Bee Bee Cee News Report

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Foxgloves in da garden

A view of the garden tonight taken while having a cup of char watching the Bees working their way around the Foxgloves on the left. It’s all starting to kick off growth-wise now!

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed today as it’s been a busy old week but it was only while listening to Wilko Johnson being interviewed on Radio 4 who was sounding well chipper even though he’s terminally ill that put all my moaning into perspective! I’ve never been a massive fan of Dr Feelgood but did see them at the Lanchester Polytechnic in the late 1970’s. A bloke who was doing the sound that night told us the band were really late arriving and so drunk they were turned away by the door staff thinking they were a gang of cockney blokes on a stag-night. It was only when a fan who was in the queue told the bloke on the door “You can’t do that mate, they’re the band!” Brilliant!

A big shout to our good gardening friend Scarlett (who also writes the excellent Heavenly Healer blog), who sent us an excerpt from her “Attracting Beneficial Insects” factsheet which she has kindly let us reproduce here. The following list applies to Bees and other beneficial insects.

  • March/April – Bluebell, Rosemary, Bugle and Dead-nettle
  • May/June – Aquilegia, Geranium, Campanula, Chives, Sages and Thymes, Wallflowers, Vipers bugloss, Birds foot trefoil and sweet peas.
  • July/August – Lavender, Cornflower and Centaurea, Marjoram and Scabious.

In general all insects love Sunflowers and Hollyhocks. Comfrey is great for the Bees (and for making liquid feed!) Monarda didyma, Linum, Agastache, Marjoram and Oregano, Astrantia, Thyme, Yarrow, Sage, Borage, Fuchsia, Geum, Cosmos, Poppy, Mallow, poached egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii) as well as climbing plants such as clematis and honeysuckle, are just a few examples in an exhaustive list.

V&A
Scarlett also let us know of a great exhibition currently at the V&A called From Club to Catwalk. Great stuff and great photo! Thanks for the list and the exhibition info. We’ll pop down over the summer for that. Talking of the summer, can we have the sunshine back?

Chilled out/worn out on a Thursday night

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worn out on a thursday

Robag Wruhme – XLR8R – Podcast 201

The week don’t half take it’s toll! Tonight, after a mow of the back lawn, a tip around of a hoe on those damn weeds and a swoosh of a hosepipe, it’s time to kick back and relax with a mix from a couple of years ago (cheers to Will for reminding us about this one the other day). This ain’t Punk, House, Disco or Reggae but it’s a good one all the same! Tracks include Max Richter, Modeselektor & Thom Yorke and the Prague Symphony Orchestra & Libor Pesek. One for those pesky aches and pains!

http://astrangelyisolatedplace.com/2011/06/10/xlr8r-podcast-201-robag-wruhme/

It was easy, it cheap, GO AND DO IT!

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jim boxes_1

A big shout to our good mate Jim who last week, made some great window boxes to house his Tomatoes in for next to nothing as the total cost of the project was just under £6! Price breakdown: 2 long trays from the local Mr Poundland at £2.99 each, a couple of pieces of wood found in the shed and some raw plugs cadged off a neighbour for free! It’s fixed into the wall in a few places just in case, and there’s some holes drilled into the bottom for extra drainage too and a block of wood was put at the bottom to push it out from the wall. A wonderful piece of engineering Jim!

Jim and plantsTalking of containers, I used a plastic tray that yesterday held 6 Co-Op Sausages and sowed some Coriander into it and also a small plastic box that once held some upmarket “biscuits for cheese” (for the times when I am feeling too posh for Ritz) for some Lettuce Leaved Basil. Also popped into Shannon’s today and got a couple of Lupin plants (I like the way the water is held in the leaves on a dewy morning!) and another mental Onion for my collection, one of The Welsh variety. There’s lovely!

welsh onions

Big up the Bee (yet again!)

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Thanks to Teffany for letting us know about an edition of Radio 4’s Costing the Earth called “Bees Fight Back” about Bees and Neonicotinoid pesticides, which is worth a listen.

While looking for it I stumbled across one called “The Bee Inspector” (still up on the web here) which gives a great introduction to the world of Bees and Beekeeping over four short programmes. It’s well interesting stuff even though it’s ten years old. Give it a whirl!

Is there anyone out there who can give us a definite list of Bee-friendly plants? I’ve noticed we’ve got a good bit of self-seeded Borage coming up this year but more suggestions would be appreciated! Post on comments below or at onedeckpete@gmail.com

Big up the ‘umble Bee!

You take the high road (and I’ll take the flu jab)

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beans and more beans

Thanks to Lewisham Gardens (it was great meeting you!) for inviting us to the Edible High Road event in Forest Hill last Saturday. Due to having a stinker of a flu combined with an argumentative child in tow, I turned up too early to see Matthew Wilson from GQT but I did see some of the fruit trees in pots with their accompanying herbs, great stuff! I also picked up a couple of freebies that are always appreciated here, three runner beans (from the nice people at friends of Hornimans or Forest Hill Society? sorry I can’t remember which one they were) which went in the back garden as soon as I got home. Only one plant survived the night though (slugs? moths? cats? I have no idea, but they ain’t there now!)

Dig this! weeds up to me knees

I also got some tomato plants (one a sweet cherry tomato called “Vilma”) from the nice guys at Dig This Nursery in New Cross which is situated next door to the Hobgoblin pub opposite the New Cross Gate train station. It’s a great place, they have plants galore, lots of varieties of tomatoes, their own brand of seeds (Happy Seeds – aimed at the younger market, all with great illustrations, bright packets and info you possibly wouldn’t have known about the plant), some gallery space (to Marc B and Marc G, it might be a good place to show your work) and to cap it all, some boxes of second hand records. What more do you want out of a nursery?

Dig this!_1Although I only stayed a short while, it’s brilliant there are events like this, making people more aware of gardening and how easy it is to grow your own food!  Big shout to all involved and for the free plants and seeds, ta!

No expense spared (yeah right!)

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It was miserable most of today until early evening where there was a hour or so of sunshine. It was nice enough to get out those council worker’s gloves and the secateurs.mint, spudcombination

The combination of sun and rain is now kicking everything off, above is the eau de cologne mint in the nice cement pot found submerged in 12 years worth of old leaves in the bottom of our pond after moving in. The next is a tumbling tomato and assorted herbs in the plant container originally destined for the binmen and the seed potato in a spud sack (procured for free at that seedy sunday event in Sydenham) which is now cracking on. Be warned, don’t do what I did and play “musical sacks” with the bag, this one’s bottom has fallen out and has now got to stay where it is!

Teapot and frame

Also a few years ago I found some left over concrete squares from the garden wall (behind the mint, tomato and spud in a bag) and wasn’t sure how to get rid of them so I laid them on their side (they also form a back for the cold frame) and filled them with compost. I now stick any left over seeds in them (herbs, poppies whatever!) and remember to give it a water as it regularly dries out. Big up cheap style gardening!

Thursday night chilling in a stereophonic style

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Stereophonic

Another big cheers to our good mate Will for passing on this link full of musical magic! The Stereophonic Supply Co features top mixtapes from the great Dr Bob Jones, Ian Wright and Paul Bradshaw. We’re presently listening to the Ian Wright mix (who used to do those mad illustrations in the NME) which is full of some excellent dubwise gear including a great version of “Pop-a-top/Fatman” by Andy Capp, Winston Flames’ bonkers “Armagideon”, Black Uhuru with a version of “no, no, no” (alas no dub!) and  “Black beauty” by Joy Tulloch which puts us in mind of Jazz’min Tutum. A great mix tape and one of three we’ll be delving into in the next few days. Big up the stereophonic supply co!