Hand in glove

Posted on July 25, 2015 by onedeckpete

I made a bit of a slip-up today and now have to buy a new pair of gardening gloves.

I was tidying up a comfrey plant that was getting out of control and snipped off some excess leaves as you do. I then decided to add the cuttings into some comfrey liquid that’s been fermenting in a bucket down the bottom of the garden for a couple of months or so.

The leaves went in, followed by my (gardening) gloved hands. The gloves had to be thrown away straight away and my hands thoroughly scrubbed!

I’m still haunted by that smell of rotting comfrey and can’t get the putrid smell out of my nostrils. Horrible stuff! (More on how to make liquid comfrey feed here.)

The image has cracked

Posted on July 22, 2015 by onedeckpete

On the way home from work tonight I walked past some stuff in the street outside a house. There was an old portable TV set and a couple of prints of famous jockeys on horses in broken picture frames. Beside them was a note saying “Take Me” on it.

A few minutes later, I passed a woman with a very heavy looking rusty iron clock-face about 6 foot high. The woman was leaning against a wall well out of breath, waiting for a cab as she couldn’t carry the clock-face to the bus stop. She told me she’d won it off ebay for £6.50 and had just collected it from the seller. My thought was “and much will it cost you to get it home?”

These two events made me think of one of our Sounds From The South episodes from christmas last year called “Take Me I’m Yours” about finding stuff in the street or on a skip, a subject that is dear to our hearts.

All of our other Sounds From The South podcasts are archived on i-tunes here or Stitcher here.

https://soundcloud.com/weedsuptomeknees/sfts-19-sounds-from-the-south-take-me-im-yours

Temperature’s rising…

Posted on July 19, 2015 by onedeckpete

Yesterday I was floored by a horrible bug that knocked me for six and rendered me useless, yet when I woke up this morning I felt right as rain (well, near enough.) I popped out and got a couple of plants from Shannons and spent a bit of time forking over the front and back gardens before it got too hot. Big up Summer!The latest purchase from shannons (above) and (below) a couple of squash plants going mad!

Two for a sunny Saturday

Posted on July 18, 2015 by onedeckpete

It’s been a lovely day today with the sun showing its face so why not crank these two up loud while you’re sitting in the back garden with a glass or two of your favourite tipple and take in the scent of the night scented stock this evening.

First off, a great mix from Brooklyn’s Ratatat from Tom Ravenscroft’s show last week. It’s only short, but features tunes from Jay Z, Ratatat, Sebastien Tellier and Aphex Twin. Listen here.

Also thanks to Rt Hon David Rodigan for letting us know about the new single with a great video from Alborosie – Rocky Road. Tune!

Going down the beet route

Posted on July 8, 2015 by onedeckpete

Harvested these great beetroots from the furthest raised bed the other day which I sowed early in the spring.There’s still a good few left as well! Boil them up for half an hour and let them cool and you’ve got a great veg!

And here’s what I said about my favourite vegetable on Sounds From The South last year.

Top buzz

Posted on July 4, 2015 by onedeckpete

As you know, I do like an out-of-the-ordinary plant (The Egyptian Onion and Eremurus for instance) and this week purchased a mad one off ebay for six quid. It’s known as the Electric Daisy (very Jimi Hendrix!) or the Toothache plant and has some odd properties.

What’s bonkers about it is, if you pop the flower buds in your mouth (washed first of course) it has a grassy taste followed by a strong tingling or numbing sensation and supposedly good if you have toothache. I’ve just looked online and someone likened the effect to when as a kid you used to put your tongue on a 9 volt battery, nice. Me, I’d rather pop a clove on the pain and see a dentist! Here’s the plant (below) in situ!

Also a big shout to the staff at Shannon‘s who thought of us the other day when they got a new delivery of plants in. It included a Eremurus Bungei (which is smaller of the species and only grows to 4ft) which I just had to have today alongside a few other treats too. Thanks for letting us know about the plant, and I’ll send you some pictures soon when it flowers.

Typically tropical

Posted on July 2, 2015 by onedeckpete

INI Movement – 13 Moon Cycle Mixes – El Búho (Self Existing Moon)

The heat in London yesterday was bonkers, hitting around the 35 degree mark during the day and come the late evening it was still nice and warm when the garden hose was set upon those parched plants out the back.

Talking of tropical, a big thanks to my good friend Will J for letting us know about this super mix, part of INI Movement’s 13 Mooncycle mix series where they invite an artist to curate a mix for the new moon. This installment is a lovely chilled affair from El Buho featuring some great stuff from all over the shop including the great Acid Pauli, Nicola Cruz and a lot lot more and as it says on the soundcloud “El Buho has curated a flowing piece of music bathed in moonlight, fit for a dark, mysterious evening filled with hooting owls, swaying trees and tribal rhythms to dance around the fire (to).”

And it’s also a mix to blast out loud through the patio doors while you’re flaked out on a deck chair in the back garden with a glass of vino come late evening and one to complement Maria Thun’s Biodynamic Calendar (which I have regrettably haven’t been using of late due to being a bit lazy!)

Big shout to the sun and the moon as we’d be knackered without you!

Summer the first time

Posted on June 27, 2015 by onedeckpete

Where’s the time going to this year? It’s July next week and the garden is now starting to go a bit mad. The bed at the bottom of the garden (pic above) the one that I was going to “rest” this year funnily enough, has started to develop into a right old mixed patch.

Don’t ask me why it’s got like that as it certainly wasn’t planned and I blame it on all the great seeds I got from the seed swap at the start of this year and from the big ebay bargain pack the other month.

From the back of the bed going forward I’ve now got sunflowers which stretch around the side too, a row of poppies (poppies in rows? That’s a bit OCD I hear you cry!), leeks, carrots, beetroot, parsnips and at the front a mixture of poppies and cornflowers. Talk about a bit of gardening anarchy!Poppies seem to be a bit of a favourite of mine this year as I have a few dotted around the garden where I’d scattered seeds randomly. The ones shown above and and below I’m sure came from the seed swap and hopefully will keep self seeding!Talking of seed, here’s one of the pepper plants which were sown earlier this year on the kitchen windowsill which gave them a bit of a head start. It’s a first for me as I never usually have much luck with peppers. Roll on the sunshine!

The train to Fishguard is coming…

Posted on June 26, 2015 by onedeckpete

Mike P Cherries A big shout to Mike and Aradhana of the great Ffynnonofi Farm near Fishguard, Pembrokeshire where we’ve stayed a couple of times in the past. It’s a top place, the sea’s on your doorstep and there’s plenty of countryside to take in as well as some great fruit and veg growing on the farm!

Mike’s sent us some snaps of his garden at the present moment and the plants are looking good! The sweet cherries (above) look brilliant and the plums (below) look like they’re coming on fine too. Mike P_Plums The morello cherries (below) are starting to turn red.And look at the overwintered garlic below, they went in around november last year and are now well on their way!

One of the caretakers of Ffynnonofi Farm is Dai, (the son of the late John Seymour, author of “The new complete book of self-sufficiency” we reviewed on the blog here). His tip is that garlic should ideally go in on the shortest day (usually around the 21st December), and picked on the longest day (around the 21st June). Great advice!Cheers to Mike for sending in the pics and also thanks for passing on this fine classic from Peter Tosh.

Somebody’s greenhouse

Posted on June 25, 2015 by onedeckpete

Tapes – Somebodies Baby – Workshop

You know here at Weeds we love a cover version of a reggae tune and this week on Tom Ravenscroft‘s show we heard another great one! It’s a rendition of Pat Kelly‘s “Somebody’s Baby” by Tapes on the Workshop label as part of the Workshop 21 twelve inch EP.

We love the lo-fi-ness of it, the simple effect of someone sticking their finger on the record deck stopping the tune and it makes us think of Billy Jean by Shinehead as well, which all combines to make one great tune. Nice one Tapes! Listen to the rest of the EP here.

One to play loud while enjoying a glass of cold vino sitting in the back garden (getting bitten by midges) at the end of the day when all the weeding is done.

Here’s the original by Pat Kelly from 1968 complete with a Bunny “Striker” Lee trademark “Ready” at the start of the tune.

Pat Kelly – Somebody’s Baby – Island

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Weeds up to me knees

Madtone, gardening and life