Here’s a lovely old tune heard on Gilles Peterson’s show the other week. La ritournelle crossed with the andrea true connection with a bit of sade, all thrown in the compost bin in a chilled stylee. A tune to garden in the moonlight to, that’s if you have the floodlights and the fluorescent hoe.
While looking through a 1960’s gardening book the other week I noticed that the chap who wrote it was photographed doing all the jobs in a lovely shirt & tie combo and sharply creased trousers. How the hell did he manage to work in all that get up?
When I was at the council there was a guy there who everybody knew as “Mr Clean”. He would always have on a crisp white shirt with a purple westminster council tie underneath his pristine council issue coach-drivers type jacket (which he’d get dry cleaned every few months!) There was a method behind his madness as when it came to working his excuse was that he couldn’t as he didn’t want to get his clothes dirty. It paid off as I never ever seen him do any. He was an expert with his custom made long-handled litter picker and could reach deep into bushes and shrubs to pick up coke cans/weeds without actually stepping on the soil, brilliant! I doubt if that sort of thing could happen today. Nice one Mr Clean!
Funnily enough last Thursday I chatted to another council gardener who was dressed unworkmanlike as well, in a lovely pink Lacoste polo shirt with the collars turned up (that isn’t going to get too dirty is it?). After watching him pull out summer bedding and perennials I asked him did they dump them like they used to do in my day at the council. I was pleased to hear they didn’t but composted all the bedding and gave away perennials including ornamental foliage plants to schools and charities. The usual practice years ago was to pull up the plants and spring bulbs and put them in brown sacks and give them to the binmen to take away but we’d give them out to keen gardeners we tipped off the day before while the gaffer weren’t looking. Waste not want not and all that!
Here’s a great tip from the folks at my local garden centre, Shannons in Forest Hill. Ten days before you wish to harvest your potatoes, cut the top growth off (leaving a little stalk so you know where the spuds are when you come to dig them up!) The plant will then put all it’s energy back into the tubers (ie. the potatoes) and give you better skins. I didn’t know that!
Dennis Brown – Say what you say (Joe Gibbs)
It’s funny, I love Dennis Brown but I’ve never heard this track before and the first time I did was only last week when I downloaded a recording of King Sturgav Hi-Fi (sound system of the great U Roy) from the late 70’s from the excellent website “who cork the dance” http://www.whocorkthedance.com/sturgav.html
The recording isn’t exactly hi-fi quality but it’s a great piece of reggae history on tape/MP3. Big up the late great D Brown! While I was writing this singing to the song on headphones, my 14 year old daughter came in very concerned and asked was I okay as I sounded “slightly high.” What, on a Thursday night on a glass of cheap Marks’ Sauvignon? I wish, It must be my bad singing!
The garden is approaching the end of the growing season so now’s the time to put those hardy veg in to “overwinter” over the cold months and utilise your space to the max. The plants will make a start now, go dormant over the winter period then perk up in the spring, giving yourself a head start on the veg front next year. Vegetables like spring cabbage, kale, spinach, broad beans, peas, even lettuce (look out for a hardy variety like “artic king” at the garden centre) can be put in now for overwintering.
Last week I sowed some broad beans, onions and garlic. You can grow onions from seed but the most convenient way is to grow from “sets”, mini onions (think pickled onions in their skins!) that’ll save you time and effort. I got a bag of about 50/60 for £3, that’s well enough for yourself with loads left over to pass onto a gardening mate or two.
I prepared the area as per, taking out weeds, stones etc and made two rows about 10″ apart. I then sowed each set 5″ apart and buried them with about a quarter of an inch of soil above the top of the set to stop the birds and squirrels from having them. Don’t use force pushing them in or you will damage the sets. All you have to do then is watch for weeds and damage due to wildlife trying to rob them off you (you could even put a net over them on their early days if you’re keen!) and wait. Do remember to stick in some sort of plant label as you might forget. I do it all the time, that’s why I have a squash plant growing up some canes like a cucumber at the moment!
I’ve also started off some garlic. These are from a bulb not unlike the ones you use in cooking. Just carefully break it up and put the cloves in the ground instead of the pot. You don’t want to use any old one from the supermarket as you don’t know what variety it is and if it’s suited to you local climate so get especially for the plot from your garden centre. With planting just carefully put them in (flat end down) with about a quarter of an inch covering over the top so the birds can’t see them and space them about six inches apart. If you’re doing them in rows keep those about 10″ apart. There you go, how easy was that?
* An Englebert Humperdinck song no less!
http://soundcloud.com/r_co/david-mancuso-live-the-loft-nyc-shibuya-fm-09-10-2005
Here’s a great mix from David Mancuso live at the loft from 2005. Some excellent tunes (with gaps between the records too) and one to stick on while in the garden. Seven hours of excellent tunage and it’s downloadable too!
Also available on this site: http://paradox2paradox.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/david-mancuso-loft-nyc-7-hours-mix.html
Earl Brown – Get Together – Jericho
A lovely bit of Curtis Mayfield tinged Jamaican soul, tucked away on a B side to a reggae version of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne”. Produced by Herman Chin Loy at Aquarius in the early 70’s, this was found while trawling a bunch of seven inch singles in a House/Techno record shop in Brighton about five years ago. When I asked the owner did he stock second hand records, he replied “We don’t usually do second hand but I do have a box of old scratched soul and reggae I was using to sample for a house tune last week and now finished with. Are you interested?” Am I interested? Not half!
http://soundcloud.com/weedsuptomeknees/earl-brown-get-together
U Brown – Blackstarliner Version – Hit Sound
A nice simple dub of U Brown’s Blackstarliner (sic) bought nearly new in Coventry in the early eighties for a couple of quid. It’s pressed very much off-centre and there’s a lovely 1cm crack at the start but with a bit of manipulation it does play and it’s a nice tune when it does! A late seventies or early eighties version of “death in the arena” for all rhythm fans.
Who needs all that 320kps MP3 business when you have an off centre, cracked, held together with sellotape classic like this!
http://soundcloud.com/weedsuptomeknees/u-brown-version-hit-sound
Ewan and Jerry – Get on the right track (Blank) 1969 (?)
A nice slow-mo rock steady number from the late 1960’s. I honestly haven’t got a clue what second hand/charity shop this was bought from but this has been around the house for years and is in not the best of nick to say the least. The artist(s) were only recently discovered through the web as the label (and the vinyl!) is in a right old state. A great old tune smothered in scratches by Ewan and Jerry, not a household name here but a lovely old tune all the same. Any more info on this one do let us know.
http://soundcloud.com/weedsuptomeknees/ewan-and-jerry-get-on-the
Big up to our very good friend from across the pond, Doctor Strangedub for his new reggaewise gardening mix first aired on this week’s “Echo Beach” show on WLUW-FM Chicago. It’s an excellent mix of dubwise in a horticultural stylee (he’s a keen gardener as well as a music lover) featuring Prince Far I, Leroy Sibbles, Jah Wobble. Lee Perry, DubXanne (ft. Ranking Roger) amongst other great stuff and includes Madtone’s “Compost your mind”. Dr Strangedub and DJ Baby Swiss’ excellent “Echo Chamber” show is on every Wednesday morning on KFAI and archived on the KFAI Website (http://kfai.org/echochamber). Big up all dub gardeners in the (green) house! A big cheers to Dr Strangedub for including the Madtone track.
Weeds up to me knees 