Re: Gardening Thread.

[bb1]

We've had torrential rain here, Sabot - and it's just started again. Fortunately, the farmers got their harvests in a few weeks ago, but it's bad news for food prices, etc.

[Sabot]

Cattle Feed is always left this late, Bonny. Maize for Flour is cut in late August as is Wheat and Rape. But they do get huge subsidies for Cattle Feed. Some people even grow it in their back gardens. But then some people have very large back gardens.

I suppose that their activities tell me what the weather is going to be doing. They will also likely be out tonight cutting under floodlight. I still find this all to be quite fascinating because the ancient knowledge is just so ordinary to them.

[lily]

Have really enjoyed reading your comments, Bonny and Sabot. Cheers.

[Sabot]

As predicted, they were at it all night, and still at it today, although this no longer disturbs my sleep to any great extent.
The hire of these Combines does not come cheap, so they pick their time according to what they know of Weather Prediction.
They often keep going for days at a time, and largely rely on the age old Eau de Vie, which is why most people steer clear of Combines as they stagger drunkenly down the lanes. The Combines, that is. Heaven forbid that I should suggest that the drivers are drunk. But strangely enough, you never see a Gendarme when Harvest is in progress.

[Sabot]

Found some more interesting mushrooms yesterday. Very pretty, with red caps and white spots. And chewed by Slugs.
But I wasn't quite sure about them, so did a bit of Googling.

Either Poisonous or Hallucinogenic, but can be detoxified by cooking. No know deaths. But it can give you some very peculiar insights. Used by Shamans many centuries ago.

I think I'll give this one a miss. But at least I now know where to find them and what they are if anyone feels like going on a Trip.

[lily]

Send Tripz over?

[Sabot]

At last my Chrysanthemums are coming into flower. Beautiful they are, and the smell is wonderful. I cut a few for the house today. They were originally grown for All Saints and appear to stick to the programme. Except for the one that flowered earlier which I did buy early last year. That is dying now so I am going to move it shortly to the small patch that might or might not belong to my neighbours. It doesn't really matter because people rarely fall out about things like this around here.

Soooo, I can have a ball in a minute and buy Five new ones, but at 1 Euro a plant, who cares how many.

The Sunflower heads still haven't gone to seed, so I don't know what to do about those.

Slowly plodding through the garden waste. Hacked back the Honeysuckles and the effing useless GrapeVine which has still to produce a single grape. I am definitely going to dig it up shortly, or at least cut it down to an inch of it's. But I did warn it.

Off out with the dog in a minute, to get some more mushrooms which in my limited periphery have been amazing this year, due to the interminable rain no doubt. I am drying the hallucigenic ones, although God knows why. Maybe some Anti will cross my path.

[lily]

You could always send those mushrooms over to Helene. You know, Grenville's wife?

[Sabot]

You could always send those mushrooms over to Helene. You know, Grenville's wife?

I wouldn't waste a good hallucination on her, Lily.

It's actually a fascinating subject once you make sure what it is you might be eating. Some are Toadstools and some just plain Mushrooms, and a large amount of Toadstools are perfectly edible. In fact, often the more ugly ones are the best. But The French are frightful snobs about these things. They generally wouldn't give house room to an ordinary wild mushroom, while I would eat them in preference to the bland rubbish that you can buy.
So far I have never seen a Death Cap Mushroom.

Anyway, I eat the tops and the dog gets the stalks. Although I am not about to give him hallucinations either. And I have noted that Slugs eat Hallucinogenic Mushrooms. No wonder the little swines survive. They must spend the entire Winter spaced out.

This is such a wonderful time of year. But Apples have been a disaster and so have Chestnuts and Walnuts. This probably means that we will have a bumper crop next year.

[lily]

Well, she may well be able to hallucinate without mushrooms.

Oh, how I would love to see an apple tree with apples on it, Sabot. It sounds so......bucolic.

[Sabot]

Well, she may well be able to hallucinate without mushrooms.

Oh, how I would love to see an apple tree with apples on it, Sabot. It sounds so......bucolic.

Apple Trees with Apples on is sounding like a bit of a miracle to me at the moment, Lily.
I found this amazing tree last year from which they cascaded. But not only that, I was still picking them off the ground in January, and still not at all rotted. I thought I had found the font of life. And this saved me a fortune in apples for the dog. Rom eats a lot of apples. Good for his teeth, doncha know.
But this year I got about a dozen pitiful specimens, and that's it. I am really pissed off about this.

[lily]

Sorry, Sabot but as you said, you will have a bumper crop next year.

We have apples from China over here.........

[bb1]

A soothing photo of water and greenery for Lily:



Seasonal splendour: Derwentwater is surrounded on all sides by shades of green, russet, copper and gold

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220928/Scenes-Red-October-Magical-pictures-beauty-autumn-temperatures-hit-20C-warm-enjoy-it.html#ixzz29yYE8YLy
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

It's supposed to be warm in the UK this week. But I'm not convinced.

[lily]

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh, thank you so much, Bonny. Beautiful in the extreme.

[Sabot]

Off Topic, as if I ever do that. But if anyone has missed the last three Blog Posts of Anna Raccoon I do very highly recommend a remarkable and beautifully written true story, and I do know it to be true.

[bb1]

I've been reading them, Sabot, yes, they are fine pieces of writing, and deserving of a wider audience than a blog.

[Sabot]

And very pertinent to current affairs, Bonny. I am dying to see if I am not the only woman in Chrtistendom of that generation that didn't get groped by Jimmy Savile.
Yes it does deserve a wider audience but with a bit of luck it might get it.

[bb1]

I am a bit younger - honest - but I didn't either. In fact, I feel like the only female in the UK who never even met him. Or any of that BBC lot.

I was more your rebel without a clue, man, and they were like, the Man, man, and the Establishment, man.

If I had met Savile, he would have been far more likely to run away screaming due to getting a lecture about him being an Establishment lackey

[Sabot]

If he'd groped me I wouldn't have known what he was doing. Very ignorant, I was. And I don't think I had anything worth groping, as far as I can remember.

[bb1]

I hope Anna's got her tin hat and body armour on after the latest one.

[Sabot]

Certain people might try, Bonny, but I suspect they will find that they have bitten off a bit more than they can chew.

Who'd have thought that someone we know to be truthful was actually there, and knows where to find The Archives and Records.

[bb1]

Yup; I have no trouble believing that 'Auntie Beeb' are a shower of pervs - allegedly - but other allegations never sat well.

[bb1]

Oh, Heavens to Betsy! We have gone off-topic!

I saw one of these earlier today:



Ready to roll: The unseasonably warm weather, allowing some areas to enjoy temperatures of up to 20C during the day and no less than 10C at night, will be gone within 48 hours, say forecasters

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2222392/UK-weather-Cold-winds-blow-snow-showers-north-temperatures-dive-10C.html#ixzz2AG0t1Jem
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Not a sight that made me happy.

[Sabot]

Just been shopping and spent 16 Euros on three pots of Chrysanthemums. Two Rose Pink and one which is a mixture of Bronze, Yellow, and Pink Pom Poms.
I have always known that there is more than one plant in each pot, but I hadn't realised how many, which seems to be about five. The mixture looks quite startling and must be the latest fashion.
They did have some rather nice White ones, but expensive at 9 Euros each, so I shall just have to drag myself back again on Friday when hopefully they will be half price, if there are any left of course. The best always go first, obviously.

[bb1]

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