Tag Archives: Keith Hudson

Professional frost protection. You reckon?

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We woke up this morning and it’s way below freezing (-3 C at the moment) and the forecasters are telling us it will be like this for the next few days, so it don’t look like there’ll be much gardening done this weekend. Yesterday we did pop out and put some protection over the camelia that has loads of flower buds on it (above). This great bit of fabric doesn’t cover all of the plant and there isn’t any space between the cloth and the shrub where air can circulate but it’s the best we could get our hands on at the time. It will keep all the cats from the neighbourhood away thinking it’s a levitating ghost and may suggest to the neighbours that we’ve finally lost it but the big question is, will it keep the cold weather out?

While out there we saw this (below) in the wild bit at the bottom of the garden that made us smile. It’s some fungi growing beside our “economy” wild pond. This could be another picture for our Alternative to the BBC Countryfile Calendar that we will put into production one day. The wild pond is an old dutch pot that has one handle missing which we sunk into the ground, filled up with rainwater and the odd thinning from plants from the garden pond are popped in there every now and again.  We salute any wildlife that enjoys our “budget-friendly” pond.

And here’s a note from our sponsors (Aldi, Lldl and Argos of course!): Please keep warm this weekend!

 

 

The plant swap that keeps on giving

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Last year we swapped a comfrey plant and got in exchange some chilli peppers, one being the apache variety (above). Last autumn we remembered what our friend DJ Phil Harmony from Berlin once said, that chillies are perenials as in they’ll keep going if they’re kept out of the frost/winter.

And below is the plant this year that’s kept on the kitchen windowsill. Do bring them in over the winter, they won’t look they are doing much but they’ll reward you again and again! Look at the amount of chillies we have on it and warning, apache is a hot one!

A bit of improvisation

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The weather doesn’t look that great tonight, what with a forecast low of 4 degrees C. That’s the trouble with this time of year, we get a little bit of sunshine over a weekend and we think that the garden is under starters orders.

We’re a bit paranoid here, so we went out earlier and put what jam jars and a couple of plastic cloches that we had over some plants. We even improvised using those little plastic containers that glacé cherries come in, put over some small seed potato shoots. Let’s see how we get on with these tonight. Tomorrow isn’t looking good at 3 degrees C either so we reckon we’ll be putting them back on tomorrow too. It’s better to be safe than sorry as they say.

And just to add to the drama while we were out the back we were treated to a short hail storm. That’s all you need when you’re running about the garden at dusk covering random plants with glacé cherry containers and jam jars, what must the neighbours be thinking?

Hot You’re Hot

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My gosh it’s baking today so this makes it “classic lockdown” weather like what we had at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. A time when the only habit to worry about was taking single teabags down to the compost heap a few times daily. That was long before the daily trip down with a garden fork to give the dalek bin a mix took hold. Those were the days my friends…

And talking of friends we had one visit us yesterday evening (above) who perched on the bamboo cane supporting a tomato plant while we were sitting in the Dad corner giving it a bit of a Henry David Thoreau with a mug of tea.

Oh yeah, the erratically sown poppies (below) don’t half appreciate being out in this heat unlike us at Weeds who prefer a bit of shade!

So to all those gardeners (and non-gardeners) in lockdown wherever you are in the world, hang on in there, do keep in the shade and enjoy the current spate of classic lockdown weather with a few reggae tunes.

And while we’re on the Keith Hudson production thing.

Journey through the secret life of plant pots

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A big shout to our good friend Justin Moore in Cincinnati for letting us know about this far out LP by Mort Garson (who sounds like an interesting fellow) called Mother Earth’s Plantasia from 1976 subtitled “Warm earth music for plants and the people who love them”. Any LP that has a track called “You don’t have to walk a Begonia” is alright by us. The LP originally came with a copy of “Mother Earth’s hassle-free indoor plant book” by Lynn & Joel Rapp too. What a bargain!

Turns out Mort’s earlier output was used as incidental music during the 1969 moon landing. I mean come on it had to be, if one of the participants was called Buzz Aldrin. Lock those greenhouse doors from the inside, tune in and drop out!

Nine below Zero

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greenhouse tipIt’s started to get a bit nippy out there now, so it will soon be out with the fleece, cloches and the like.

I’ve already stuck some pots that I reckon won’t make it outside in the plastic greenhouse for the time being and will be sticking some bubble wrap around them this weekend too for extra protection.

If it looks like it’s going to be a hard winter I might even stick the whole thing in the garage!

The sun sessions

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That yellow thing in the sky came out again today so had ten minutes poking about the garden. It was a bit nippy but I still sowed some lettuce in the cold frame (It’s early I know but it was “leaf” day after 7am in the  biodynamic calendar so what have you got to lose, a few seeds?) and knocked off some weeds with the hoe. The big question is, will it soon be spring or have we still got the rest of the real winter to come? Who knows with this global warming lark.

if it don't fit don't force it

The forced rhubarb is starting to get on it’s way. All you do is stick a bucket (or a bucket filled with straw) over the top to keep it dark and warm, to fool the plant it’s spring and there you go  (I used the bucket the christmas tree was in.) In a few weeks it’ll be crumble and custard time I reckon.

And the overwintered garlic is looking good in their OCD uniform rows (below.) There’s overwintered onions in as well and I can’t help pulling up the immature ones and using as spring onions as they weren’t expensive at all to buy as seed onions so I got a big old bag’s worth.

clove er

Late last year I had a couple of cabbage looking plants that I had forgotten what they were, until some mates of mine said “it could be purple sprouting broccoli as that takes ages to mature” and they were right. Shouldn’t be too long before it’s ready to pick, but it’s taken a while though. I must remember to pick them before they fully flower or that’s it!

Purple rain, purple rain