to get out tomorrow but it was nice while it lasted today. Roll on the spring!

We are not going to complain

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We’ve just heard from our good friend Rich R in the Lake District about the weather tomorrow morning up there and it looks like it’s around minus 4. We will not complain about the supposed cold weather here in SE23!

Rich has just come back from a trip to Scotland around Oban and sent us some brilliant pictures from his highland adventure. The above makes of us think of what Mars would be like if it had water. Wonderful looking place.

And the above photographs too look like a special place even though we wouldn’t want to be doing any skinnydipping in the water there at this time of year. We’ve saved a great one until last, a majestic looking sheep from Kerrera. Wonderful stuff Rich and thanks again!

Scotland pics © Rich R 2024

Gathering a beat for a cold thursday morning

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Cheers to Gerry Hectic for sending this over, a track with nice vibes for a cold Thursday morning here in SE23. It’s Leaf Erickson with The Gathering (featuring John Robinson, D Strong & Wildelux). Great stuff Gerry!

Psst wanna know a secret?

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We’re away for a few days not far from Eastbourne and very close to Beachy Head, which of course was used as the cover location of Throbbing Gristle’s 20 Jazz Funk Greats and the red and white striped lighthouse below there featured as Schnipps’ rocket that was to be launched against London in The Prisoner (“The Girl Who Was Death” episode.)

The last few days we’ve been wandering to Beachy Head using different routes on the South Down’s way, getting to know the shoreline and just enjoying the chilled vibes and good weather. Rain is sadly forecast for tomorrow.

On every walk this week we’ve bumped into a friendly older man with a tooth missing, in walking boots, carrying a rucksack either sitting on the many benches there having a rest or just passing by on his way to some place.

Today it came as no surprise we bumped into him again, this time idling about on a coastal route. We bid him good day and smiled to ourselves that we crossed paths again and he asked us “Do you want to know a secret?” ”Yes” of course we replied!

He then spent ten minutes telling us that the undulations in the earth below us were filled in trenches from the First World War. Then he chatted about Ancient Tumuli now hidden on a nearby golf course. An Ordinance survey map was pulled from his rucksack to be added as evidence and lots of local knowledge were imparted within the short meeting.

We at Weeds love meeting these characters on holiday and a fun filled conversation would be guaranteed if a couple of pints were shared with them. The alternatives so far in the pubs have been barflies talking very loudly about their luxury 5 star holidays to Dubai or their jury service experiences “I 100% knew he was guilty but the judge obviously didn’t”.

We here prefer people who spill local secrets on hilltop footpaths. Here’s to the great characters you meet when you’re away from home!

What a difference four days make

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It doesn’t take long, just a few days of dryness to ruin what you have in your garden. Our good friend Gerry Hectic came back the other week from Gilles Peterson‘s We Out Here festival and his tomato/strawberry experiment in one of those strawberry pots was looking the worse for wear. It is totally sad to see the before (above) and after (below).

Please tell us there’s a happy ending Gerry!

And to change up the vibes on this sad event here’s a wonderful number from Cyril Diaz Et Son Orchestre with Feeling Happy. May this tune lift spirits and sad dry plants everywhere.

 

And the boss don’t mind sometimes if you act the fool

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Early this morning we walked past the Brockley Best Hand Car Wash and saw a chap (the owner of said car wash) watering his prize tomatoes, corn and aubergines with a hosepipe on the bit of land on the corner. What was mad was when we were walking past 20 minutes later he was still there happily watering away.

We spoke to the chap who was a lovely bloke and he said “Everyone can have a patch like mine, isn’t yours like this?” pointing to the vegetable bed. I think the Weeds garden would be like that if we watered it with the same amount he used on them but we’re too afraid of Thames Water. Talking of which, we’d hate to see his water bill!

Keep them peeled!

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To paraphase the man like Shaw Taylor on Police Five, “Keep ’em peeled”. In this day and age people chuck out stuff with a view to someone else using it, “recycling” is what they call it. From old vacuum cleaners to 1990’s inkjet printers, people are leaving stuff out on garden walls, skips and next to rubbish bins everywhere for other people to take advantage of (if you can find the right inner bag and plug socket for the vacuum cleaner or suss out that major fault with the printer).

You can be lucky though, like we were the other day. On our daily excercise stroll we saw a few Iceland bags full of neatly pruned Irises with lovely cleaned roots that looked like they had been washed. Of course we took a bag, and why not?

A lovely space in our garden was made for them by pulling up some lemon balm by the tree that has other Irises beside them and then given a good water. Not bad for free eh? Meanwhile we have a multimeter with testing leads on the printer and still can’t find the fault. Stick to gardening freebies!

You say zuchinni, we also say courgette

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It’s going absolutely crazy in the vegetable patch at Justin Patrick Moore‘s back yard in Cincinnati. Our good friend from across the pond and author of the fine book The Radio Phonics Laboratory (out now from the Peckham based Velocity Press here) has sent us some pictures of his vegetable plot. Look at the monster zuchinni plants (above) and the present harvest (below).

And as for the green beans and the corn (and the current harvest in the fridge) look at the below. It’s funny as our zuchinni (AKA courgette or baby marrow over here) and green beans didn’t get past germination stage or if they did, the “no holds barred” Forest Hill slugs had them.

Usually with zuchinni/courgettes we have a glut and there’s only so much you can do with them. There are ways around that glut though, we’ve tried this chocolate courgette cake here and here’s a great idea from Justin’s wife Audrey.

An open sandwich called Yvonne.
Put sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini, and spinach, black olives if you like them, seasoned with garlic, pepper, basil and melted swiss cheese on top that you ladle over toasted bread. Add a splash of soy sauce to your taste. Sounds great for those zuchinni gluts and your own gut too.

And (above) look at this for a self-seeding/volunteer zuchinni in his garden too! What went on with our seedlings I wonder and usually our normal plants don’t even get as big as this.

And as for a tune, Justin picked this one from Tim Curry funnily enough called The zucchini song. Cheers again for the pics and recipe idea Justin and here’s more on his great book here:

The plant swap that keeps on giving

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Last year we swapped a comfrey plant and got in exchange some chilli peppers, one being the apache variety (above). Last autumn we remembered what our friend DJ Phil Harmony from Berlin once said, that chillies are perenials as in they’ll keep going if they’re kept out of the frost/winter.

And below is the plant this year that’s kept on the kitchen windowsill. Do bring them in over the winter, they won’t look they are doing much but they’ll reward you again and again! Look at the amount of chillies we have on it and warning, apache is a hot one!

Bargains, bargains, bargains!

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We’re always up for a bargain here at Weeds and a few weeks ago we found this great looking geranium (above) on the plant stall in a local summer sale in a church hall in Hither Green. The stall was sandwiched between a retailer of hand-made baby clothes and a vendor of grape juice from that famous grape growing region called New Cross. The geranium cost us the whopping sum of a fiver but we were happy with that as it really has come on a treat. Strange flowers as well.

This weekend we were at a local park for their annual festival. Earlier in the morning someone mentioned in reply to the horrible weather forecast for the day that “they” could be wrong, “I mean remember Michael Fish got it wrong in 1987?”, sadly “they” weren’t. It turned out to be a right washout but the sun did come out an hour before the festival was meant to close but by then it was far too late, sadly.

There was a upside to the downbeat day though when we obtained some 4 small tomato plants for £2.50 from a stall ran by the local allotment society which we didn’t notice until right at the end. Pic above: you can see the plants are pretty small in relation to the big tomato plant at the rear and the chilli pepper next to it and it is July now but you never know what may happen especially with this strange weather we’ve been having.

The comfrey liquid will be applied, a few prayers said and we’ll see. Let’s raise a glass of grape juice (preferably New Cross Nouveau) for more bargains!