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!
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!
It’s far too wet to get out in the garden even though there’s a million and one things to do out there (including collecting up those autumn leaves before someone breaks their neck on the path and pulling up those Dahlia tubers to store indoors) but what the heck what can we do?
Epoch – Robber Rock (Steady Robbin’ Version) – Dub Temple Records Well a good start would be to keep warm and crank this up loud! A lovely rework/redub of Wayne Wade’s “Man of the Living”.
Souleance – Francois – First Word Records And this is another warming tune, from Souleance called Francois on First Word Records. Turn the heating up, turn the sound up and batten down those hatches!
A big shout to Justin Moorein Cincinnati for getting in touch with Weeds and sharing with us some pictures of his back garden and forwarding some tune recommendations. Justin came to our attention a couple of weeks ago via the SWLing Post Blog where we read his excellent piece called “Holger Czukay, Radio Wave Surfer”here(well worth a read!) He’s a lover of good music (with an across the board taste), writes a fine blog here and is interested in, and broadcasts on, the wireless (hosting a radio show and being an active radio amateur). At the present moment he is presenting Trash Flow Radio on WAIF 88.3.
Justin’s back garden looks like a very nice space (it puts us for some reason in mind of St Stephen’s Gardens in London, W2 where we used to work for the council years ago), it’s very shaded because of a huge oak tree but he and his partner (she’s the one with the green fingers says Justin!) still manage to mainly grows herbs and a grape vine. (Pic above) lemon balm and lavender. We love a bit of lemon balm here, we got some seeds years ago, they came up, they multiplied and the plants are now going mad!
We’re loving the grapevine growing on the fence (above). Hopefully later we’ll be getting more pics including next year the veg patch out the front and the houseplants doing well indoors. We don’t have much luck with houseplants funnily enough. A good source of info when it comes to houseplants by the way is Jane Perrone’s excellent podcast On the Ledge here.
And as an addition the above are some pics of Justin’s radio shack and music listening room, we do love all of that kind of stuff here!
Justin also passed on three excellent tunes, the first being from a chap we’ve never come across before but sounds well up our street, sound artist Nigel Ayres aka Nocturnal Emissions. This is from “Nocturnal Emissions in Dub Volume 1” called “Bodmin Parkway (Disintegrated Public Transport Mix)” and features station announcements that will bring out the trainspotter in you. Tune!
The next is on the darker tip by Lustmord “the originator of the “Dark Ambient” genre” so it says on his bandcamp here (there’s also a PTV/Throbbing Gristle connection too). This is nice stuff with some Tubby’s bleeps stuck in for good measure. More off the album here.
The next (another tune we haven’t heard of) is by Dubcon called Black Hole (Martian Dub Beacon) from an collaboration between cEvin Key (Download, Skinny Puppy, PlatEAU) and Twilight Circus’ Ryan Moore. Lovely out there stuff! Is that Black Uhuru’s Michael Rose on vocals? More on the album here.
So a big thanks to Justin and we await more pics and tunes!
Alter Echo & E3 meet Ishan Sound & Rider Shafique – Ah mi guide (Egoless remix) This corker of a tune was first heard on Steve Barker’s On the Wire the other month and thanks to Scotch Bonnet records it’s available now. This tune cuts the common cold stone dead!
It’s a great resource for all gardeners be they novice or experienced, right from the first chapter “Gardening tips for beginners” it’s full of brilliant tips and ideas. As we’ve said before gardening is such a wide spectrum there’s always something to learn.
We can relate to it; “”Nobody gets it right first time” says Kate of Diary of a Country Girl blog”, yes we can just think back to the time we were faced with the back end of a large rodent in the compost bin after previously putting some salad leaves into it (that possibly had traces of meat on them). There’s stuff about looking after your soil, tool care, fruit & veg, container growing and a whole lot more. Big shout for Thompson & Morgan for producing a informative read! Get yours now here.
Just to let you know Weeds’ music armMadtone is now up on Bandcamp here and there’s also a Facebook page here if you fancy a bit of dubby electronica with some shortwave noises bunged in for good measure! Now those clocks have turned back, turn up the heating and tune in…#shortwavesnotdead
Found on a wall in Forest Hill this morning, a lovely collection of 5 plastic bell cloches. All they needed was a quick swill out and there you go, plants and seedlings protected from mild frosts and the wind!
Have you found anything gardening-wise on the street lately? Send us a pic of your gardening finds!
And as an addition the above are some pics of Justin’s radio shack and music listening room, we do love all of that kind of stuff here!
Just to let you know Weeds’ music arm 
Weeds up to me knees 