Back to our old ways

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Years ago we were fascinated by the strange looking Egyptian Walking Onion plant and the great (and official may we add) website of the plant here which has a UFO/”Out there” quality to it that makes us smile.

It’s been a few years since any Walking Onions have surfaced in our garden so we’ve just bought a couple of plants on ebay and hope this summer to have a few of the onions “walking” across our vegetable beds. Have a look online about the plant and see if you fancy having a go too. They are very odd looking and are a bit of a talking point (and possibly you may be able to get in touch with alien beings judging by the graphics on the official site but we cannot guarantee that what with COVID). We’ll keep you updated on the plants as soon as they come in. EWO’s are the next big thing we’ve just been told!

From our worldwide correspondents

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Big shout to our good friend Stevyn Iron Feather Journal in Hokkaido, Japan who’s just given us a glimpse of what his garden is like today. It’s covered in snow and he’s caught what may have been a flying whistling kettle in the snap, very apt what with the transmission of WSTL this weekend. Thanks Stevyn. For more on the excellent fanzine he produces, have a look here. Also have a butchers at his Pink Floyd’s Alan’s Psychedelic Breakfast remix project here which has some interesting music on it.

Also cheers to another of our gardening/music friends Gerry Hectic for this musical recommendation of this great Jazz Gardening classic from Kamasi Washington. We’d be lost without the garden path wouldn’t we?

And talking of musical gardening selections here’s one from yesteryear from our good friend Dr Strangedub of the excellent show The Echo Chamber on KFAI. More on the show here.

And whilst we’re on the subject of dub gardening here’s one from Lopez Walker with Jah Jah New Garden followed by Garden in Dub. (If it was “Gardening dub” it would be even better!) #dubgardenersoftheworldunite #gardening #gardeningsnotdead

Take a chance on me

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We’ve all heard stories of keen gardeners on seeing the sun in the early months of the year getting the seeds out or travelling to the local garden centre to buy plants. Then come the day after the seeds or plants have been put in, the weather changes and then there’s a frost.

We’re not immune to it here at Weeds even though we know the risk. Over the last week we’ve had nice sunny days so took a chance to stick a couple of the seed spuds in the raised bed which has protection from some plastic and another couple under some old seed propagator tops weighed down so they don’t get blown away by the cold winds. Fingers crossed if we get snow they may be protected. It’s worth taking a chance, you’ve only got a couple of seed potatoes to lose if the weather gets too cold. (Please) roll on spring.

 

WSTL whilst you work

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This Sunday coming 13th February (also the launch day of Cities and Memory’s Shortwave Project here) sees WSTL on the shortwaves via WRMI at 2300 UTC on 9395 kHz. The transmission features a whistling themed mix from One Deck Pete called “Give a little whistle” featuring tracks by Joakim, Marcel, Roscoe Wethers and Felix Laband.

Put the kettle on and tune into some clear, high-pitched sounds by forcing breath through a small hole between one’s lips or teeth (or from a kettle, a bird or a train etc etc). Have a listen via an SDR online here, one of those shortwave radios or after transmission here. #shortwavesnotdead #whistlingsnotdead

Roll on spring

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There’s been some crazy goings on in the sky over the last few evenings and apart from the winds and cold we’ve even had some sunshine during the day. Don’t be fooled though, we’ve still got some cold weather to come and if you believe the Daily Excess, it’s going to be the coldest winter since 1947 (As Graham Porter used to joke on BBC Radio Leeds “They say that every year!”)

There is stuff to do, you can have a look through your seed tin and see what you have to get for this growing year, you could pop down your local garden centre (we visited Shannon’s) and get some seed potatoes to “chit” (more on chitting here, some people swear by it and some people swear at it!) or start off some seeds in a propogator indoors. You can also have a look online and see if there’s any plant/seed swaps near you as they’re good for finding often interesting seeds. It’s always good to make an early start so when springs starts you can get off on the right foot!

Beyond your back door

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Some very apt gardening advice for this time of year from the late great Percy Thrower at 2.19 mins in on the track Winter in June from Beyond The Wizzard’s Sleeve. “The more we do during the autumn and winter, the easier and better the gardening is throughout the rest of the year” and “There’s a tendancy to look out of the window in the month of January and say it’s a dit dull, it’s a bit murky outside, nothing of interest in the garden. If the garden is like that it’s not the fault of the garden it’s the fault of the gardener.” Wise words Percy!

In his lifetime he also uttered the great line “I’m a gardener. I’m not a celebrity, I’m not famous, I’m a gardener.” We very much doubt he’d be up for those very gripping “Big Brother”/”Castaway”/”Three celebrities left in a shed” type programmes if he was alive today.

And talking of Percy…

It may be cold outside but inside there’s always music

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There’s not much to see in the garden at the moment but the compost heap is still composting, the fish are swimming at the bottom of the pond and there’s protection all around the garden for the forthcoming cold snap(s). Apart from the odd bit of tidying up we haven’t done that much apart from visiting the compost heap with the odd teabag and veg peelings. When we can remember we always stick a small layer of already made compost on the heap from the dalek bin beside it which will hopefully help the whole process.

We’re also in the process of looking through our seed tin. Even if we can’t do anything in the garden at the moment at least we can plan for the spring.

And if you’re finding the cold is getting to you, get your stereo/headphones on and have a listen to the studio version of Radio Clarion for an hour of trumpet based delights, well worth listening to. It also features at 8.40 minutes in a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” with tracks from The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook.

And thanks to our good friend Gerry Hectic here’s a great trackfrom Telefís ‘Falun Gong Dancer’ with Jah Wobble – Donkey’s Gudge Dub. Excellent stuff with a nice video too.

(Good) Tune for a Tuesday

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Cheers to Your Host from This is a music show for playing the version of Show us the way from Hell & Fire on last week’s show, and what a tune! And one that made us think of the wonderful Joya Landis and John Holt duet from years ago.

And talking of the excellent This is a music show here’s said episode of the show for your listening pleasure!

The trumpets sound, the angels sing

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A week tomorrow (and the Sunday after) Radio Clarion takes to the shortwaves via Channel 292 with a trumpet themed broadcast. Tune in on your shortwave radio or by clicking here at 1200 UTC on Sunday 23rd/30th January on 9670 kHz.

There will be a mix from One Deck Pete called “Don’t blow your own trumpet” featuring The Conet Project, The June Brides, Goldmaster Studio, Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebezeit & Holger Czukay and Handbook. After the broadcast the audio of Radio Clarion will be posted up here. #shortwavesnotdead #trumpetsnotdead

A tune for a frosty Friday morning

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A big cheers to Your Host of This is a music show “The finest second-hand vinyl finds only on shortwave” for alerting us to this tune from The Romeos from an LP called Precious Memories which was played on the show the other week. There’s is something about this tune that grows on you!