Last Friday’s Gardeners’ Question Time came from Portmeirion, scene of top bonkers TV series The Prisoner. A big shout to Patrick McGoohan (RIP) and that mad balloon, Rover!
I don’t wanna be the prisoner
Reply
I’m no weather prophet (nor’s Pete Astor)
The Treetops “It’s Raining” Trojan (1967)
How bad is this weather of late in the UK? It’s cold and wet which don’t really motive you to get out in the garden or even make you think about gardening. Don’t worry, it won’t be long until spring is here, so get out those seed catalogues, have a trip to the local garden centre and see what you need to buy for the forthcoming season.
If you’re still feeling sad, just tap “David Rodigan” into youtube and watch some of his mad sound clashes, now there’s a chap with a great sense of humour. Have a look here and fast forward to 23 minutes with Roddy giving it some real good comedy action (he does all the talkover intro’s himself, we love this cricket themed one against Ricky Trooper from KIllimanjaro). Big up the great Rodigan! I listened to a recent Resident Advisor interview with him this week and he mentioned he was in an old episode of Dr Who. How brilliant is that!
From Jamaica (where it probably isn’t raining!)
The Pentateuch Band – Kingston
David Rodigan’s been playing this tune to death which was released last year by Jamaican roots band Pentateuch. This one’s also featured on Roddy’s show this week, recorded during the recent BBC trip to Jamaica where he visits Tuff Gong Studios, Alpha Boys School and talks to the newer roots exponents including Pentateuch, Keida Ranking and Jah 9 . Well worth a listen!
The right to garden (but not in this rain though!)
The Right to Communicate – TFT vs. Duppy Girl (HD) Official
Cheers to Nic The Fellow Traveller, Madtone collaborator and remixer (a TFT remix of Dark Dread will be released very soon!) who sent us a tune of his from late last year by himself and Duppy Girl. Brilliant stuff!
Dub ina (east) midlands
Koncrete Roots – Inity Step – Dub-o-phonic DPH 011
An excellent tune with a mad repeating one-note throbbing bassline from the LP “Dub ina Midlands” by Koncrete Roots who hails from Leicestershire in the UK. The said album was played non-stop all week after getting it from the Dub-o-phonic net label as a free download (just like the rest of their releases!) last month.
Big up the great Dub-o-phonic label from the island of Cyprus (home of Haji Mike, Dub Thomas and Med Dred) and a label worth having a gander at!
Got any time to spare (and ‘andy with a drill)?
Big shout to Lewisham Gardens for letting us know about this worthy cause! If you’ve got a couple of hours to spare in the week, love gardening and fancy helping out (and meeting like-minded souls in the process) get in touch at the email below about this great food growing project in South London. Here’s more about it:
Miriam Lodge is a 125 bed hostel on Dartmouth Road, Forest Hill and it’s setting up a kitchen garden/hen-keeping project in the grounds this spring. It’s modelled on a successful project in another hostel in Hither Green (photo’s above and below) where residents and local volunteers grow, fruit, vegetables and herbs for the hostel. Any excess produce goes to other local projects.
The lodge need a group of enthusiastic locals to come in and work with the residents helping them through their first growing season. Also the walk-in chicken run will need building and raised beds putting together amongst other things. So if you’re a keen gardener or a bit handy with a drill and have some free time during the week (and live around the Forest Hill area or don’t mind travelling) contact Jackie on services@hqproperty.net
Dub ina (west) midlands
Macka B – Could Have Been I
An excellent tune with some top lyrics from the mighty Macka B from Wolverhampton. Great stuff for a wednesday evening. Big up David Rodigan for playing this again and again!
A seedy sunday night in SE13
Thanks to Lewisham Gardens for letting us know well in advance about their Seed Swap Sunday event in Hither Green on Sunday 23rd February in conjunction with the Golightly Gardens blog. Admission is a pound donation or bring seeds to swap and it’s held in a nice pub, how good is that? We’ll be there and I’ll be searching for some Brandywine Tomatoes and Cherokee Trail of Tears beans. Please spread the word on this great event!
Old punks never die, they just stand at the back pt2
Big up the one and only Charlie Harper (good bloke) and ain’t he looking good at 69! The last time we mentioned him was a couple of years ago (read here).
We found this by accident last night from Pete Davies’ website (the original drummer in The UK Subs) about a musical project he was involved in called Charlie Harper’s Harbour Rats. It sounds well mad stuff with Charlie on vocals and a band including double bass and mandolins and that even cover “Warhead” in a punk/folk stylee.
They sound like a band that you should be listening to at your local pub on a Sunday night sending you into a nostalgic frenzy, doing the punk kicking dance (not for too long though as the heart can’t handle it!), feeling sick and shouting things on the way out like “I’m not going into work tomorrow, I’m no sell out” then buying a packet of chips on the way home and refusing to put the chip paper into the litter bin shouting “F the system” and feeling very silly the next morning. Here’s to more years Charlie!
Chit them up!
I’ve been ill all week with the dreaded flu so I treated myself with a nice big bag of seed potatoes (earlies) for £4.49 from Shannons and stuck them in a cleaned out seed tray to give them a head start. They’re in a cool dry room by the window getting some light and they’ll sit there for a good few weeks while they develop some nice small green shoots (aka “chits”) which aren’t those horrid long yellow ones that old spuds get when they start sprouting in a dark cupboard. Just stick them in an egg box/tray with the blunt end (the one’s with the “eyes”) upwards in a cool, light room and wait until the danger of frost has gone (late spring) then stick them out.
Thanks to Lewisham Gardens for getting in touch about their forthcoming seed swap, the actual date is still to be confirmed but they are looking at possibly Sunday 23 February in Hither Green and it’s FREE! More details nearer the time. We’ll be there!
Also thanks to Mick Matthews who emailed us today about the Cambridgeshire Self Sufficiency Group (CSSG) Potato Day/Seed Swap on 15 February 2014 and it’s at The Commemoration Hall, 39 High St, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE29 3AQ and also FREE, so if you’re in that area, support it! There’s 40 varieties of Potatoes available at £1.00 a kilo and children’s activities as well to keep the little ones happy while you swap your unwanted seeds. Cheers for getting in touch, Mick.
***STOP PRESS*** We’ve just had another email from Mick who mentioned: “Our potato day is not only free but we sell by the kilo so people can buy enough for a row or two without breaking the bank. It’s £1-00 per kilo and that’s been the price for the last four years. We did have a young lady visit the year before from Croydon who had missed the South London potato day and she commented that it was the best potato day she had been to and we only had 25 varieties that year!” Brilliant!
Also he passed on a great tip which is: “Spray the tubers with a weak solution of liquid sea-weed once in the egg trays just enough to wet them, this encourages stronger shoots and roots. Also if necessary plant out with sections of the tray attached as the roots sometime grow into the trays” Cheers again Mick, very helpful!
Weeds up to me knees 