A message from Kyiv (November 2025)

Posted on November 27, 2025 by onedeckpete

(Main pic above: “I saw a romantic potato in the store”. Great stuff Wlad!)

The other month we heard from Wlad in Kyiv (here), where he shared some pictures from his friend Sergiy, who has been growing an impressive collection of plants on his balcony—everything started from seeds of whatever he eats, the last time it was photographs of his avocado plant. We’ve got more this month!

The avocados (above) that featured the other month are growing really well with strong stems, big leaves, and looks like they have no intention of slowing down. On top of that, he experimented with the seeds from a pitaya he bought and they’ve started to germinate (below). We had to look up what a pitaya was as we never heard of it before, it’s also known as the strawberry pear or dragon fruit. More on growing those here. Good luck with those, Sergiy!

And to add to those bits of tropical delight, he also decided to try growing pineapples (below).

It’s hard enough as it is to grow stuff like that anyway but at the moment in Kyviv electricity and heating have been unreliable again, so he improvised: he built a small stove on the balcony and added a new battery-powered lamp.

And that is some bulb!

And if you love a bit of circuitry as we do, here’s what’s inside it:

Now that’s what it’s all about, being inventive and making use of what you you can get your hands on. Great stuff Sergiy! Thanks again to Wlad for sending us the pictures, it’s appreciated. Keep safe the both of you, and do send us more updates.

Starting from scratch in Adelaide

Posted on November 23, 2025 by onedeckpete

A big thanks go out to our old friend Chris D (who we went to see The Clash in Bury St Edmunds with many moons ago here) who now resides in Adelaide, Australia for getting in touch. He’s got a new house and has been busy transforming the solid clay and weeds that were there beforehand into a smart looking garden (above and below).

It’s still only early days yet and things will progress but it’s looking brilliant. The two pics below were at post weed eradication stage. What started as rock-hard clay in summer and sticky, mud that sticks to your boots in the winter is now turning into something special. We know what you mean about that clay soil Chris!

He did a lot of the work himself but got a bit of help in where he needed things building, pavements laying and gravel being put down. We love the idea of the raised beds (with decent compost in it) which’ll give the plants a fighting chance in the tough conditions out there what with the snakes (!) and rabbits combined with the searing sun.

He’s already watched blackbirds helping themselves to his strawberries he told us. It’s annoying but in a way it’s a sign that things are growing. We reckon it’s out with the old strawberry nets or put those old CDs on string which’ll move in the breeze that’ll hopefully deter them.

Alongside strawberries, he’s managed to get a great range of things growing already: herbs, carrots, beetroot, strawberries, raspberries, capsicum, beans, peas, cucumber, chilli, spinach, tomatoes, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, lettuce, tangelos, kaffir limes, Tahitian limes, mandarin, nectarines, pear, apricot, and even honeydew melons. Wow, that’s a load of stuff.

We’d love to see how the garden progresses so do keep us updated Chris and send us some pictures of how things get on. That hard work has really paid off we reckon and there’s some nice ideas in the garden as well. We love that container below by the way. Cheers again Chris and good luck with everything.

He sent us a couple of tune recommendations. First The Wiggles covering Tame Impala.

And a bit of a classic from the production talents of Mikey Dread with Parrot Jungle.

And Fat Freddy’s Drop with Blackbird.

A couple for a sunday

Posted on November 16, 2025 by onedeckpete

Here’s something a little out there: a dubbed-out, globe-spanning tune from Free Soul School with Red Dragon. Ideal for those grey Sunday mornings when you’re not quite sure if the garden is calling or if the weather has other plans (clearing out the shed, perhaps?)

And a nice piece from Scientist & Dubiterian called Jah Light Dub from an LP called A Tribute to Augustus Pablo. Lovely stuff!

A cosmos a month before christmas

Posted on November 15, 2025 by onedeckpete

A big thanks to our good friend Rich R up in the Lake District for sending over the photograph of his cosmos (and a shout to Debby H too, as the seeds came from her plants). Rich writes, “Really cold here today, wind chill feels like 2°C. With hard frosts and snow on the way, I thought I’d better send you this pic of the cosmos before it’s too late.”

Brilliant stuff, Rich – thanks again (and to Debby H) for sharing!

We have (an Egyptian) lift off

Posted on November 9, 2025 by onedeckpete

It’s been just 8 days since we received some egyptian/walking onion bulblets and as soon as we got them, we put them in a pot as directed and stuck it on the packed kitchen windowsill. We ordered our bulblets from Real Seeds, and although we only paid for one, they kindly included a few extras—just in case. We noticed yesterday two had germinated and there may even be more to come! Great value by the way as they cost £3.29 for one. We’ll keep you posted.

And here’s a realy wonderful track to accompany those onions bulblets.

Cosmos and reggae make Saturday night alright

Posted on November 8, 2025 by onedeckpete

Big thanks to Debby H for sending us a great picture today (above) of possibly the last cosmos of the year in her garden. She said, “If the weather brightens up later on, I will go out and deadhead them, then maybe they will keep on flowering.” Great stuff! We hope they do keep flowering.

Now we love the cosmos, we can’t stop seeing them about. Here’s one spotted on our early morning travels in SE23 this week, they’re a bit blurred but you’ll get the gist.

And a few doors down we saw a nice raised (vegetable) bed with some trellis used as a squirrel, pigeon and general pest deterrent, what a clever idea.

And from gardening we move onto the subject of music which goes hand in hand here on Weeds. We heard Skinshape x Horus – N’Téro (feat. Modou Toure) on last week’s Ross Allen NTS show here and it’s a lovely slice of reggae! Catchy as anything too.

Here’s a nice bit of dub called Order Dub for a Saturday night off the Self-Titled EP from Nadia McAnuff & The Ligerians from SoulNurse Records out of Tours, France from the golden year of 2022. It’s a subtle bit of mixing but lots going on if that makes sense.

And we just found by pure chance now on Bandcamp a do over of a version of Dennis Walks‘ Heat Don’t Leap by the one and only Gregory Isaacs called Gone is the Love from a good few years ago. Great tune!

And funny enough there was a few cuts of the original “Heart Don’t Leap” and more great tunes on On The Wire the other week. Listen in here!

Do you reckon the weather will hold out for gardening tomorrow? It was perfect here this morning and afternoon. Fingers crossed!

Strange seeds and funky things

Posted on November 1, 2025 by onedeckpete

This week we bought some seeds from the great Real Seeds. They offer a fantastic selection of unusual varieties, from chillies and herbs to edible flowers. The last time we ordered from them was a couple of years ago, back when we were still getting used to growing with peat-free compost and lost quite a few seedlings but we’re trying again. We ordered some walking onion bulblets and seeds of lemon drop hot citrus pepper, prairie fire mini-bush chilli pepper, Korean mint and marvel of Peru (AKA the four o’clock plant).

As per sowing instructions for the walking onions, we opened the packet and stuck the bulblets in a pot of compost straight away. Technically, you only buy one bulblet but they generously include extras in case of poor germination, we received four! Along with every order, they send clear growing and seed-saving instructions, and even recipes where relevant. Real Seeds really has its heart in the right place. Their passion for sustainable growing and seed saving makes them well worth supporting so have a butcher’s here.

While browsing their site, we spotted a recommendation for the excellent Grow Your Own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom. We managed to pick up a second-hand copy this week for under a fiver and it’s an absolute bargain!

Comprehensive ain’t the word, this book covers it all: tools and equipment, choosing and preparing your growing site, composting, soil structure, seed sowing and planting, clever space-saving ideas, and even a full vegetable directory packed with growing tips and advice. It’s one of those books you’ll keep going back to time and again for reference and well worth getting your hands on.

Have a great weekend and hope you can get out and do a bit in the garden!

Autumn colours in north London

Posted on October 28, 2025 by onedeckpete

Thanks to Debby H up in north London for this picture above. “The garden plants may be coming to an end for this year, but I think the colours are lovely in the sunshine. Here’s a picture of my golden rod and peony plants, with the french lavender in the middle.” That bed looks great and there’s still a good bit of colour on show.

Let’s see weather permitting, if we can still get some pics from our gardens to stick on the blog well into the autumn, pictures please. Great stuff Debby!

Rose thorns as gramophone needles. Isn’t it?

Posted on October 23, 2025 by onedeckpete

Thanks a million to the one and only Rhythm Doctor for playing One Deck Pete’s “Put a sock in it” mix (originally for Imaginary Station’s KTAB) 11.30 mins in on his “Mojo” It’s a mix up of some fine funk, jazzy stuff, latin, soul, ska and whathaveyou. More on the show here.

Tracklistings:
Jimmy James – Come to me Softly
Off a Jamaican 7″ single on WIRL from 1962 from the man Jimmy James as in Jimmy James and the Vagabonds “I’ll go where the music takes me” fame.

Kouta Katsutaro – Asu ha otachika
Off the wonderful set simply entitled “Kouta Katsutaro” on Death Is Not The End’s Bandcamp (here).

King Stitt/Tommy Mc Cook – Sauvitt
As sampled by One Deck & Popular on “Son of Stitt” (here) and a version of Mongo Santamaria‘s Suavito (here).

Alick Nkhata – Kalindawalo Ni Mfumu
This track is something else! A sort of Rock n Roll stomper, with some lovely harmonies and some horns courtesy of a Coventry Salvation Army brass band sound-alike and someone tinkling those ivories very skillfuly towards the end. It don’t get much better than this. On an LP called Radio Lusaka off the mighty Mississippi Records Bandcamp here.

Marty Robinson – Follow you
From a very battered Coxsone Dodd white 7″ blank and later released on his Port-O-Jam label. M (Martell/Marty) Robinson may have lived in the Coventry/Birmingham area for a bit too. More about the artist here.

Towards the end of the growing season

Posted on October 15, 2025 by onedeckpete

Cheers to Mike & Julia from near Coventry for sharing a towards the end of season photographic report (fantastic pictures as ever Julia!) This is going to be a two parter as there’s so much good stuff been sent. Their comsos are looking fine (above and below).

Their garden doesn’t half look fine even at this time of year. We thought our garden was looking beyond repair but last weekend with a bit of a lawn cut and a trim and pulling out of the tomato plants and some dead heading it didn’t look too bad in the end but nowhere as great as these pictures.

We also love what we think is an echeveria (below) as those angular flowers look great and also those aster flowers (lower below).

Next part will include some dahlias amongst some other things. Keep them coming Mike & Julia and thanks again!

Weeds up to me knees

Madtone, gardening and life

Category Archives: Music connects us all