Thread: Hedge choices
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Old 21-04-2010, 11:37 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Tim Watts Tim Watts is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Apr 2010
Posts: 67
Default Hedge choices

wibbled on Wednesday 21 April 2010 11:12

Martin wrote:
The kids are bright enough not to eat random things
(I've already lecturered then on mushrooms and berries).
I lectured my kids on not eating fungi with the result that decades later
neither of them will eat anything with mushrooms in it.

I must admit, the lecturing I got on not eating fungi when I was little
has made me very suspicious of anything that isn't a shop bought very
obvious
white or chestnut mushroom! I got brave a few years ago and bought some
Interesting Mushrooms from the food market in COvent Garden at Christmas,
but ... it just didn't seem right!

Berries are something I'm happy to teach my children about. Blackberries,
raspberries and strawberries are not confusable with anything nasty.

Round berries take more skill but are teachable - lots of clues, like being
able to recognise the tree by its leaf shape etc.

Mushrooms - I'll pass. There are too many where a deadly and non deadly
version look very similar with a lot less other clues to identify them.
Unless I was shown a few by a known expert, I'll be giving random mushroom
hunting a wide berth

I even have trouble identifying meadowsweet[1] on sight but I know the smell
of the flower well, because I was shown by someone else.

[1] Makes a smashing tea, with mild sedative effects.

--
Tim Watts

Managers, politicians and environmentalists: Nature's carbon buffer.

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