Tag Archives: Shaw Taylor

Keeping them peeled in Cincinnati

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A big shout goes out to our good friend Justin Patrick Moore in Cincinnati for sending us a couple of pictures of garden related stuff found on his journeys last weekend. As Justin writes  “On Saturday afternoon, I was walking the dog and what did I spy with my little eye, but a garbage can full of little wooden fence slats. We have long wanted to put some fencing around the compost all the way in the back to keep the dog out of it (she likes to sniff through the old food, no wonder she is so gassy). Here was my golden opportunity!”

“Then on Sunday my wife and I were picking up our daughter and her dogs to take them for a walk in the woods. Out in the neighbors trash on the curb when we pulled up was a box of pots that my wife Audrey immediately scored and threw into the back of the car.”

“Audrey was fond of this band Blanche, and their song “Garbage Picker” and I agree that it’s a real good one.”
“You never know what you’re gonna find, so keep’em peeled!” Cheers Justin!

Keep them peeled!

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To paraphase the man like Shaw Taylor on Police Five, “Keep ’em peeled”. In this day and age people chuck out stuff with a view to someone else using it, “recycling” is what they call it. From old vacuum cleaners to 1990’s inkjet printers, people are leaving stuff out on garden walls, skips and next to rubbish bins everywhere for other people to take advantage of (if you can find the right inner bag and plug socket for the vacuum cleaner or suss out that major fault with the printer).

You can be lucky though, like we were the other day. On our daily excercise stroll we saw a few Iceland bags full of neatly pruned Irises with lovely cleaned roots that looked like they had been washed. Of course we took a bag, and why not?

A lovely space in our garden was made for them by pulling up some lemon balm by the tree that has other Irises beside them and then given a good water. Not bad for free eh? Meanwhile we have a multimeter with testing leads on the printer and still can’t find the fault. Stick to gardening freebies!

A little bit of give and take

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And found yesterday outside a garden wall was this nice plant pot even though it was on the heavy side and took a bit of effort to take home. As soon as we got it in the garden we plonked in a smaller pot which has a potato plant growing in it and it looks like they were made for each other. Keep ’em peeled!

A tune for a frosty morning

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It was a lovely day yesterday, the sun was out and it looked like spring had finally sprung but the lack of cloud last night gave us a bit of frost this morning. As Shaw Taylor used to say about watching the weather forecast especially after putting plants in “Keep ’em peeled”. And here’s a nice tune…

Funny what you find (version 2)

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The other day on our travels we found three small fibre/recycled card pots and also some giant wooden lolly sticks (for use as plant labels) alongside some plastic plant pots which we didn’t pick up as we have enough of them. It’s funny what you find when you’re out. Keep ’em peeled as Shaw Taylor used to say!

Shaw Taylor was never a sailor

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Found in front of Weeds HQ on St. Patrick’s day morning (below) this strange home-made hat stand/large cat scratcher is now in place in the garden for use later this season. What do you think we should have trained up it? A clematis, some sweet peas or runner beans perhaps? Let’s see how the mood takes us. To its left is the window frame we found years ago and to its right a mirror originally left out for the bin men. Isn’t it great what you find in the street?

 

Seek, and ye shall find my friend

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We weren’t feeling too hot over the xmas and new year period as another damn cold/flu struck, but as the garden was looking a bit on the neglected side an hour or so had to be designated to a bit of outdoor tidying up. This one was for the bed next to the garage that  earlier this year contained tomatoes, sweet peas and dahlias amongst other things (past posts about said plants in all their glory are in the links).

We dug up all the dahlia tubers carefully (some of them are the size of big spuds!) which are now drying out under the stairs even though last year we took a chance and left them in and they did wonderful this summer (post here). More on lifting the tubers here.

We even replanted a silver birch (one we found a couple of years ago in a Tesco’s bag with a note that said “Take me” on it outside a house locally see post here) that was originally by the pond but hopefully it will do better at the end of the bed. We’ll be probably moving it again as it’s so near the old garage wall but let’s see.

And as protection from forthcoming cold weather we stuck one of the plastic mini-cloches from another find, which followed the same pattern as before; left outside a house with a note with “Take me” on it (post here) over the Foxtail Lily that’s started to sprout a bit prematurely.

So wrap up warm, happy gardening and keep em peeled as Shaw Taylor used to say.

No tyres, no fires, no fridges

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When passing a builder’s skip do “keep ’em peeled” (as Shaw Taylor used to say) as you never know what you may find. We at Weeds have bagged all sorts over the years including a collection of terracotta pots complete with a bag of multipurpose compost, a nearly new IKEA table and even a carrier bag full of Happy Hardcore singles (also this lot in the bottom of the picture below). Some things will come in handy in the garden but if not, they can be stuck on ebay and any profit made can be put towards buying plants/seeds etc. A win win situation!

Be clever when looking through a skip though, don’t jump up and down in it like an excited child, a sly glance when walking past then a quick swiping movement (in and out) with the hand will suffice. Alys Fowler in The Thrifty Gardener mentions if she sees something of interest she will always ask the owner of the skip first out of politeness before actually taking it. She may have a point.

Once while driving past a skip with our good friend “The Portuguese man with a van” (number on request) we noticed some lovely pieces of timber suitable for making a raised bed. We got out and inspected the wood which was ideal width-wise but far too long to get into the van. Our man then disappeared into the back of his vehicle and procured a saw, problem solved! Whilst he was perched on the top of the skip just about to make the first cut, a very irate man came out of the house opposite shouting at the top of his voice “WHAT THE XXXX ARE YOU DOING?” with his wife in tow trying to calm him down. It turns out the wood had just been delivered and was going to be used the next day for his loft conversion. Thank god we found out just in time or that would’ve been an expensive raised bed! Ask first if unsure.

As well as skips, do have a lookout for stuff left out for the binmen and items left outside houses attached with a note saying “take me” on it. Remember rifling through other peoples dustbins is illegal and if caught you will end up on some sort of register and certainly be given an ASBO. 

Seek and you will find! #getstuckintoaskip

A Jasmine called Joey Ramone

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Plant variety name of the week is the Daylily called “Punk Rocker”. Wonderful stuff! Seen a Pelargonium King Tubby or a Hydrangea Clock DVA on your travels? We here at Weeds are always on the look out for music related plant name varieties so next time you’re at the garden centre “Keep them peeled” as Shaw Taylor used to say.