They say you better listen to the voice of reason

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As mentioned in the last post Radio Lavalamp will be taking to the shortwaves very soon, as in this Sunday 2nd May 2021 at 2300 UTC (Midnight UK time) on 9395 kHz via WRMI. The show features some chilled tunes and also a mix from One Deck Pete called “The Purple Nucleus of Creation 004” with tracks from Floating Points, London Symphony Orchestra and Pharoah Sanders, Betelgeize ft. Ilya Chistyakov, Tranquility Bass and Hrair. Turn on and tune in.

And on the weekend after (and the one after that) KSOL is back in orbit in a “Satellite of Love” mode. It’ll be broadcast out of Germany via Channel 292 at 2200 UTC (11pm UK time) on 3955 kHz on Saturday the 8th and 15th May 2021.

And in keeping with the radio theme here’s a song about CW (Morse Code) by the great Ivor Cutler that was heard on BBC Radio 4’s Great Lives programme this afternoon.

A tune for sundown

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Here’s a great tune from Hrair from a few years ago called Morning Star. It’s a lovely bit of chill-out with a rock dub influence weaved into it and features some nice “geetar” chops too! This one will be featured speeded up a tad in a forthcoming mix for Radio Lavalamp on the shortwaves very soon.

We’ve been busy in the garden enjoying the lovely weather this week so expect some gardening posts to come in the next few days.

Feeling cold, cold, cold.

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Big shout to our good friend Justin Patrick Moore for the weather update from his back garden in Cincinnati where last night they had snow (above)! The heating is back on in the house as the day started at 0º and later on there’s a high of 8º predicted. The Collard greens (below) which look well healthy, were protected by a small tree next to them and there’s some sprout seedlings indoors by the window keeping warm. Weather eh?

Caning it!

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We’ve started early with putting out the sweet peas in the side bed with some wigwam cane arrangements. They were grown from seed and hardened off for a few days outside before going out this afternoon. Well, we’ll give them a try and if they don’t succeed we’ll try (and try) again.

The plants in the raised beds with protection are starting to get going. There’s onions, shallots, chillies, spuds and tomatoes. Can we stick anything else in them? The old window frame we found in a skip donkey’s years ago has some cabbage seeds which have’t germinated yet. And in the foreground remains of the front garden wall that was stripped of its ivy (that was actually holding it up!)

After the frost has gone

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We just may be out of the frost danger zone here in London what with the forecast for warmer nights of 5 ºC next week. We’ve still got those teepees made out of broken bamboo canes and chucked out fabric on hand just in case as you never can tell with the crazy weather we’ve been having.

At the time of writing (9 am on a Sunday morning) we can hear the sound of a lawnmower which will not win the hearts of anyone living next door to them.

We here prefer to listen to the sounds of the above, a garden related tune called Dahlias by Asta Hiroki. Far more mellow sounding on a Sunday morning than an engine of a Hayterette. Enjoy the lovely weather we’re supposed to be having this week!

A transmission from the lamp

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Via WRMI we have another transmission from the mysterious Radio Lavalamp this Sunday/Monday 18th/19th April on 9395 kHz. When the clock strikes 2300 UTC or Midnight UK time DJ Frederick takes to the helm to sail solo in the Lavalamp studio. Expects some chilled tunes!

Coir baby that’s really free!

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The above looks more like a construction project especially with the wood saw and the B&Q 99p bucket but we were trying out the coco grow+. It’s that coir stuff that when you add water it becomes potting/seed compost. Not bad if you’ve had sciatica and your carrying skills ain’t as good as they were last year. We didn’t want to use all of it so took the hint from Shannon’s who told us to use a saw to cut it. A good tip if you don’t want to use it all at once. We’ll keep you updated on how it goes and if the plants like the medium.

We also couldn’t get to the garden fork today to turn over the compost heap for the first time this year so grabbed a spade that had it’s uses to cut in half some old cabbage stalks and gone off sweet potatoes. It’s hard trying to turn the compost in those dalek bins but as long as you don’t mind the odd scraping of the knuckles it sort of works. Well sort of.

And here’s a tune you may hear on a forthcoming mix, it’s from Khotin and the track’s called Heavy Ball.

An alternative to a touch of frost

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We’ve had a bit of sunshine here in London over the weekend but the nights have been cold. Last night we’re sure we had a frost and there’s a good chance of one tonight so we’ve been out with the plant protection earlier just in case.

Next Sunday expect some sunny vibes and great tunes from KSOL “The sound of sunshine and soul on shortwave” on 9670 kHz at 1500 UTC (4pm UK time) and also repeated the week after on April 25th 2021 via Channel 292.

There’s a mix by One Deck Pete called “A bit of sunshine and soul” which’ll feature tunes by Jackie Lee & Delores Hall, Cat Stevens, George McCrae, Carl Bean and Love Unlimited. Tune in for some so(u)lar warmth! #soulonshortwave #shortwavesnotdead #whenwillspringspring?

John Wayne won’t be big leggy

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We don’t know if it was the great Joe Maiden or someone on the council who told us this great “pinching out” tip that makes sweet peas that little bit bushier but whoever it was, it works.

We’re also not sure if we should have waited a little longer (when there were more sets of leaves) but the other week we just went for it and nipped the growing end out (just above the leaves) and you can see now some new growth from out of the lower leaf nodes. The whole idea is to stop the plants becoming tall and “leggy”, encouraging more side shoots which in turn will bring more flowers. We haven’t done too well over the last couple of years with sweet peas so let’s see if that changes this year.

Locking stable doors after horses bolted

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Yesterday was a funny old day, cold with a bit of sunshine and then in the late afternoon a very light slurry of snow! Crazy eh, but then again it’s only the first week of April.

This morning there was a light frost on the grass, thank God we put out the teepees of old fabric as protection yesterday afternoon. Walking back into the house we thought of the site someone told us about a few years ago that has a frost predictor of sorts. Just go here, tap in your location and it’ll give you a rough estimate of when you can expect the last frost but then again it’s no guarantee so our fabric teepees are going to be on hand for a few weeks yet!

And talking of stables here’s a couple of tunes that’s just came to mind. The Billy Hope version even has a sort of “Steptoe and Son” vibe at the start (very in keeping with the horses theme!)