Looking through the racks of WH Smiths in Holborn yesterday we found some popular gardening magazines are doing a free seed offer with their latest issues. You know they’re not going to be a full pack of seeds that you’d usually get in your local garden centre but it’s something. Grow your own is doing 10 free seed packs for £5.89, Kitchen Garden 5 packs at £4.99 and Veg Garden 10 packs of free seeds for £8. Have a browse in your local magazine emporium before it’s too late!
Last weekend another hour was spent out in the garden in the cold and damp but it was worth it. As you can see the beds at the left-hand side of the garden were looking initially untidy. After about an hours work they now look half reasonable. There’s overwintering garlic in the end of the bed nearest the fence and opposite that some rhubarb being forced under an upturned tub with bricks on it. Underneath the plank that’s come off the raised bed is a pregnant frog! The question is will it be nice enough weather to finish the remaining bed by the pond at the bottom of the garden this weekend?
Talking of rhubarb (Above: the result of forcing the plant a couple of years ago; lovely red stalks!) in an old gardening book we once learnt about a place called the Rhubarb Triangle (aka The Tusky Triangle) in West Yorkshire where the plant in grown and forced in dark barns and picked by candlelight (as not to turn the stalks green). Fact not fiction! More about that here and here.
We weren’t feeling too hot over the xmas and new year period as another damn cold/flu struck, but as the garden was looking a bit on the neglected side an hour or so had to be designated to a bit of outdoor tidying up. This one was for the bed next to the garage that earlier this year contained tomatoes, sweet peas and dahlias amongst other things (past posts about said plants in all their glory are in the links).
We dug up all the dahlia tubers carefully (some of them are the size of big spuds!) which are now drying out under the stairs even though last year we took a chance and left them in and they did wonderful this summer (post here). More on lifting the tubers here.
We even replanted a silver birch (one we found a couple of years ago in a Tesco’s bag with a note that said “Take me” on it outside a house locally see post here) that was originally by the pond but hopefully it will do better at the end of the bed. We’ll be probably moving it again as it’s so near the old garage wall but let’s see.
And as protection from forthcoming cold weather we stuck one of the plastic mini-cloches from another find, which followed the same pattern as before; left outside a house with a note with “Take me” on it (post here) over the Foxtail Lily that’s started to sprout a bit prematurely.
So wrap up warm, happy gardening and keep em peeled as Shaw Taylor used to say.
A lovely track from Mono Penisula containing eight minutes and forty five seconds of lushness and ambient goodness and a very apt title too. One for having on loud whilst flicking through those seed catalogues. The rest of the album Metro/Pol is excellent as well. Go and search out!
Little and often is an apt saying when it comes to gardening. The job for today was to tidy up the bed at the bottom of the garden that had gone a bit haywire (above). There was a fair bit of weeding to do and pulling up of dead Nasturtiums that were left to their own devices followed by a good old forking over. It looks like a proper vegetable bed now (below) rather than a bombsite!
In the process we found a couple of spuds that were missed when we initially harvested them in the autumn and also found a few dried out pods of some heirloom French climbing beans we bought at the Roots and Shoots Potato Day earlier this year. That’s one less packet of seeds we’ll have to purchase then!
Talking of Potato Days and Roots and Shoots here’s the next event in a few weeks time and one well worth going to!
London Potato Fair/Roots & Shoots Potato Day
9th and 10th February 2019 11.00am-2.30pm
Roots & Shoots
Walnut Tree Walk
Lambeth, SE11 6DN
http://www.roots&shoots.org
FREE ADMISSION
More details on this and more such like events (all across the UK) at this site here.
And here’s a festive treat from The Groove Thief from KGNU Community Radio’s “Dub Palace” show. The mix includes some heavyweight bass from RSD, Prophet, Johnny Clarke and our very own Madtone with “Compost your mind”.
A happy and prosperous 2019 to one and all from us at Weeds!
We managed a couple of hours out in the garden today. The sun was shining and it was still a bit nippy but it was good to get out there after a good few months of watching the back getting untidy. Even that hour or two made a difference, the side bed was cleaned up and a half a Lewisham Council brown bin was filled with slimy rotting comfrey, weeds and prunings. It was nice to see actual plants (not bindweed) and the garden path again!
At the end of the session it was good to sit down with a cup of tea then a rum and coke in front of the new addition to the Weeds garden (above) and watch the flames as the sun went down and contemplate on when the next trip in the garden will be.
If you don’t hear from us before, have a great new year and see you in 2019!
It seems like it was only the other week we were planting the strange looking root crown of the Foxtail Lily (AKA Eremurus). In fact it was at the start of October (post here) that we purchased another crown from Shannon’s and this afternoon whilst tipping around in the garden we noticed it peeking its head through the ground. Fingers crossed the forthcoming cold weather won’t knock it for six (in the morning we’ll probably stick a cloche or a bit of fleece over the top for added protection).
We’ve just found a clip from an old Gardeners’ World featuring Monty Don on the Eremurus and how you plant the root crown here.
And here’s another plug for the Weeds related musical project Madtone with their tribute to the said plant “Foxtail Lily Dub (Beaming to the Caribbean)” which has been getting some super support from the likes of Andrew Weatherall, Dr Strangedub from The Echo Chamber on KFAI, the dread gardener Don Letts, Justin Robertson and more. A big cheers to them! Watch out for a vocal version of the tune in the next few months! #FoxtailLily #shortwavesnotdead
It’s that festive time of year again, so a big Happy Christmas (and a jolly new year) to all our readers and hope you’ve survived the day of food and drink madness and the usual entertainment on the telly (which this year included Call the midwife live on ice, a Two Ronnies marathon and a interesting film about Patrick Moore’s mate Brian May, “A life of barnets and telescopes”). Let’s hope 2019 brings you all a good year with plenty of great gardening!
Rather than the usual festive tunes from us here’s one heard on Justin Robertson’s Temple of Wonders show on Soho Radio the other day, it’s a great dub in a Paradise Garage style.
And a classic heard via On The Wire the other week produced by the great Lee Perry.
And talking of Patrick Moore here’s something that cheered us up earlier this year which is a million times better than watching Eastenders again.
A lovely tune of a reggae hybrid nature heard on Ross Allen’s NTS radio show last week by Lonely C (Charles Levine – Soul Clap) called Make America Dub Again. Tune!
And from the Tru Thoughts camp (in a old style Greensleeves style label) an excellent dub called Dread Nourishment from The Magic Drum Orchestra. It’s in an “out there” style you’ll want to listen and listen to again!
And the mention of dread nourishment put us in mind of an excellent single that was originally given away with Nutrament from The Messengers with Ken Boothe on vocals, a cover of the Syl Johnson classic “Is it because I’m Black”. The single is on discogs for under £3. It’s a snip!
Weeds up to me knees 