Professional frost protection. You reckon?

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!

 

 

London Bridge is burning down

Big shout to our very good friend The Rhythm Doctor (of The Rhythm Doctor’s Waiting Room on IDA Radio – Tallinn on a Monday morning here) for telling us about this excellent collection on Bandcamp from Don Cavalli.

It’s called Don Cavalli chants down babylon and what an EP it is! There’s 4 top tracks including this above, his interpretation of The Wailers Fire Fire AKA Bunny Wailer’s Love Fire. We implore you to listen to this EP and make a purchase.

Giving it all away

A great thing about gardening is the passing on of stuff (whether it be it seeds, tools or plants) from one gardener to another. We don’t “give to receive” but there’s something nice about imparting something and then weeks later you get given something from someone totally unrelated. A Zen mate of ours told us this was “the universe rearranging itself”.

This week the universe has been on the rearrangement tip as the other day while going through the bag we take to work we found a folded piece of loo roll with a peg on it. “What the?” we thought as we began to unravel the mystery packet (above: packet with foxglove and lily seeds). Then we remembered a friend had given us some foxglove seeds.

On Thursday we had a workmate kindly pass on some lily seed heads (we’ve never grown lilies from seed before so any advice appreciated!) and last night a Tai Chi classmate brought in these well-healthy foxglove seedlings (below) which went in today. It now looks like we need to repay the universe for this week’s gifts. Anyone fancy some Egyptian onion sets?

 

Brand new secondhand

The other day while sorting through a box of old magazines and yellowing punk fanzines we came across a piece we wrote for the good folks at Mojo Collections* (Big shout to Mark Paytress!) many moons ago. Reliving the memories of some of the best second hand record vendors from the past really made us smile. We are presently writing a piece about all the crazy things we’ve experienced while downloading MP3’s, so do look out for that as it’s looking quite lively at the moment! Below are the fine tunes that are featured in the Article.
*Please note: all prices were correct at the time of going to press. All terms and conditions apply. Remember your home is at risk if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or another loan secured on it.

https://soundcloud.com/weedsuptomeknees/prince-buster-and-the-all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6ZQNyCgW3o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-VhLO_5fpM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aVWgoF1bFU

Have you memories of a second-hand record emporium that smelt of rising damp, a sheepskin-coat wearing market stall vendor whose records had no prices on them or a favourite mail order outlet that sent you anything other than the record you wanted? A story of a great tune found between piles of such classics as Singalongamax and I missed again at your local charity shop? You once paid an arm and a leg for the Contempo – Black Jade dub LP from the Record and Tape exchange only to find Status Quo’s You’re In The Army Now 12″ when you got it out of its cardboard sleeve on the bus home. Well we would love to hear from you!

Guy Fawkes on Stella

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BobeDDJxuIk

Sounds from The South 13 – Nightmare in New Cross
Our contribution to The Dirt this week is a true halloween tale set deep in South London. Tune of the week is from the The Wailers with Fire, Fire. This is the last show on a Sunday night when The Dirt moves to it’s new spot on a Monday, same time, same channel. Keep it locked!

Have a listen on play again here and Sounds from The South is 7.30 minutes in. Cheers again to Si, Ricky and Paul!