On a gardening home-brew tip!

Posted on by
3

Today I popped out and did a few hours in the garden in glorious sunshine can you believe! One of the jobs I did was to make some plant food with some Comfrey leaves (Bocking 14 Comfrey is the best as it doesn’t set seed) which I steeped in water in an old fermenting bucket from my days of wine-making (which weren’t that successful.)

Bin_2Comfrey is a great plant to have in the garden, it spreads like wildfire, the bees go bonkers over it and if you rip off loads of leaves and stuck them in a bucket of water for a few weeks it makes a great plant feed. Stick in some nettle and borage leaves into the mix too and it’s even better.Bin_4

Bin_5For God’s sake don’t breathe in the stuff as it’s lethal! I repeat do not smell the liquid. Keep the lid on for a few weeks and when it’s done (It’ll turn into a sludgy black liquid) water it down and apply it to your plants. More on how to make it here.

A pre-gardening reggae apéritif

Posted on by
Reply

We’ve woken up to a bright and sunny day here in London and just before a day of pottering about in the garden (or more likely, before the clouds go in!) here’s a wonderful bit of music to get you going.

It’s Chronixx doing a live set over some classic Studio 1 rhythms from his first appearance at Miss Lilys in New York City in 2012. Miss Lily’s looks a brilliant place, a restaurant, record shop and radio station, all they need now is a little garden centre at the back and it would be an ideal place for us here at weeds! Also, here’s a set Chronixx did there from back in 2014.

Some tunes to get you in mood for weeding, watering and taking off that horticultural fleece from the cold night just has gone (which you’ll more than likely be putting back on come this evening!).

Woop-woop! That’s the sound of da fleece!

Posted on by
Reply

fleeceI popped into Shannon’s yesterday and grabbed a big roll of horticultural fleece for around £6, which will come in well handy over the next few weeks. Some of my tomato plants were started off well early (there’s even a couple with flowers on them!) so after a couple of weeks in the mini-plastic greenhouse I’ve recently put them outside. On the nights I now cover them over with fleece. If you want to do it cheaper you can always use old net curtains or as Joe said, some sheets of newspaper draped over the plants.

I was listening to a recent Gardening with Tim & Joe on BBC Leed’s and Mr Maiden was saying even though some shops have tomato plants for sale, it still doesn’t mean that it’s safe to stick them outside as there still could be a frost for a good few weeks yet. And also chatting at Shannon’s yesterday I was told it’s not just frost you need protection from but also damage from cold winds and rain.

I also treated myself to a couple of Courgette plants as the seeds I sown haven’t amounted to much. You really don’t need more than a couple of courgette plants as you’ll be overwhelmed with the bloody things come autumn!Courgette_2

Ducks Deluxe

Posted on by
Reply

Ducks deluxe We had a fleeting return visit of two of the South London urban ducks for about half an hour last night and it was great to see them back. Trouble is, our cats didn’t see it that way, and even now, one of them is patrolling the fish pond at the bottom of the garden.

Big up the urban duck! Come back soon as we have the fish food and the porridge oats ready on hand just in case!

There’s a box on my doorstep (what I’m a gonna do?)

Posted on by
Reply

Box on the doorstepA big thanks to the mystery person who left this excellent champagne box on my doorstep early this morning. It’s exactly like the one mentioned on the blog many moons ago here and it’ll make a great planter just like the last one. Please own up as it’s a top gift!

Grow wild seeds

Today I also received my free packet of seeds from BBC Countryfile. Guess what planter they’ll be sown in? Big up John Craven, champagne boxes and people who leave great gifts on your doorstep! Thank you!

They’re under starters orders

Posted on by
2

I’ve got a collection of leggy tomato plants waiting to go in the garden until after the risk of frost has gone, like I have every year. After starting them off on the kitchen windowsill a couple of months ago, I put them in the plastic mini-greenhouse outside with the front open during the day to harden them off. This weekend I stuck one of them under the terrarium outside and also sowed  a mixture of seeds beside it. There’s onions and garlic on their way in the bed behind and in the raised bed furthest away have seed potatoes under a good deal of earthed up soil. Seed bed of the weekThe bed at the bottom of the garden which I was going to keep veg-free this year has now a row of leek seedlings which I sowed indoors on xmas eve last year and a couple of courgette seeds which went in over the weekend under jam jars for extra protection. The rest is a mixture of flowers, a purple sprouting broccoli gone to flower, rocket and strawberries. It won’t be long now until “they’re off” and we can’t wait!back bed of the week

There’s a duck in my fishpond (what I’m a gonna do?)

Posted on by
Reply

We’ve got a small pond at the bottom of the garden and as there’s no electricity supply down there, there’s no pump, so the quality of the water can be something to be desired at the best of times but there are a few goldfish in there (bought years ago from lewisham’s “premier” pet shop) and they don’t seem to mind.

Yesterday around lunchtime looking out of the kitchen window, I saw our cat frantically fly down the garden path towards the pond where I was sure I saw something bobbing about on the top of the water. On closer inspection it turns out it was a duck, how mad is that? Duck Rock_3I originally thought to shoo it out as I reckoned it would probably half-inch the fish that’s in there but as the picture (below) shows it weren’t bothered, but rather preferred their food which was floating on the top of the pond.

The cat wasn’t too keen on it being in the garden but the duck didn’t seem to care, as at one point went to sleep with his neck resting on his back in the middle of the pond while our feline friend was on the side, fuming!duck rock_1The duck stayed in there for over two hours before flying off in the direction of Catford to the relief of our cat who for a long while later, stood guard at the side of the water waiting for it’s return.

I tell you what, the water looked a great deal cleaner after the duck’s departure. Big up the South London duck!Duckrock_2

Rocksteady fridge magnet of the week

Posted on by
5

Rocksteady partyToday I popped into an excellent exhibition in Soho after our friend Izzy in Whitstable heard it advertised on BBC Radio London last week and thought it might be up my street. It certainly was!

The exhibition is called ‘Record shops of Soho from 1946 to 1996′ and is at 2 Berwick St, London W1F ODR until the 20th April and open from 10 am to 7pm each day. The exhibition is a joint venture from Museum of Soho and The British Record Shop Archive.elton johnI was chatting to Leon from The British Record Shop Archive and it turned out I had met him when he had a record stall in Camberwell Market years ago. I recalled to him that the time I met him, he mentioned that he had in his collection, a great flyer to a “Rocksteady Party” from the late 60’s in Brockley he had found in a record sleeve.

In a remarkable coincidence this afternoon, he had on his person a copy of the flyer made into a fridge magnet (Main image). And what a magnet!  Love the tea stain too, well authentic!

He also told me that someone he knew actually popped to the address a couple of years ago to see if Stella was still there, to ask about the party and the reggae scene in South East London. Sadly the owners knew nothing of a Stella. Does anyone out there know Stella and who Chang’s Rocksteady Sound was?

So if you fancy seeing Soho record shop paraphernalia from yesteryear and vinyl related gear we at weeds implore you to go to the exhibition before it’s too late. Well worth it!