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?

 

What month is it?

Today has been a nice day 8 degrees and sunny, you wouldn’t think it’s the first day of February.  Thanks to Debby H for getting in touch with a picture taken last week of a cherry tree which had already started to blossom in Southgate. The blossom is on the water sprouts at the bottom of the tree. As she said  “I never ever recall seeing cherry blossom in January before.” She’s right!
Even the Lldl bargain bulbs we bought in the autumn are starting to sprout at the moment. It certainly has been mild of late but you know what this weather is like, God only knows what’s around the corner. Here’s to good weather!

Dub on the buses

Here’s a tune for this sunny but cold Sunday. It’s from a good few years ago from Delhi 2 Dublin and it’s called Get on The Bus. The tune was found last week whilst researching a shortwave mix. It’s a wonderful tune and very dubwise.

Talking of On the buses, we’ve been alerted to a really good cafe by Waterloo Bus Garage called The Bus Cafe. We’ve never been ourselves as we’ve only found out about it but we will, you can be sure of it. It looks great, meals are cheap, you will be sharing a table with a bus driver and if you’re that way inclined you can even play a game of pool with one (winner stays on, of course). As it says on Trip Advisor “Good food and (a) nice no-frills experience”, well if that ain’t a good enough recomendation we don’t know what is. Big up all the bus driver (and conductor) lunchtime crew.

Culture – Two Sevens Clash
“I take a ride sometimesOn Pennoverland and BranxAnd sometimes I ride on bus X-82, say what?”

“The bus reference is especially important, as the album’s liner notes say that (Joseph) Hill got the idea for Two Sevens Clash while riding public transportation.”
https://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110529/ent/ent5.html

More about the Jamaica Omnibus Service (JOS) here.

 

 

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!)

(Imaginary) Radio is a (Electro) magnetic thing

Imaginary Stations takes to the internet airwaves from his Monday on Electromagnic Radio. It looks a great station with lots of great shows here.

Times are Mondays at 2pm and on a Saturday at 7pm both UK time. Tune in and enjoy the first show which is Radio Lavalamp but that’s after exploring all the other musical possibilities that are on the site. Enjoy the diverse range of musical enjoyment on Electromagnetic Radio.

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.

Mead from down under

Big shout to our good friend Paul Greenstein once of the East Dulwich parish, now of Melbourne, Australia (we last featured his Bees and their honey here) and also a Madtone musical collaborator as Audiovert. Well you may remember he mentioned they were making some Mead. Well here’s a pic of how they are getting on, flavours include rhubarb, soft fruit and orange & spices. Looks great Paul! Keep sending us those pictures!

Tunes for a Thursday

Through all of the researching of the Abedare Rockers cassette a few great gems have come to the surface like this excellent track from Debra Keese and Black Five with Travelling produced by Scratch The Upsetter. And you want the toast, here it is! Top tunes galore!

A view from the front door (January edition)

A big cheers goes out to Rich R in the Lake District for sending us a few pictures from his front door this week. And what a view! As Rich told us: “Here’s the view out front this lunchtime. A bit of context here, the distance from one end of the photo to the other is 6 miles. Imagine how many buildings London has in that space!” He ain’t wrong there. We worked out that Forest Hill to Elephant and Castle is 5 miles or so, so that is some width!

Pic below “This is looking south from the doorstep towards Keswick , 2 miles away and in the foreground.” Now there’s a great view from the front door. Cheers for sending the pics in Rich!