Every studio needs an oscilloscope*

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Here’s the main inspiration for our next mix “Radio fanatics of the world unite” to be aired on the next broadcast of Free Radio Skybird on March 29th at 1100 UTC on 6070 kHz in the 49 metre band. It’s a clip from a 1970’s Pirate Radio TV special featuring the legendary Radio Jackie.
There’s some brilliant footage here (no sound for the first few seconds though): the correct way to use a catapult to get an antenna up, denim a go-go, a demonstration of how not to get maximum power out of a sledgehammer, some brilliant barnets, sunglasses and clothes, fags on the go and nice walkie-talkies! We love the bit about the security of the station: “Behind every tree, under every bush, young men use walkie talkies to foil their own particular yellow peril”. Big up Radio Jackie!
*Title nicked from the Radio Jackie piece on www.amfm.org.uk

What? The sun is shining again?

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A massive thanks to all at the Thompson and Morgan gardening blog for the box of Beneficial Flower seeds containing all sorts of great stuff for bees and pollinators including cornflower, cosmos, dill, foxglove, catmint and wild poppy. After the last frost (have a look at this site here for estimated dates) we’ll be sowing them in the bed at the bottom of the garden. We’ll even mix some of the other box we got from the pound shop (nowhere as good as the T&M box but it was a quid!) the other week for added effect! Cheers again T&M, we’ll keep you posted!

Prompted by the person who said to us the other month: “Why don’t you write a blog and keep track of what you planted where and when”, yesterday we sowed a row of golden acre cabbages and a row of red salad bowl lettuce (both from the free seeds from Kitchen Garden Magazine). It may be a bit early but they are sown under glass. This bit of window was found in a skip many many moons ago and is still in use at Weeds HQ. Waste not want not!

And to celebrate the sun coming out again here’s a belter of a tune that’ll if all goes well will be getting an airing later this month on the next episode of Free Radio Skybird as part of a mix called “Radio Fanatics of the world unite”. The tune is from Yemanjo & Monarch Duo called Roma (Yemanjo remix) on Jumpsuit Records. Any record label that describes itself as a “curation project of The Polish Ambassador and his cohort of scientists, spirit animals and vibe consultants” is alright by us! May the sun shine on all day.

It’s good to get out there (while you can!)

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We don’t know what the weather has in store for us today but last Sunday it was glorious and a few gardening jobs were done! The garden pond pump was cleaned and the wires put back together again with some dry solder joints and a good bit of electrical tape after some roadent had gnawed through them last year. The pond pump now works!

The back bed was dug over again and raked to a nice tilth as we’ll be sticking some wild flower seeds down there after the frosts and give the bed some rest from the vegetable growing for a change. Even the lawn got its first cut in true council style, one cut on very high, then one a little lower.

And some palettes we were given years ago were put into use as some raised beds. All we need now is a big bag of compost to stick in them to get them to a nice height!

When the sun’s out the old enthusiasm seems to lift. Roll on the good weather!

Daddy was a garden-er, he never hurt nobody…

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If someone tells you that gardening is expensive and that you need to spend a small fortune to grow something, tell them they’re having a laugh! Today from the pound shop in Catford we procured a 20 litre bag of multi purpose compost and a box of shake ‘n sow butterfly and bee seed mix for the grand total of £2. Well worth it if you’re watching them pennies.

With the said compost we sowed some peppers we got free from Kitchen Garden Magazine and some tomatoes that were left over from last year so that didn’t cost us much either. We cut up some individual plastic seed trays we got from Shannon’s a couple of years ago, popped the seed on the top and then covered them with a light layer of compost and stuck them under a plastic propagator cover by the window in the back room. Fingers crossed we’ll see some signs of life in a couple of weeks or so.

We also stuck a couple of trays containing more tomatoes and some Kitchen Garden cabbages outside in the garden in the upside down terrarium we found in the street years ago. Let’s hope it warms up weather-wise for them!

And the last bit of sowing was done in a couple of pots on the kitchen windowsill with some basil seeds and some cut and come again lettuce which we’ll use for micro-greens. And there’s still some multi-purpose compost left for next week. Thrift, we love it here at Weeds! Who says you need money to garden.

And the soundtrack to this piece was the excellent Ross Allen show dedicated to Andrew Weatherall which is well worth listening to, click here to tune in.

Spaghetti squash in the (kitchen) area

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It’s still been a bit wet and windy here so there hasn’t be that much garden-related to write about. Apart from yesterday, when we finally put the spaghetti squash we grew on the Thompson & Morgan seed trials last year in the oven with a bit of olive oil and salt.

The squash has been sitting on the kitchen windowsill since harvesting last autumn so perhaps we should have had it when it was a bit fresher. After the 40 minutes on about 200 degrees centigrade and a ruffle with a fork this is what it looked like. As for taste, it put us in mind of sauerkraut which ain’t a bad thing in our book. Next time when we grow them we’ll eat them straight away! Well worth trying though.

And there was a massive blow to music in general last week when we heard of the passing of the great Andrew Weatherall. We’re still in shock here, but the story in Time Out here about him still being on google street view brought a smile to our sad faces. R.I.P. Andrew Weatherall.

Today’s transmission today

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Here’s something for a cold Sunday night after another weekend of non-gardening, One Deck Pete‘s “Less is more” mix off an online SDR mix which was transmitted on Free Radio Skybird via Channel 292 on 6440 kHz this afternoon.

The usual thing happened today, heightened excitement as Channel 292 was received a couple of hours before Free Radio Skybird was scheduled to be on the air, with a wonderful signal in London on a portable shortwave receiver sitting on the kitchen windowsill. Come the time of its broadcast it disappeared off the dial and it was back to listening to it on the laptop. Shortwave radio eh? The tracklists go like: Mai – Fading, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian & Seventh Soul – Dream and Blanco – El Camino.

Anyway stay safe, stay warm, turn the stereo up and keep out that bad weather!

Checking back in on Ron

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Here’s two wonderful vids about the great “Gangsta Gardener” Ron Finley which really inspired us today. It’s been a while since we’ve featured him here but if you remember Ron was fed up with the lack of fresh edibles in his neighbourhood in South LA (he had to travel some way away just to get some organic tomatoes) he planted some veg in the empty bed outside his house. Rather than being chuffed that someone cared for where they lived, the local council nicked him for “gardening without a permit” (how bonkers is that?). This spurred him onto starting food growing projects and getting people in the local community into the food growing bug. More about Ron’s great exploits at his website here. There’s a bit of eff-ing and geoff-ing in the vids but don’t let put you off from Ron’s great gardening message!

A good few years ago Ron very kindly sent us a nice gardening 5. I know it was some years ago but it’s a great selection. Have a look here.

Music to soothe the storm

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It’s been dreadful here today, the wind and rain lashed against the windows, there’s been horrible dark skies and we’ve been watching the news on the telly with stories of people who have suffered some very bad luck due to Storm Ciara. And the storm still ain’t ended yet…

https://soundcloud.com/djfrederick/free-radio-skybird-february-2020-shortwave

To soothe those storm nerves, here’s a sneak preview of Free Radio Skybird that’s scheduled to be transmitted via Channel 292 on Sunday 16th February at 1400 UTC/UK on 6070 kHz shortwave including at 42 minutes in One Deck Pete‘s “Less is more” mix. There’s some new tunes from Mai, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian & Seventh Soul and Blanco. Tune in and blank out that wind and rain!

Storm Doo-dah is on its way!

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It’s weird, we’re being warned of a mad storm on its way over to the UK. We’ve been told to batten down the hatches and hide under the kitchen table as from Sunday lunchtime. Fair enough, but why then was it so lovely today here in London? The lull before the storm perhaps?

This morning we popped out and tidied up the small bed next to the garage giving it a light forking over. Weeds were pulled out, anything dead and untidy thrown into the compost bin if it weren’t too thick and some poppy and foxglove seeds were scattered about the beds in a willy-nilly fashion as per. Spare time is at a bit of a premium at the moment so it’s a case of little and often in the run up to spring.

Let’s hope Storm Ciara ain’t as bad as the weathermen/women suggest, best of luck to all for tomorrow.

And for your entertainment this calm(ish) Saturday evening here’s a nice bit of chilled dub from Intuicean called Swell.