A foxtail lily and New York City

We’re expecting some cold conditions this weekend in London town (with a possible low of 1 degree) so the cloches and covers are still in place in the garden. The terrarium found in the street many moons ago is nearly being lifted off by the foxtail lily growing inside it (post from February here). We don’t want to take it off yet just in case. Look closely and you can even see the flower stem ready to reach up to the sky, and it’s not even Easter yet!

Now here’s a mad tune for a Friday night, very New York 80’s sounding, think New Order, Jah Wobble and ESG. This is one big tune! It’s off the Poli-Ritmo E.P. (available here) by Internal N.Y. Rhythms on Optimo Music and a belter it is, tribal with some added dubwise goodness! One for blaring out loud while hunting down that horticultural fleece!

The cloche is off!

Look at that foxtail lily. It’s been threatening to lift off it’s plastic cloche for days and it’s only the start of march. What a mad plant/triffid it is!

The plastic protector was put back on over it but it looks like Storm Freya has taken it on a journey half-way down the garden (remember when storms didn’t use to have names and we just used to say things like “The weather’s crap outside” or “It’s tipping it down out there”?). The lily it lives!

Find of the week

cloche

Found this mad cloche outside a house with a “take me” note the other night (it will need a few air-holes drilled in the top). Typically I was knackered and had a full bag of shopping with us so it was a bit of a bind carrying it home (it’s well heavy as it’s glass and quite large) but I reckon it’ll be worth it’s weight in gold!  The day after I thought I had another touch when I saw seed potatoes for a pound to clear in Robert Dyas. On closer inspection they were the unhealthiest seed potatoes I’ve ever seen! They all looked like dried prunes and the chits had grown into sprouts that looked like twigs and were well dried out. The only use for them would be the compost heap. Watch out for those so called bargain offers!

do they owe us a living?

Talking of composting, the other day I found the above mad article by chance which mentioned Dial House home of the punk band Crass. It’s a review of a two day compost toilet building workshop, brilliant! Question: Do they owe us a living?…