That was the week that was

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It’s been one hell of a hot week! The first off is a lovely dub by Da Grynch of Curtis Lynch feat Maxi Priest‘s Do you remember that the Rt Hon David Rodigan played a version of on last Sunday’s show. A tune!

The second is a free talk next week about the humble Potato! by Simon Smart a potato researcher at the National Institute of Agriculture. That kicks off on Thursday 12th July at 6pm at Shoe Lane Library. More info below or contact the library here.

What a whopper (and other well-worn cliches)! The pic below is for some sort of old-time stereo-viewer that we bought at Covent Garden’s tourist antique market for the crazy price of two quid on Monday just gone. That is one big plant, look at the people at the bottom!

Seeds, tips and tunes

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Big shout to Stevie B, Fenny and Jim for playing this tune on Saturday’s On The Wire and what a lovely bit of reggae it is, from San Diego’s Tribal Seeds (more on their soundcloud here).

Another great tune this time straight out of Yorkshire on the mighty Scotch Bonnet Records from Danny T, Tradesman featuring Mark Iration called Up Deh. Tune!

Also a big shout to all at the Thompson & Morgan gardening blog for including one of our tips in their latest post “Expert gardening tips for beginners” which contains some great gems of info for beginners and non-beginners alike. Do have a look at the post here.

November spawned a monster

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A few photos of the state of play in the Weeds garden at the moment. There’s fun and frolics in the pond with the goldfish and this year’s batch of tadpoles and it’s not looking too murky in there at the moment. There’s no sign of that thieving Lewisham heron either thanks to the folks at Shannon’s for telling us to put pea netting over the top of the pond (with a few escape routes dotted about for the local mini-wildlife).

The poppies are doing their thing too. Any seed heads that form we dry out and distribute around the garden so they’ll come back next summer.

The vegetable bed at the bottom of the garden has moved on since last month. The spuds are on their way, the alderman peas are starting to grow and we’re finally seeing the runner beans germinate. And about time too!

I’ll meet you in the balearic greenhouse

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Two for a Monday, the first Utopia – Sunshine Life (Beatconductor Dub) starts on a funky tip with a heavy synth bassline and a “Now that we found love” type vibe going on then going into a nice 70’s reggae thing. One to play when the sun’s out!

And the second, a great mix from Phil “The Ambient Toothgrinder” Mison and Jose Padilla in tandem from many years ago in sunny Southend to stick on and blast out of the back doors in the evening when you’re filling up those beer traps for the slugs to wander into.

Reading and listening recommendations – Stardate 29/5/2018

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Two things to get stuck into. Firstly a big thanks to Mark at the Thompson & Morgan blog for including one of our tips in the interesting “Seed and seedling tips…” post here that’s worth having a look at. There’s lots of other posts on the blog that’ll hopefully float your gardening boat too.

Also the above has been listened to twice today, “Greetings music lover” the story of one of our favourite shows “On The Wire” on BBC Radio Lancashire and Steve Barker who keeps it all together. It’s a lovely documentary about a very interesting radio show. Big up On The Wire!

Now bacon is off the ration…

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The complete vegetable grower – W.E. Shewell-Cooper – Faber & Faber 1955
Here’s a great book picked up in a charity shop in lovely Sudbury last week. First published in 1955, it describes itself as a “book for the amateur who wants to grow all his/her own vegetables and save him/herself at least £100 a year”. It covers subjects as crop rotation, soil structure and composting and has a comprehensive section on “The culture of vegetables alphabetically” covering growing tips, harvesting and using the vegetable featured.

The chapter “Unusual vegetables for original gardeners” sounds like a name of a Buzzcocks live LP and features all sorts of veg, some we knew, the asparagus pea for instance and lots we didn’t: Good King Henry, the Potato Onion and Couve Tronchuda.

Amazing what you learn from those old school gardening books from a time when blokes wore shirts and ties down the allotment. One to search out for!

Welcoming back that yellow thing in the sky

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Here’s a lovely tune called Janet 50 from Smith & Mudd, with the top frenchman I:Cube on the mix. If this 7 minutes of joy don’t welcome the sun back into the garden, god knows what will! One to stick on (in the headphones of course) when getting the hose out at 7am to give those plants their morning soak.

And if you enjoy “tipping around” with a hoe later on in the day here’s a tune of the calmer variety from Everton Blender called Sing for Jah with a great dub to boot.

It’s good this gardening lark especially at this time of the year and it can only get better!

Seed swap in the area!

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News of a great seed swap this Sunday 13th May at Springbank Road Community Garden, Hither Green SE13 6SS. It’s free and from 11am-1pm, bring whatever you fancy swapping (seeds, plants, seedlings) and if you don’t have anything to bring to the seed swap table so to speak you’ll be welcome too! #londonseedswap

Veg watch – May 2018

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Work in progress: the veg bed at the bottom of the garden from left to right, 2 rows of onions (red and white), seed potatoes, another row of onions (mixed) and three canes worth of french climbing beans and a heirloom pea called Tall Telephone (named after Alexander Graham Bell and one which grows well over 6ft!) Here’s to more good weather and veg progress!