Tag Archives: Dahlias

Operation Foxglove

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It was another lovely weekend so we did a bit of tipping around with a hoe around the bed nearest the house that have the foxgloves in them. We were given three plants a couple of years ago and they’ve spread like wildfire. There’s some dahlias in there that still haven’t sprouted yet and we wonder if we’re either not patient enough or something’s wrong with them.

The bed of the right hand side had a tidy up too. It’s looks a million times better and we can actually see what we have in there now. A few of the plants were bought on special offer on QVC off the telly last year. We were told they supposedly do a great gardening show on there on a Sunday morning.

As for the madness that is the compost heap, the stuff in there is breaking down a lot quicker than the dalek and it’s hell of a lot easier the get a fork in for a quick mix too.

Trouble is at the moment there’s a lot of flies about there meaning it’s a bit unbalanced. There’s a lot more of the “green” stuff in there and needs a bit more of the “browns” so in the next few days we’ll give it a good mix and throw in some cardboard and egg boxes. It’s all kicking off in the garden now!

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 ÂșC 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!

There’ll be no venturing out tomorrow

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Above is the weather forecast predicting heavy snow for the SE23 area in the morning. And we were thinking of forking up those frost-bitten dahlias and bringing them indoors to be stored until the spring. Doubt if they’ll be much chance of us being out the back tomorrow.

There’s a couple of pots of coriander and basil seeds in some houseplant compost sitting on the kitchen windowsill with a freezer bag put over each to give them a mini-greenhouse effect in an economic style. Will they germinate is the question but it’s worth trying.

And here’s a just discovered nice tune in a downtempo style to make you forget of the crap weather to come by John Hobbs called Last Night in Barcelona on M-Sol a hypnotic tune you want to keep rewinding. Stay safe and stay warm!

The weather it is a-changin’

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Wow, it’s December can you believe? No wonder it’s freezing out there and the rest of the week looks like it’s going to be getting colder. We’ve heard from our gardening pals in Cincinnati  (Cheers Justin!) and Freiberg, Germany (Cheers Jazz’min) where they’ve had their first dusting of snow so I doubt it won’t be long until we’ll get some.

Those dahlias were still looking fine last weekend but we reckon it won’t be long till the frost comes and blackens the plants when it will be time again to dig them all up and stick them somewhere frost free and dry for the rest of the winter, keeping an eye out for any rotting or mouldy tubers while they’re in storage.

We can’t complain as those spikey orange ones have been great this year, flowering right up until we last looked so going to the effort of digging them up and storing them indoors is a small price to pay for a few more years of the same.

And the nice plastic looking pink variety we were given this year was great too (cheers Marc).

And the beds in front of the Dad corner (that has been productive this year thanks to the new raised beds) have been tidied up a bit and now ready for the winter. In the pic you will notice a couple of cabbage stalks that we left when we cut the leaves off them. Not sure if it will happen over the winter but usually when you cut them off like that, the leaves grow back again. Value for money or what?

Misty in dub

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The weather’s been alright up until last night when it felt more like winter. We even had a visit from the Lewisham Heron yesterday who couldn’t get any of the fish in the pond due to the fine pea netting thrown over the top and gave up his statuesque posing after a few minutes. This morning we woke up to the above, mist galore. We reckon they’ll be a few jobs to be done in the garden this weekend, digging up dahlia tubers maybe one of them!

And here’s a great tune for those cold dark nights indoors, A man called Adam‘s Tic Toc (Disco Rockers Dub). It’s excellent stuff indeed, a nice off the wall dub mix reminding us of those great dub B sides on scratchy seventies seven inchers.

Which made us think of another great interpretation of dub from Bronx Dogs of Sizzla’s Rain Showers another piece of clever mixer madness with some nice cut ups thrown in plus what sounds like Tubby’s “Squawky”. A nice tune that works very well even at 33!

And while we’re looking back a few years here’s a great tune Imperial from Lazy Boy that has a lovely dub interlude at 1.16 mins in which could go on for ever in our eyes!

Dub don’t you just love it?

The return of the golden birch

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We had some nice weather during lockdown yesterday and during the lunch break (as we’re working from home) did a little bit of tidying up in the garden. Little and often as they say, even if it is just walking up and down the garden path wielding a pair of snippers and clipping here and there (cutting off the odd dead tomato and courgette stalk). It’s still gardening though isn’t it?

The stuff we sowed in the raised beds at the start of lockdown are still making progress, there’s some beetroot to be harvested, probably two parsnips and the odd tiny lettuce. It ain’t the good life for sure but it’s the life for us!

The upside down terrarium/fish bowl found in the street certainly gets used in the Weeds garden, it might have been moved yesterday to cover a pepper plant that is still going strong but previous to that it was keeping a bit of sprouting ginger and some garlic seedlings warm.

And just to prove it ain’t spring, our silver birch found in the street three years ago here is turning a lovely old shade of golden. It is November you know? The dahlias don’t seem to know it though! #lockdownlunchbreak

Getting your fork on

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We’ve been furloughed again for two weeks so it’s back out in the garden for some sanity! It’s never ending this gardening lark and if you want something to do you’ll soon find that “something”.

Whilst working as a council gardener years ago I was told that one of my fellow co-workers was watched by the boss (and “Dave the driver”) from a hidden council truck and was seen staring into space for nearly an hour, smoking a roll up with one foot on the garden fork. I mean an hour just staring into space is some feat (never mind with one foot balanced on a gardening fork!), he should’ve got a medal!

It’s a shame said worker didn’t say to the boss he was “practising mindfulness” as when he was finally caught his excuse to the gaffer was “I’ve ran out of things to do”. Never EVER say you’ve nothing to do at work especially in the councils of yesteryear. The next day he was handed a four sheets of typed A4 of jobs that had to be done by the weekend and was told there was more of the same to do when he’d finished. They got rid of the bloke in the end, I wonder why?

This morning’s jobs from the A4 sheets was to clear out the side bed but keeping the gardening anarchy of courgettes, carrots, dahlias and whathaveyou. And what’s wrong with some gardening anarchy?

We’re now running for the shade!

What a good year for the roses

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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

One more night AKA No Frost Required

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It was funny old weather again today, cold then later on in the day it heated up a bit. Judging by the weather forecast for tonight it’s supposedly the last one where there’s a possibility of frost (London has a low of 3 degrees tonight and then tomorrow night it goes up to 7). Our hotchpotch collection of frost protection is out in full force this evening complete with an old duvet cover thrown over some of the spuds (we got that great idea off twitter the other morning!) One of the potato plants is even starting to form flower buds. How long have they been in the ground again?

Also the dahlia’s are starting to show through so some of that black membrane we bought to stick under the decking before it went up has been thrown over the top. What month is it again? And whilst you’re there, can you tell us the year? #gardeninginlockdown #canwecomeoutnow?