We’re listening to some mix-up business on Venture FM at the moment with PD Coolie. We’ve already had Terry Jacks’ “Season’s in the Sun” (a formative record with one Andrew Weatherall god rest his soul), The Archie’s “Sugar Sugar” covered by Big Youth & Junior Byles above, The Jamaicans with Baba Boom and earlier Fats Domino with Blueberry Hill that put us in mind of this version from the great Jah Wobble. Radio, as a medium you just can’t beat it!
How mad has this year been? If someone would have told us in January that we’d be spending 3 months indoors and that in July we’d be turning the compost heap once a day with a garden fork, we’d tell them that they were raving bonkers.
It’s nearly August and we’re still in lockdown, our mental health may be suffering but at least the garden is coming on well! We didn’t have much luck with the broad beans and peas this year sadly and with peas you really have to grow rather a lot of them to get a decent amount to have with your dinner. As Robert Wyatt once sang “Is it worth it?” Perhaps it is. At least one of our favourite flowers, the humble dahlias are starting to come out, well sort of (above). Give them time.
The broken up paving slabs we took up at the back of the house which were laid out at the bottom of the garden by the pond during a bit of furlough are starting to settle in a bit. We used the box of Beneficial Flower seeds from Thompson & Morgan we got back in March and sowed them around the slabs and apart from some confusion when they first started germinating (“Are they weeds or are they the beneficial flower seeds?” “That’s bindweed that is..”) we’re now seeing some results (above).
And the vegetable bed we were supposed to be resting (and originally where the beneficial flower seeds were going to go) and then due to the lockdown and the local shops having a 3 potato per person rule we put in a couple of rows of spuds, then onions, then broad beans and now it’s mainly nasturtiums swamping said spud plants near those tall cardoons. Next year, we swear we’ll rest the bed!
Oh dear, we’ve just looked at the weather for tomorrow. Looks like rain, that barbeque will have to wait until Monday night then! #gardeninginlockdown
Big shout and thanks to our music/gardening mate Gerry Hectic for pointing us in the direction of this brilliant tune from Equal Echo called Warrior. Can it get any better than this?
It makes us laugh, we’ve got some cardoons at the bottom of the garden we bought in Shannon’s a couple of years ago, they were only a few quid and they didn’t come with any claims about them being giants or anything, all we got were a couple of unassuming healthy plants with a plant label in each pot. We’re on the second year now and both plants are near on seven and a half feet tall and there may be more growth left in them!
Now compare those cardoons to the giant sunflower we got on ebay. In the ad for the seeds there were all sorts of claims of massive, large, tall and the like and there even may have been mentions of it being the actual plant in Jack and the Beanstalk. Use the small cabbage on the left of it as an indicator of scale. That is no giant cabbage!
And here’s an oddity (pic below) from one of our raised beds. The lime green fruit towards the top of the pic is a tomato. The dark green one towards the bottom, just behind the poppy bud is the fruit of a potato. Eat that and you’ll regret it!
As it says on wikipedia: “After flowering, potato plants produce small green fruits that resemble green cherry tomatoes. Like all other parts of the plant except the tubers, the fruit contain the toxic alkaloid solanine and are therefore unsuitable for consumption.” Now we know!
Here’s a perfect tune for a Monday night, a day where the sun came out and then we had a bit of rain. It’s from Tabitha Project and it’s called Aguamar released on the Berry Parfait label. It’s a tune and if all goes well it’ll appear next month on Radio Lavalamp.
One Deck Pete presents “The Purple Nucleus of Creation 001” which was broadcast on Radio Lavalamp on Sunday 12th July 2020 on 3955 kHz. This is the studio version of the broadcast. #shortswavesnotdead #radiolavalamp
Tracklisting:
Carlos Pizzetti – Lucky Star (Interlude) – Popular Computer
Zane Moss – Found – Gloria Recordings
Julie Østengaard – Is That You? (Part 2) – Phinery
100th Monkey – Blessed Love – Disco Gecko
Mahamboro – Inane – Orange Cliff
Blundetto – Paseo – Heavenly Sweetness
This mix is dedicated to Mrs Deal and all from the 2nd planet from the Sun Kruger, 60B.
It’s mad, the photo above shows the raised beds just before lockdown in March. My, how time’s flown eh? How many week’s have we been lockdown for? 14, 15, 16? The garden isn’t bothered how long though, it’s cracking on and with this present warm and wet weather here in London it’s getting on with what it does best. Look at those raised beds now (below), the spuds (Two bags of seed potatoes from Shannon’s. By the way the garden centre did a sterling job getting people supplied with stuff around the start of lockdown) are starting to take over and it’s becoming a bit of a jungle around there. There’s peppers, lettuce, carrots and a cabbage somewhere in amongst that lot! That’s our new incinerator too, ta for Marc B for dropping that off in a social distanced manner!
We’ve pulled out a few handfuls of spuds from around the potato plants making sure that the plant wasn’t disturbed too much and then we piled the earth/compost over the crown of the plant so any spuds near the surface wouldn’t have the chance to turn green. And here’s the spuds (below), we’re confused if they’re the first earlies, second earlies or premature maincrop ones. It doesn’t really matter, they tasted excellent and what did they taste of? Yes potatoes but real potatoes!
The lockdown may be getting us all down but if you’re fortunate enough to have a garden/windowsill/balcony and growing stuff, you know that it keeps you that little bit sane(r)! By the way here’s two tips we swear by here at Weeds, the first is to nip the sideshoots out of your tomato plants (not if they are the bush variety though) so all the goodness goes into the main stem and the flowers.
And a silly but effective one, if you know it’s going to rain get the hoe out a few hours beforehand and just scratch up the surface of somewhere in your garden that don’t look that grand. Below is a particulary not brilliant bit at the bottom of the garden which seems to get all sorts of weeds and bindweed a lot. We gave it a good “tip-around with a hoe” (as they used to say in the council) yesterday and it now looks great! We’re hoping it get’s a good covering of borage for the next couple of months to keep the bees happy. Happy lockdown gardening! #gardeninginlockdown #goingmadinlockdown
Lockdown is affecting us in more ways then one.Take a look at the radio for instance, the BBC has taken off the great Radio Leeds Sunday Gardening Show with Tim Crowther and we’ve just heard today they’ve done the same with Steve Barker, Fenny and Jim’s On The Wire on BBC Radio Lancashire (so that’s no Funkology with Pete and Andy either) that ain’t right!
As Jethro Binks wrote on Facebook/Twitter: “If you feel moved to voice your opinion then I know the BBC is always open to feedback, best write to the station manager at BBC Radio Lancashire john.clayton@bbc.co.uk and copy to the Head of BBC Local Radio chris.burns@bbc.co.uk”
Protest and (let decent radio shows) survive or the future may be Dire Straits remixes. Send an email to the BBC or you know what your future may hold! #saveonthwire #saveonthewireagain #stevebarker #funkology
Tune in to DJ Frederick’s Radio Lavalamp on Sunday 12th July at 2200 UTC (11pm UK time) on 3955 kHz via Channel 292. The transmission will feature amongst other things One Deck Pete with a mix called The Purple Nucleus of Creation 001 featuring Carlos Pizzetti, Zane Moss, Julie Østengaard, Mahamboro, Blundetto and this great tune below from 100th Monkey.
Tune in to Radio Lavalamp, your ethereal shortwave music station on 3955.
#shortwavesnotdead #radiolavalamp #Thepurplenucleusofcreation001
Will it rain again, will the sun come out or will we all be blown away by the wind? That’s the questions on our mind whilst in the garden just. We’ve already stopped mowing half way through doing the grass in the back because of the heavy showers.
To cheer ourselves up we’ve taken some pictures. Here’s a great self seeding poppy (above) and a small fruit truss forming on another tomato plant (below). Just because we’re in lockdown, nature don’t stop does it? #lockdowngardening #halfmowngrassrulesok
Weeds up to me knees 