It’s time to sow (or is it?)

In-between the rain and sunshine yesterday, we got out into the garden and sowed some seed in the raised bed at the side with some transparent plastic tacked over the top so to create a cheap mini greenhouse. Those pallet box collars we were given a few years ago have had a good life, the polythene on the top don’t last sadly and needs replacing every year but they do work. In these “poor people’s greenhouses” we sowed some beetroot, the Lldl lettuces we purchased last year and some parsnips. Parnsips are funny anyway and need fresh seed but these seeds were bought last week so touchwood should be okay if the soil gets warm enough in there. Fingers crossed we will get some germination out there.

And speaking of germination we have had some success on the kitchen window with two  cherry tomatoes showing their tiny seed leaves. Great stuff, all we need is the rest of the windowsill seeds to kick off now.

Local seed event alert

Thanks to Ruth for getting in touch about this great event on Sunday 25th February 2024 from 1-4pm held at the AFRIL allotment of refuge at One Tree Hill Allotments SE23 3NP. It looks well interesting, there’s a bit of a seed swap, a free vegan lunch, a tour of the garden and at 2.30pm talks, a workshop and a Q&A session. It’s free and more details and tickets can be obtained here. Thanks for letting us know Ruth!

And this is a pic of a scarecrow at One Tree Allotments from a couple of years ago. We think that the coat has been changed for a yellow one now but it is still there and still creeps us out when we’re passing by. It’s those hands placed casually in the pockets that does it.

The sowing starts here

We’ve made a start on the seed sowing today. We found our propagator and its lid plus another seed tray the other day and earlier this morning popped to B&Q and got some seed sowing compost for £6 and some of those great pots that allow roots to grow through.

It’s mainly chilli peppers we’ve sown but there’s also some tomatoes too. It’s probably a tad early for the tomatoes but they mention on the chilli seed packets to start them early as possible. With all of this nice weather at this time of year we may as well take advantage of it. We’ll keep you posted when they germinate. Anyone else started yet?

 

Seems a bit milder out there…

 

This morning while putting two tea bags in the compost heap (any excuse to get out there) we noticed it was quite mild weatherwise and also spotted what we think are some giant garlic bulbs (volunteers we reckon) resprouting. That’s a good sign but we won’t speak too soon as you never know it may snow next week (we hope not though!)

Outside suprises

More cold weather is on its way but the parsley and the carrots we sowed late in the day outside are perservering. There’s also some oregano still out there hanging in despite the cold weather. What’s odd is that the pot of it inside on the kitchen windowsill isn’t doing as well. We really thought that those plants dislike the cold weather or prehaps they can tolerate them once they are on their way (until it gets to -4 as it’s supposed to tonight). Any thoughts?

Also we’ve just read about carrot tops (the green feathery leaves that grow above) are making a comeback as an edible addition to the plant. We’ve read in one of those Adam the Gardener books that you can lighty steam them and they taste like spinach supposedly. We’ve never tried them but it sounds good.

Keep this frequency clear

It was very sad to hear about Benjamin Zephaniah who passed away this morning. Thanks to Gerry Hectic for letting us know about this great tune. RIP Benjamin Zephaniah.

Council gardeners dream in dub

We had a dream last night that we were cutting the grass on a very large council estate. We were using a normal sized flymo with a very long extension lead which was plugged into one of the resident’s wall sockets with the lead trailing through their letterbox. A prophetic dream or just plain daft? Perhaps with the weather being nice today (but cold) we should get out there and tidy that back garden up before winter.

This one goes out to the leak detection team…

The micro-pond has disappeared so have the leak detection team alongside the Mole which is wrapped in a black bin bag at the back of their white van. We will miss you all and we don’t really want to be seeing you again (in the nicest way possible). Thank you LDT!

 

 

 

Morania calling, Morania calling

If you fancy something different to listen to this Sunday 24th September 2023 there’s a couple of interesting broadcasts on those shortwaves for you. At 2000 hrs UTC on 3975 & 6160 kHz via Shortwave Gold possibly the hardest station to catch on the airwaves will be making an appearance, the elusive Radio Morania. Listen in for some very interest content.
While at 2200 hrs UTC on 9395 kHz via WRMI the Imaginary Stations crew bring you the Imaginary Stations Polka Party. Expect lots of polka classics, all recorded live in front of an all singing and dancing audience in Poland. Poland, Maine that is. It will be one polka party, possibly the greatest ever polka party broadcast on shortwave!

Slug–U–Like?

“Slugs, what are they good for, absolutely nothing” as the song goes. We can’t think of a good reason for having them in the garden. We know that slugs are important as they provide food for birds, insects and all sorts and if we removed them we’d mess up the natural balance but they drive us wild here. We’re sure Bob Flowerdew or someone else reckoned they collected them and imprisoned them in a 1970’s type plastic clothes basket containing salad and garden waste and made them work all day making compost.

We at Weeds would like to redress the balance, so if you’ve heard good things about slugs (apart from providing food for wildlife) we would like to hear from you. We want to hear your tales of slugs who have saved lives, foreseen the future or have helped people to find their way back home on a foggy night. Please email onedeckpete at gmail dot com with your story (do include an address) and the winner of the best story will receive a selection of what’s left over in our seed tin. You don’t get prizes like that offered on other blogs!