MATT HENSHAW

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

Henshaw's Horticultural Blog: Grow Your Own Celery from scraps ...

Merry Christmas Everybody ! I know this is not you usual xmas picture, but it is a time for sharing, and seeing as we haven't had a horticultural update for a while, as most of my little green friends are living in my little greenhouse, here's a simple all year round kind of gardening saving grace ...

Grow Your Own Celery from your scraps, simple as saving the end bit of you celery stork and plonking it in some water then watching the miracle of life continue day by day ... I trim it back on a daily basis and add to my green juices, that way the sticks grow thicker, stronger, quicker and you'll have some tasty, crunchy green celery on your hands in no time !!

Studio work this week and my last 3 shows of 2014 !!

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx
http://www.MattHenshaw.com/

#green #juice #garden #urban #celery #growyourown #revolution #kitchen #christmas #tips #useful #helpful #simple #easy #healthy

Peace, Love & Tea with Love, Matt Henshaw x

Peace, Love & Tea with Love, Matt Henshaw x



Peace, Love & Tea with Love, Matt Henshaw x

Goodnight - Matt Henshaw

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening & Goodnight ...

I'm here to tell you all that the first track from my next EP, OUT June 16th, has landed on YouTube, it's a bit different, I'm playing the piano, done some string arranging, bobbed along some bass lines and squeezed in a little guitar solo ... I hope you like it ! Please Listen, Like, Share, Subscribe & Spread The Love ! MHx

Goodnight - Matt Henshaw



3 more tracks to follow, some festival announcements and a whole load of Summer Madness !!

Peace, Love & Tea, MHx
MattHenshaw.com

Henshaw's Horticultural Blog

I started writing about my garden in October and right now in the Spring/Summer it's bloomin' lovely ... here's my little journey, and I'll keep you posted and hopefully expand and expouse upon my writings in the future, time permitting of course ... but remember it's cheap and easy to grow your own produce, nurture beautiful flowers and compost WILL save the world !

Tulips Are My Favourites

Things I Like ... Gardening

National Agriculture Day

Spring Gardening

Planting Season

How To Compost

Planting in Autumn & Winter

In The Garden With Matt Henshaw

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Henshaw's Horticultural Blog: Tulips are my Favourites, Happy April Everyone !

Just to reiterate, tulips are my favourite flowers ... just so you know ... just in case it comes up in a pub quiz one day !



It still astounds me that this ...



... can become this in just a few short months !



I'm leaving my garden behind for a week and heading off to Portugal for some Vitamin D so I'll leave you with this educational video to digest in the meantime ... The Botany of Desire ...



... you might be pleased to know I have successfully grown all four of these historically significant plants ! I think some of you should too ... "easy peasy" ... funny saying that, because peas can be quite tricky !

But if you're here for the music, then please watch this playlist on a loop ... or get your Spotify on ...



Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

Things I Like ... Gardening

Springtime is upon us ! There's nothing better than getting yourself in the garden, hence the existence of Henshaw's Horticultural Blog ...



I loves me some bulbs. The Daffodils, Tulips and Garlics are coming through right now and looking glorious. Come Henshaw trivia for you - the Tulip is my favourite flower. Every man should have a favourite flower, and know his fair maiden's too. And the spiritual paganistic symbolism behind each and every one, well, maybe not that much, but it's important to know what's growing, when where and why?!

I've always enjoyed pottering, my grandad Walter was my hero as an infant, he walked up to his allotment everyday and kept it pristine, weed free and everything in perfect rows. A great man! The other side of my family has pig farmers, keen pruners and very much outdoorsy kind of folk. We're all in the Domesday Book, William the Conquerer knew about the Henshaws, Millses, Hooleys and Watsons.



Gardening is Good. Gardening is Great. It can relieve depression, fatigue, give you a spiritual mystical energy that only getting your hands dirty and in the earth can bring. You are creating life, and in some cases, produce you can eat and live from !

And we need to spread the word to the little ones ! Here's me (above) with the beautiful Becky Edwards' daughter Evelyn. Thank goodness she knows the power of gardening, a shining example to all. Can't wait to hear how her herbs, veg and flowers are getting on !

Also, just a side note, composting can save the world ... or as those inclined to being pinickety about things, composting can help preserve the conditions of the planet to necessitate human survival on the spherical rock floating around the sun.



This is my mum. She likes getting out in the garden. But even if you haven't the time, nouse or energy to plant, rotate, harvest, etc. then get yourself out for a walk, get involved in some nature ... it'll do you the world of good, and the world.

It was her Birthday and Mother's Day in this last month, so as these things come bound together each year, please by my record so then this time next year she'll be reeling from all the nice things that I've done for her !!

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

Peace, Love & Tea,
Matt Henshaw x

Henshaw's Horticultural Blog: The Major Oak ...

Good Afternoon / Good Evening fellows,

Back to life, and back with the beauty of this world, for some inexplicable reason or another I entered my two pennies in the ring over on facebook last, and today for another inexplicable reason I ave driven around some lovely parts of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, and I thought I'd share my little friend in my garden ...



... Ladies & Gentlemen, the new Major Oak !

Don't worry Forestry Commission, or get your proverbial knickers in a twist, I didn't pinch this little fella from the roadside. He sprouted from a pot alongside my whiteberry bush, so I rescue him, separated him, nursed him to health and now I'm happy to say he's sprouted some lovely green oak leaves !

Here's my ode to Nottingham - 'Play The Game' - available now on my EP ...



Yesterday, I did a bit of Dr Botany work, rescuing some of Mia and the Moon's Laura Ann Ratcliffe's daffodils ... have a read of my recommendation of their beautiful music ... FYI daffodil pictured was saved from the roadside, Laura's daffodil were bigger, deader, and more of a collective in a tiny little pot with some moss, hence the big washing up bowl ... not pictured, Laura and her soup ladle that we used to go and pinch some soil from Bede Park ...



Peace, Love & Tea, MHx

It Ain't Easy / My Life OUT NOW !

Happy Birthday to my mum !

Get your copy of 'It Ain't Easy / My Life' Now from all good online digital retailers ...



Available now on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, bandcamp etc. etc.

7" Vinyl
A - It Ain't Easy
AA - My Life

CD
1 - It Ain't Easy
2 - My Life
3 - Play The Game
4 - In The Presence Of The Lord

Digital Download (available March 5th)
1 - It Ain't Easy
2 - My Life
3 - Play The Game
4 - In The Presence Of The Lord
Bonus 1 - My Life (Acoustic)
Bonus 2 - Play The Game (Acoustic)
Bonus 3 - In The Presence Of The Lord (Acoustic)

And don't forget I'm having a party on Friday 21st March @ The Cookie Jar, Leicester, United Kingdom ... details to follow ...

Plus, Manchester, United Kingdom, I'm heading to the Hard Rock Cafe on Thursday 13th ... see you there !

Check http://www.MattHenshaw.com/ for gigs and bits in between ...

---===DOWNLOAD LINKS===---
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/id814589358
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aint-Easy-My-Life-EP/dp/B00I8ZDJZC/
https://play.spotify.com/album/733AAcf7c2KcZ75SUFlpi3
http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.emusic.com/album/matt-henshaw/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep/14753983/
http://www.7digital.com/artist/matt-henshaw/release/it-aint-easy-my-life
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep
http://www.napster.co.uk/artist/matt-henshaw/album/it-aint-easy-my-life-ep

How To Compost - Henshaw's Horticultural Blog

Keeping you in tune with my gardening, I've just done a bit of weeding, tended to my patch and relocated my Christmas tree ... but what I'm really excited about ... is my compost bin ! (maybe a misappropriation of the word 'excited' there, but it is nice!)



This is my colourful compost. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I believe composting is the first step in saving human kind. I'm no dystopian, I don't think it'll get as bad as all that, but we'd like to keep this place nice, right? Making compost is the ultimate in recycling. You take a bunch of stuff you normally would throw away – eggshells, carrot scraping, yellowed lettuce leaves–throw them in a pile with some dried leaves, leave it all there for a while, and voila! Rich, brown compost! And while making compost won’t exactly save the world, if all of us in the cities, suburbs and estates made compost and used it instead of the petrochemicals, fertilisers, slug repelants, pesticides, insecticides and the rest of it that we pour on to our lawns and gardens today, our environment would be cleaner and safer for us and our children.

Composting helps the ecology, improving soil quality, improving drainage, aiding the growth of plants and hence improving the air quality. Composting has financial benefits too, and economical, saves you buying it in plastic bags, saves buying expensive mulch and transporting such things around the country. We can all have an abundance of great soil in our back yards, balcony or grounds. And we all know that growing your own produce is good for your wallet. The educational benefits are there too, every school, group or community around the country should have a compost heap. Learn responsibilty for your waste, reduce waste, learn about the circle of life, where your food goes and where your food comes from.

This may seems like just ranting, but that's just the kind of beat poet rambling gardener that I am, just taking a break from cleaning out the shed, having some lunch and a cup of tea and filling you in, so let's make a more succinct list, if you're anything like my brother, I know you'll love a list ... here's what to compost and what not to compost, in a Smash Hits style What's Hot and What's Not, or a Vice Magazine Dos and Don'ts ...

Compost ingredients

'Greens' or nitrogen rich ingredients:-
Grass cuttings
Urine (diluted with water 20:1)
Comfrey leaves
Nettles
Grass cuttings
Raw vegetable peelings from your kitchen
Tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds
Young green weed growth (avoid weeds with seeds)
Soft green prunings
Animal manure from herbivores eg. cows and horses
Poultry manure and bedding

'Browns' or carbon rich ingredients ie. slow to rot:-
Torn up newspaper and junk mail make good dry material
Cardboard eg. cereal packets and egg boxes
Waste paper and junk mail, including shredded confidential waste
Cardboard tubes
Newspapers & magazines (although it is better for the environment to pass them on to your local doctors or dentists' surgery or send them for recycling
Bedding from vegetarian pets eg. rabbits, guinea pigs (hay, straw, shredded paper, wood shavings)
Tough hedge clippings
Woody prunings
Old bedding plants
Bracken
Sawdust
Wood shavings
Fallen leaves

Other compostable items:-
Wood ash, in moderation
Hair, nail clippings
Egg shells (crushed)
Natural fibres eg. 100% wool or cotton


Do NOT compost
Meat
Fish
Cooked food
Coal & coke ash
Cat litter
Dog faeces
Disposable nappies


The key to getting great compost is to ensure that you get the right mix! You want to try and get a 50/50 mix of ‘Green’ wastes such as fruit and vegetable peelings and garden clippings and ‘Brown’ wastes such as newspaper, shredded paper or cardboard. Getting this mix right will help your compost to aerate and break down quicker.

However, there are some things you should never add to your compost bin including; meat, cooked vegetables, dairy products, dog faeces or cat litter, nappies, diseased plants or perennial weeds.

Love, Mud & Decomposition,
Matt Henshaw.
MattHenshaw.com
Facebook.com/MattHenshaw

PS. National Composting Awareness Week falls in the second week in May ... one for your diary !

With thanks to Leicester City Council, Recycle Now, Sustainable Man, The Zeitgeist Movement UK, GardenOrganic, HomeComposting.org.uk and Composting Will Save The World ...

In the Garden with Matt Henshaw - Henshaw's Horticultural Blog

It's been a long week. I've been threatening to write more blogs so here we go again, up the hill and around the bend. This week I've been writing - polishing up two new numbers for playing out loud live, one quiet moment for putting kittens to sleep and another one for my imaginary film soundtrack - and I've played a brand new song 'No Matter How' in a live radio session for 99.2 Hermitage FM that went out on Saturday night, to be repeated again on Tuesday night at 10pm. I've done an interview with John Sinclair of BBC Radio Leicester for the Leicester New Music podcast and lined up live sessions for Trent Sound in Nottingham plus Takeover FM Radio in Leicester. So what have I been doing in between ... gardening of course!



Preparing Your Winter Vegetable Patch

So, moving into a new house you've got to put in some elbow grease to prepare what few things you can plant in the early weeks of October. I arrived at a yard covered in weeds, waist high, and soil filled with big stones, hefty tree stumps, roots beyond roots, and, sadly, loads of broken glass. With a fork, a wheelie bin, new compost bin and a knife to get in the crannies of the old uneven slab work, pesky weed roots ! This picture may not seem too impressive - red wellies aside, which are obviously impressive - but that soil is looking immense considering it's starting position, I wish I'd taken a 'before' picture!

Make sure your soil is well dug over, remove all debris, save greenery, chopped weeds and little roots for the compost, but unfortunately some roots and tree stumps might be too large for the compost and might have to go in the bin; or you could save them for a fire in the future, leave to try and enjoy at a later date ! In terms of "saving the planet"; or, furthermore, the conditions for human life on this sphere we call earth, I truly believe that getting deep down and dirty and back to gardening, urban, rural, small or large scale, or otherwise, is the first step and the way to go for almost everyone. Composting is the simplest thing you can do. I'll expand on this theory at a later stage, and I'll give you some more hints, tips, journal entries and general garden fettering in the future. Hope you'll stick with me on Henshaw's Horticultural Blog, what have I planted? Seedlings?? Forking good times???

And, most importantly, stay cool, and keep listening ...



Peace & Green,
Matt Henshaw x

Another Image of "Me Playing Dad, Carving the Bird" ...

... with my bear hands like bare paws !

I'll let you know how I get on at Reggii's and how the new tunes sound in their demonstration format ....

Matt Henshaw on Music Vita ... video interview and review ...

The Music Freak Video Interview with Matt Henshaw

MusicVita.com - The Music Freak

Can’t Hold Back is the brand new EP by singer-songwriter Matt Henshaw, whose lyrical mod-indie credentials are being coupled with the unlikely combination of UK hip hop artist Reggimental, to produce this perfect EP, released on Rusty Juke Box Records on the 10th October 2010.

Henshaw, originally from Nottingham, has been in previous musical incarnations such as the band Censored, when at the tender age of 17, played Leeds, Reading and Isle Of Wight festivals, receiving substantial amount of radio airplay and supporting the likes of Snow Patrol, We Are Scientists, Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene, Arctic Monkeys, The Bluetones and The Holloways.

In true rock'n'roll style, exasperated by years of alcohol dependency, band in-fighting, struggles against the confines of unimaginative industry labelling, and the bitter dissolution of several personal relationships, he decided to go away. He spent a whole year where he didn't touch a guitar or sing a note, instead he wrote a novel and a series of short stories, started gardening, quit alcohol and decided to study film at university with no aspirations to sing again.

The Music Freak asked Matt to do his own video interview. Matt ended up doing quite a lovely job indeed.

http://www.matthenshaw.com/

MusicVita: The Online Music Club!

Matt Henshaw at The Gaff 23.09.10

The first thing that strikes you about Matt Henshaw is his dress sense, in a grey suit jacket his quirky sense of fashion makes him stand out from the crowd. However, the minute he opens his mouth all you can focus on is his magnificent voice, it wouldn’t matter if he was wearing a brown paper bag.

His voice is so different from what we are hearing in abundance at the moment, it is deeply soulful beyond his years. The Gaff club in Holloway road is the perfect place to stage the ‘Prove It’ show case which Matt is headlining along with Reggiimental who he is collaborating with. With is dark and gloomy but totally trendy décor and uber cool atmosphere it sets the perfect scene for his performance.

With his modest demeanour and this hugely powerful voice watching Matt is memorizing. The sound is unique, mixed with Reggiimental’s MCing it fuses two very different genres in a surprisingly successful way. ‘The Deepest Cellar’ is a track that has the funkiest bass line this side of the 70’s with an urban edge thanks to Reggiimental’s superb MC skills. The best song of the night is undoubtedly ‘Can’t hold back’ the title track from Matt’s forthcoming EP.

As with all of his songs there is a really strong soul influence but with relevantly modern lyrics thanks to Reggiimental. Matt sings ‘see my friends you have to live your life,’ and there is something that really resonates there. Uplifting lyrics and melody make this a real feel good song that can’t help but leave you smiling, and wanting to hear more.

It’s clear why Matt Henshaw is this year’s NME Breakthrough artist, and why the duo was voted by NME readers to open the Lovebox festival earlier this year. Matt, who the BBC described as ‘just perfect’ releases his debut EP ‘Can’t Hold Back’ on the 10th of October..

http://www.myspace.com/matthenshawmusic

- Jane Pople

Can't Hold Back from Matt Henshaw & ReggiiMental ... Dabelious Remix ...

So, the voice of ReggiiMental selling Dabelious clothing ... hope you like the remix refix ... the big hook is still in there ...

Here's an ad ...



And here's another ...



Get yourself some Dabelious clothing today ...
Dabelious Clothing as advertised by ReggiiMental and Matt Henshaw ... Official Website !!!

Also, click here to watch the Can't Hold BAck - Matt Henshaw youtube playlist that the Dabelious advert is a part of ...

Can't Hold Back official video uploaded to YouTube ...

Here it is folks ... have a watch ... enjoy it ... watch it back ... see humourous bits you didn't see first time around ... it's layered ... we made it like that ... starring Joey G-Zus and ReggiiMental along with Matt Henshaw for your viewing pleasure ... it's all facials people so I hope you like it ... Also, I've created a YouTube video playlist of some of my favourite Pop/Soul records that you can watch following the Can't Hold Back video ... the playlist also includes BBC interviews, bootleg footage and some teaser vids ... plus Britney Spears, Madonna, Pixie Lott, Lily Allen, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and more ... keep watching and stay soulful people !!! http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8B98CD8F0BB05998 Soon come ... my favourite Northern Soul songs and vids in their very own playlist plus a brand new The Deepest Cellar video ... and more and more videos from the Matt Henshaw factory line ... you dig ?

Can't Hold Back single download details ...

Your new sountrack to Summer 2010 ... say my friend you gotta live your life, add it all together we've got time, the river keeps on rolling far and wide, but you can't hold back, you Can't Hold Back the night ...

Follow the links to buy buy buy ... Purchase it at BandCamp ... Buy the whole album and get a FREE bonus track ... iTunes downloads ... Purchase at Amazon in the UK Purchase at Amazon in the USA http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LmNkYmFieS5jb20vY2QvcmZtaA==

Can't Hold Back (Single Edit) Matt Henshaw

Download Share

And don't forget to treat yourself to a FREE DOWNLOAD of the Adidas Trainers (Stan Smith remix) ... http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/track/adidas-trainers-stan-smith-remix/

Matt Henshaw - The Deepest Cellar Last.fm & Bandcamp updates ...

Click on over there now for some real treats ... Last.fm has loads of uploads and pictures for you to get to grips with and if you're a member be sure to add Matt Henshaw to your library ... http://www.last.fm/music/Matt+Henshaw ... and the Bandcamp page keeps on growing ... you can download all the latest Matt Henshaw releases in any quality you desire ... and you can be certain you may find a freebie or two if you look in all the right places ... http://matthenshaw.bandcamp.com/

The Crack Magazine, Dabelious Clothing & Adidas Trainers remixed ...

Simmi ? Busy weeks man, what days!? So, another pleasant review comes through from the Crack Magazine ... people still buzzing off the Deepest Cellar from Matt Henshaw and ReggiiMental ... and with good reason too ... it's a decent collection of tunes right and that to me makes a good album ... like they used to do in the olden days ... Check out the new video advertisement in a viral type standard for Dabelious Clothing and their remixed version of Can't Hold Back the seminal single from The Deepest Cellar complete with video filmed in Tamworth Town starring Matt Henshaw, ReggiiMental and Joey G-zus ... Also, get on the Adidas Trainers remixes, there's a whole album in the making, you can become a participant if you so desire ... get the accapellas or one of the different beats and creat your own tune and get it in to us ... Rusty JukeBox Records welcomes every brother and another ... If you want to know what all this is about and what's happening bang up to date check the myspace people ... http://www.myspace.com/matthenshawmusic With Love, Regards and Kisses for those who deserve them, Matt Henshaw x

Matt Henshaw & ReggiiMental on the BBC (update)

Extremely busy at the moment folks ... will return to blogging regularity when I get some spare seconds to update you will all the craziness following LoveBox ... times are high ... good good ...

Adidas Trainers (Stan Smith Remix) video uploaded ...

So here it is ... the official vid for the Stan Smith Remix of the classic single from the album The Deepest Cellar by ReggiiMental featuring Matt Henshaw ... as a FREE DOWNLOAD this version of this song has received alot of love and praise and has gone down a treat in the live arena ... http://www.matthenshaw.bandcamp.com and loads of other goodies ... why not try to make your own Adidas Trainers remix ... you never know you might get some free gear !!! http://www.matthenshaw.com http://www.myspace.com/matthenshawmusic http://www.youtube.com/user/ilsonowl