Tag Archives: Lewisham Council

Don’t give ‘em to the council*

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*Sung to “Go tell it on the mountain”.This morning we braved the cold and did about an hour’s worth of work in the front which ain’t bad considering we haven’t done much gardening of late. It was mainly raking the fallen leaves which we put in the gardening refuse wheelie bin for Lewisham Council to dispose of. Then we had a brainwave, why let the council gain from the ingredients of some potential leaf mould when our garden could benefit from the stuff when it’s ready.

It’ll take a while and ideally we should have made a chicken wire cage for the leaves where the air and rain could get to them but we remembered we had a darlek type compost bin in the garage with no top going to waste so we made use of that. It’s not ideal but it’ll do and probably make a good home for an overwintering hedgehog or two if we’re lucky. More on the benefits of leaf mould and how to make it here.

And guess what turned up amongst the leaves in the front garden this morning, the Theatre of Hate stone (above). This natural punk oddity was originally found on the beach at Camber Sands a few years ago and has been resident by the garden pond in the back for a long while. How it “chicken danced” its way to the front garden I don’t know. Next time Kirk Brandon is doing one of his gigs we’ll present it to him, we’re sure he’d love that!

Underground Resistance

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Underground greenhouseCheers to our good mate Jim N for letting us know about this subterranean greenhouse idea (aka Walipini) which was on the Jetson Green website (who do a great line in other bonkers stuff – last week it was glow in the dark plants to replace lights!) The idea is well clever but I honestly can’t see Lewisham Council or the neighbours (“I’m sure they’re having parties down there”) appreciating me building one down the garden! More on Walipini’s /Pit Greenhouses here.

purple people eaters

The past week and a half we’ve been harvesting Purple Sprouting Broccoli. The plants took so long to mature I’d even forgotten what they were late last year! The most important thing with PSB is that you have to keep cutting the heads regularly after they start even if it gets a bit too much in the eating stakes (“What, Broccoli AGAIN?”) Once the heads open out and flower, it’s the end of that and the plants will stop producing.

salad in the cold frame

There’s even some action in the mini cold frame down the bottom of the garden (the old window frame found in a skip stuck on some bricks), the overwintered garlic is coming on and the mixed salad leaves (obtained in a 5 pack veggie seed bargain on ebay for a couple of quid) sown a few weeks ago have started. Spring has sprung my friend!

The way I walk is just the way I walk

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57rJsSQqVEg

There’s a brill offer at Shannon’s Garden Centre in Forest Hill at the moment, they’re doing five herb plants for a fiver, that’s good isn’t it? It’s a great place, well stocked and the staff are always eager to help.

walk the walkI was around there as soon as I found out about the offer and for my fiver I got a Mint (I needed some leaves for a kebab recipe that afternoon and there was none in our garden, far too cold!), Coriander, Lavender, Rosemary and the very odd Tree Onion (aka Egyptian Onion.) If you’re around the Forest Hill locality and want to take up the offer click here for the form to claim your herbal discount!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc-KgDcKPY0