Tag Archives: herbs

Strange seeds and funky things

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This week we bought some seeds from the great Real Seeds. They offer a fantastic selection of unusual varieties, from chillies and herbs to edible flowers. The last time we ordered from them was a couple of years ago, back when we were still getting used to growing with peat-free compost and lost quite a few seedlings but we’re trying again. We ordered some walking onion bulblets and seeds of lemon drop hot citrus pepper, prairie fire mini-bush chilli pepper, Korean mint and marvel of Peru (AKA the four o’clock plant).

As per sowing instructions for the walking onions, we opened the packet and stuck the bulblets in a pot of compost straight away. Technically, you only buy one bulblet but they generously include extras in case of poor germination, we received four! Along with every order, they send clear growing and seed-saving instructions, and even recipes where relevant. Real Seeds really has its heart in the right place. Their passion for sustainable growing and seed saving makes them well worth supporting so have a butcher’s here.

While browsing their site, we spotted a recommendation for the excellent Grow Your Own Vegetables by Joy Larkcom. We managed to pick up a second-hand copy this week for under a fiver and it’s an absolute bargain!

Comprehensive ain’t the word, this book covers it all: tools and equipment, choosing and preparing your growing site, composting, soil structure, seed sowing and planting, clever space-saving ideas, and even a full vegetable directory packed with growing tips and advice. It’s one of those books you’ll keep going back to time and again for reference and well worth getting your hands on.

Have a great weekend and hope you can get out and do a bit in the garden!

Are we seeing things?

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It doesn’t take long for seeds to germinate in this weather. The above are from the mixed herb seed pack we bought from ebay and sowed on August 2nd, that’s been just a week! We kept the pots well misted/watered constantly especially in this heat. More on the seeds we bought here.

And this very odd photo above was taken about 11am this morning just after we watered a patch of grass that was looking well thirsty up near the house. If you look closely there are four cabbage white butterflies (we think, but we don’t know much about butterflies so it could have been any butterfly) who were in the process of jumping up and down and having a bit of a dance.

Or are they the Cottingley Fairies visiting London on the way down to the coast to have a break, who knows? #hallucinatinginlockdown #Isthelockdownoveryet?

It’s that time again, or is it?

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We’re working from home for the foreseeable future and on Thursday lunchtime we went for a walk (in a social distancing style of course) to clear the mind. There were queues outside the doctors, pre-corona paranoia, not a soul on the streets nor a sausage in the shop. We popped into Shannon’s where it was well busy! We purchased a big bag of compost and some seed potatoes (below) whilst other people were getting herbs, tomato plants and all sort of good gear that’ll come in handy in the months to come.

God knows what’s going to happen when it comes to getting fresh veg in the near future so we may as well make a start now! We’re already overwintering some onions and garlic and now warming up the raised beds where we may stick the odd seed potato in this week and take a chance. We using all the stuff we’ve found in the street or in skips like the terrarium, the window frame, the odd jar and some plastic small cloches to do the job. We’ve got a few rows of seeds in already and we’re going to do more. Why not? You never know what the weather’s going to be like.

And this thing (below) covered with a jar is a courgette seed, talk about starting early! Keep safe and when loneliness hits you during the day working from home, don’t go down the local shops as you’ll be disappointed, walk out to the back garden and tip around with a hoe for half an hour. It works wonders!

Songs to sow seeds to

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Songs to sow seeds to-March

Here’s a nice collection of tunes to accompany your seed sowing this month. It’s an excellent mix tape from Chronixx and Federation Sound as mentioned on the great David Rodigan show the other week.

It features some well known chronixx tracks over some classic rhythm tracks like jah jah jahovah, king tubby meets the rockers uptown, cuss cuss, monkey man, joyride and much much more!

This month is a funny one for seed sowing as it’s still not warm enough to sow everything outdoors but you can give some carrots, beetroot, kale, broad beans, leeks, parsnips, spinach and turnips a go if it’s not too cold. I sowed a row each of beetroot, carrots, lettuce and spinach the other day, if they don’t work, they don’t work and it’s only a couple of rows of seeds wasted.

You can always start these indoors this month: aubergines, herbs including basil and the like, brussels sprouts, cauliflowers, chilli peppers, sweet peppers and tomatoes and what about starting a pot of salad leaves on the windowsill.

It’s still a bit early for spuds but in a couple of weeks time it will be and the gardening season will get underway and we won’t know what’s hit us!

STOP PRESS: Cheers to our mate Ciarán in Canada for sending us a pic of his advocado from seed (and some find looking sage in the background) that have grown all the way through their mild winter. How good is that? avocado

Gardening in harmony

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Thanks to Dr Strangedub for the link-up again in our “dub gardeners of the world unite” series which this time features Phil Harmony who produces the excellent dubnight radioshow from Berlin. If you’re into roots reggae it’s a great listen!

Phil’s got a great little balcony where he grows his edibles and has made a clever plant table on wheels to capture more of those rays from the sun! Here’s Phil with the words and pics.

My name is Phil Harmony and I’m the founder of dubnight radio show, DJ, music producer and someone who loves gardening. To watch my plants grow, it feels like I’m printing money and getting richer everyday. I love to go outside on my balcony in the morning (well, what I call morning!) and take a look at my plants and I’m always impressed by what’s happened overnight.

I got into gardening through my grandma and parents, who had a garden when I was young and we grew our own potatoes, salad, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, spices and berries. At school we also had a garden and had gardening lessons and I learnt at an early age that the taste of home grown vegetables were much better than the ones you buy in the shops.

Now living in a flat in Berlin, I grow my own produce on a balcony (2.5m x1.50m approx.) and try to live a life that is as harmless as possible to the environment so I grow organically because we have enough chemicals in our lives. Phil_Future meals on wheelsThis year I decided to grow my vegetables in pots on a mobile stand slightly off the ground which gives them more control on how much light they get (pic above from earlier this season) and a hopefully a little bit more protection from the snails because last year they ate most of my plants (grrr!)phils table todayUsing some wood which I had lying around, I made a stand and stuck some wheels on the bottom and now have something that I can now move to follow the sunlight because I only get usually get about an hour a day but my plants seem to be okay with it. All is growing pretty nice so far and I cant wait to eat my harvest! Above is the plant table now.Phil_TomatoI have yellow cocktail tomatoes which are starting to ripen and tomatoes on the vine, a pepper plant and the world’s hottest chilli (below: the snack chilli and it looks great!)worlds hottest chilliI also grow herbs, marjoram and French and Morroccan mint, the latter which the snails seem to love!  Another favourite is Oregano, I tend to overwater it a bit and use it regularly, thats why most of it has gone! (We at weeds love those half circle concrete things in the ground that the herbs are in. If they are deep enough they’d be great to restrict the roots on say mint which tends to run riot once it gets started.)Phil_OreganoPhil_mint_2My Strawberries and Raspberries are in their first year so I’m not expecting much fruit but they’re looking healthy. Overall my soil could do with a bit more sand and sunlight, but the plants seem to live with it. The plants get regularly fed with a solution of stinging nettles which have been steeped in water and used coffee grounds added into the mix. Phil_Raspberriesstrawberries_philCheers to Phil for showing us his gardening exploits, it’s a great looking space and shows that you can grow vegetables and fruit anywhere!

Top of the pile(s)

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The top of the pile

There’s not much gardening been done in good old London town this week due to the Christmas festivities/very wet weather but this morning I did rip up a few big cardboard boxes from the kid’s christmas presents (image above with brandling worms posing at the top of the pile, the vain gits!) and whacked them in the compost bin in layers in between some kitchen waste (remember to keep your pile well-balanced, man!) And the more varied stuff you put into the heap, the better quality that will come out of it and all that good compost is free (and you can never have enough of it!)

Compost bin number 1 can’t take much more now so the other darlek type one I’ve just emptied (bin number 2 which I got gratis off the council, so check if you can do the same!) will now be the one I’ll start to fill again. Talk about full circle!

While down the bottom of the garden I noticed there’s still a massive pile of cuttings/prunings that couldn’t go in the bins and that I need to get rid of, so as soon as it all dries out (some chance with this blimmin rain) I’ll be getting that incinerator back into action (cue neighbours complaining and slamming their windows shut!)

Also one last thing. I’ve got some assorted herbs on my kitchen windowsill (Basil, Lemon Balm, Coriander and the like) and it’s attracting a lot of mini-flies even in this climate. Any ideas how to keep them away?

Herbman hustling

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I tidied up the last of the autumn leaves after slipping on a wet pile of them by the front door the other day when popping out a bag into the dustbin and whacking my shin on the doorstep. When collecting leaves I use the old council workers trick of using two bits of hardboard to grab a big load and then put them into a black bin bag. Rather than chucking it in the dustbin, I’ve stuck it at the bottom of the garden and will forget about it until next year when they’ll have turned into some great leaf mould. Excellent stuff to add to your soil and all for free!

cabbage patches and allI took the netting off the pond today as most of the leaves are off the surrounding trees now and put it over the overwintering cabbages to stop those pigeons and birds from having a go at them. Notice the once big pile of prunings behind which is now a lot smaller, thanks to the incinerator! I’ve stuck a row of broad beans behind the cabbages to overwinter too.

Herby HancockLast weekend I treated myself to a few terracotta pots and saucers (about £1.50 for both from the local garden centre, Shannons) to stick on the kitchen windowsill and sowed some corriander and basil then covered them with a small plastic sarnie bag until they germinate. I also bought a lemon tyme plant off ebay for £1.99 and that’s up on there as well. Herbs, you can’t beat em!