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Asparagus berries
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message t... This morning I noticed a few bright red (beautiful) berries on some asparagus ferns. I know I've read something, somewhere about this but can't remember what was said. Do I leave them on, remove them or just cut down the whole ferns? TIA Mary _______________________________________ Hi Mary, Asparagus plants are either male or female and both produce flowers. The male flowers pollinate those on the female, which then grow into berries. Because the female plant uses up a lot of energy in producing the berries, it is also not as healthy, doesn't live as long, and produces fewer spears than a male (up to a third fewer). It's best not to allow the berries to fall on the ground mainly for two reasons; the first being that they will sprout to form new plants and cause overcrowding. However, these can be removed when weeding, as necessary. The second reason is a fungus, called "fusarium wilt", which will kill asparagus and can spread from the mother plant, via the seeds, into the soil, producing red streaks at the base of the shoots before the inner root tissue collapses. How likely this is, I don't know! The RHS advises that you remove any female plants and yet you can buy both female and male crowns. Growers are working on producing all-male varieties to benefit from the better harvest and there are several on the market at the moment, including - Jersey Giant, Jersey Prince, and Jersey Knight. How do I know all this? I'm no expert but I have a bed of about twenty asparagus ferns, out of which three are covered with berries. One gardening book said, "Never let the berries fall on the soil" but didn't give a reason. None of my other gardening books mentioned the berries, so, I've spent hours, over the past weeks, reading, asking questions, and searching the Internet trying to find out why. I only managed, from many sources, to piece the story together yesterday. I like to know the full story and hate being told to this or don't do that without being given a good reason why. If I know why, I can make my own judgements in future. I hope this helps. Best regards John |
#2
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Asparagus berries
On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 John Vanini wrote:
I like to know the full story and hate being told to this or don't do that without being given a good reason why. If I know why, I can make my own judgements in future. I quite agree! But this was a failing of the head gardeners and garden writers of yesteryear which is why we had a generation of people who followed the advice that they had been given without having the slightest idea why. And then people said that they must be right because they had been taught by such-and-such a person - and so the ignorance continued. I remember the same thing when I was a child. If I asked why something was done, it was interpreted as a challenge. "Don't ask questions. Just DO it!" Thank goodness times have changed. David -- David Rance http://www.mesnil.demon.co.uk Fido Address: 2:252/110 writing from Caversham, Reading, UK |
#3
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Asparagus berries
"David Rance" wrote in message ... On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 John Vanini wrote: I like to know the full story and hate being told to this or don't do that without being given a good reason why. If I know why, I can make my own judgements in future. I quite agree! But this was a failing of the head gardeners and garden writers of yesteryear which is why we had a generation of people who followed the advice that they had been given without having the slightest idea why. And then people said that they must be right because they had been taught by such-and-such a person - and so the ignorance continued. Same old story in Industry when a new starter arrives, "Sit with Tom, Dick, Harry, Agnes, Flo, they will show you" Yes bad habits as well :-( Mike -- www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association. 'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly "Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand |
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Asparagus berries
"David Rance" wrote in message ... On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 John Vanini wrote: I remember the same thing when I was a child. If I asked why something was done, it was interpreted as a challenge. "Don't ask questions. Just DO it!" Thank goodness times have changed. In my experience they haven't, much. I'm always regarded as being challenging when I ask why or for evidence. Mary |
#5
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Asparagus berries
"Mary Fisher" wrote in message t... "David Rance" wrote in message ... On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 John Vanini wrote: I remember the same thing when I was a child. If I asked why something was done, it was interpreted as a challenge. "Don't ask questions. Just DO it!" Thank goodness times have changed. In my experience they haven't, much. I'm always regarded as being challenging when I ask why or for evidence. Mary AH! But you can have too much product knowledge :-(( Percy Whiting in his great book "The Five Great Rules of Selling" gives a wonderful example of this of where a Salesman was losing accounts when he learnt too much of how a thing worked and bored the pants of his prospective customers instead of just what it did!! What will it do for me? Is all that is wanted in selling!! Well,....... almost ;-) Mike -- www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association. 'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly "Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand |
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Asparagus berries
AH! But you can have too much product knowledge :-((
Percy Whiting in his great book "The Five Great Rules of Selling" gives a wonderful example of this of where a Salesman was losing accounts when he learnt too much of how a thing worked and bored the pants of his prospective customers instead of just what it did!! What will it do for me? Is all that is wanted in selling!! Well,....... almost ;-) Mike A timely reminder! Years ago on a marketing course I was taught to sell "benefits" not "features". However, it is so easy to slip into the trap you mentioned. I was just thinking about a website I am going to design, promoting some software I'd written recently. The problem being of course my detailed knowledge about all the wonderful details of how the software works and all it's technical features. The design I had in mind would have "bored the pants off prospective customers" instead of teasing them to buy because of "what it can do for them". David. |
#7
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Asparagus berries
"David (Normandy)" wrote in message ... AH! But you can have too much product knowledge :-(( Percy Whiting in his great book "The Five Great Rules of Selling" gives a wonderful example of this of where a Salesman was losing accounts when he learnt too much of how a thing worked and bored the pants of his prospective customers instead of just what it did!! What will it do for me? Is all that is wanted in selling!! Well,....... almost ;-) Mike A timely reminder! Years ago on a marketing course I was taught to sell "benefits" not "features". However, it is so easy to slip into the trap you mentioned. I was just thinking about a website I am going to design, promoting some software I'd written recently. The problem being of course my detailed knowledge about all the wonderful details of how the software works and all it's technical features. The design I had in mind would have "bored the pants off prospective customers" instead of teasing them to buy because of "what it can do for them". David. I was at the Ideal Home Exhibition in Bournemouth a couple of weekends ago and was interested in the Solar Panels for the roof. I am afraid the salesmen were too technical on how the things were made to tell me the advantages!!! I have been asked by an MD to design a sales Course and give the Sales Team a series of 'talks' to motivate :-)) Mike -- www.rneba.org.uk for the latest pictures of the very first reunion and Inaugural General Meeting. Nothing less than a fantastic success. The Royal Naval Electrical Branch Association. 'THE' Association if you served in the Electrical Branch of the Royal Navy www.rneba.org.uk to find your ex-Greenie mess mates www.iowtours.com for all ex-Service Reunions. More being added regularly "Navy Days" Portsmouth 25th - 27th July 2008. RN Shipmates will have a Stand |
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Asparagus berries
In article , "'Mike'" writes: | | I was at the Ideal Home Exhibition in Bournemouth a couple of weekends ago | and was interested in the Solar Panels for the roof. I am afraid the | salesmen were too technical on how the things were made to tell me the | advantages!!! Sorry, but what you say is a recipe for fraud. When customers are too stupid or ignorant to know when they are being flagrantly lied to, the advantages are all with the sharks that do just that. God help me, that is also why it is so hard to buy functional equipment for many purposes, and why we get the politicians we deserve. I utterly loathe salesdroids who claim to be technically competent when it is clear that I have forgotten more than they will ever learn, in an area that isn't even one of the ones where I claim much expertise. Unfortunately, with the current dumbing down of everything, this is becoming more common and even worse. God help me, most of the so-called technical advisors of solar panel companies don't seem to know EVEN the difference between the solar constant, the average UK per diem insolation, its annual variation and the potential power deliverable in electricity. They should be required to pedal a rusty bicycle generator, stark naked, on a sunny day on the top of Kilimanjaro until they have generated a kilowatt- hour to teach them! http://www.elise.com/quotes/a/heinle...or_insects.php Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
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Asparagus berries
"David (Normandy)" writes
A timely reminder! Years ago on a marketing course I was taught to sell "benefits" not "features". However, it is so easy to slip into the trap you mentioned. I was just thinking about a website I am going to design, promoting some software I'd written recently. The problem being of course my detailed knowledge about all the wonderful details of how the software works and all it's technical features. The design I had in mind would have "bored the pants off prospective customers" instead of teasing them to buy because of "what it can do for them". Yeah, and those of us who want to know more than empty promises get really frustrated because there's not a spec in sight. It's a sad state when you have to resort to review sites and other users to find out factual info that the seller should have told you. -- Kay |
#10
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Asparagus berries
"K" wrote in message ... "David (Normandy)" writes A timely reminder! Years ago on a marketing course I was taught to sell "benefits" not "features". However, it is so easy to slip into the trap you mentioned. I was just thinking about a website I am going to design, promoting some software I'd written recently. The problem being of course my detailed knowledge about all the wonderful details of how the software works and all it's technical features. The design I had in mind would have "bored the pants off prospective customers" instead of teasing them to buy because of "what it can do for them". Yeah, and those of us who want to know more than empty promises get really frustrated because there's not a spec in sight. It's a sad state when you have to resort to review sites and other users to find out factual info that the seller should have told you. -- Kay Sorry, I don't think I was clear. Allow me to elaborate. I'm not saying there should be no details or facts and information, it is a case of where they are positioned. Take the following scenario for example: A lady goes into a computer shop and says "My son's family live in Australia. He says if I get a computer I will be able to talk to him free of charge on the telephone, send something called "e-mails" and read something he's got called a "blog". What the lady wants to buy is not really a computer but a means of communicating with her family. A good salesman would realise this and appreciate from her description that she is not computer literate. He would not just plunge in with something like "Well you've come to the right place, we've got the latest hardware with choices of Vista, XP, Macs and even Linux. Pick AMD or Intel processors 32 or 64 bit with anything from 500 mega bytes to 4 giga bytes of RAM, internal or external or external high capacity hard drives with fast seek times and more USB ports than you can shake a stick at! While the detail should be given if necessary or required, the above would just confuse the hell out of the lady. If I was the customer my requirements would be entirely different and a detailed technical discussion would be appropriate. With software (or anything else) it makes sense for the opening page (or sales pitch) to say in a very short summary what it is for and what benefits people would get from buying it. There can be links (or discussion) to deeper and deeper levels of technical details. The person viewing the site (or talking to a salesman) chooses the level of information that is relevant to them. A good salesman has both detailed technical knowledge of his products (often lacking in many stores) and the ability to listen to what the potential customer actually wants and help guide their buying decision. I think there is a saying something along the lines that a good salesman uses his ears more than this tongue. David. |
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Asparagus berries
Yeah, and those of us who want to know more than empty promises get really
frustrated because there's not a spec in sight. It's a sad state when you have to resort to review sites and other users to find out factual info that the seller should have told you. -- Kay Further to my other reply, I do agree there is a general lack of availability of detailed specs for lots of things. Recently I've been trying (without success) to buy a new, high spec, Vista notebook computer that I can also install Linux Ubuntu on. It would be really nice to source one knowing that the hardware drivers for Linux existed for it, instead of hunting around after purchase and not getting all the important ones. I usually buy HP hardware and tried a pre-sales enquiry to HP asking if they could recommend any of their hardware that fitted the bill, but they eventually sent me a very short email saying in effect "no - we can't be bothered". It has cost them an immediate sale and the loss of a long term customer. David. |
#12
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Asparagus berries
David Rance writes
On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 John Vanini wrote: I like to know the full story and hate being told to this or don't do that without being given a good reason why. If I know why, I can make my own judgements in future. I quite agree! But this was a failing of the head gardeners and garden writers of yesteryear which is why we had a generation of people who followed the advice that they had been given without having the slightest idea why. And then people said that they must be right because they had been taught by such-and-such a person - and so the ignorance continued. I remember the same thing when I was a child. If I asked why something was done, it was interpreted as a challenge. "Don't ask questions. Just DO it!" Not enough, though. Too many written instructions still say 'do this' or 'don't do this' without telling you the consequences if you disobey. 'Avoid alcohol while using this medicine'. Why? Will it make the medicine less effective? Will it make me ill? Will it simply exacerbate the effects of the alcohol? If the latter, then I'll stick with the alcohol but just drink a bit less, or be a bit more careful. I want the information to be able to make my own decision. And while I'm on this rant - my train is cancelled, I can either go via a different station or take a bus. So I ask the train information point what time the train will reach my station. 'Oh, we don't have the information about that. You'll have to go to the intermediate station and ask there'. 'Will I be quicker by bus?' 'That is your decision entirely'. How can I make a decision if I have no information to base it on? Grrr. -- Kay |
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Asparagus berries
In reply to K ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say : I want the information to be able to make my own decision. Sadly, K, you are in a minority, being capable of assimilating said information and acting thereupon. I think so much has to be dumbed-down in order for the burk-at-large to use something without actually killing himself with it. |
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Asparagus berries
In article , "Uncle Marvo" writes: | | Sadly, K, you are in a minority, being capable of assimilating said | information and acting thereupon. | | I think so much has to be dumbed-down in order for the burk-at-large to use | something without actually killing himself with it. Well, this is somewhere I agree with the Blessed Margaret. The solution is to provide LESS protection for such people and not MORE - they will then learn, or eliminate themselves from the gene pool. But they SHOULD be provided with help if they want to improve themselves, which is where I dissent from her position. Regards, Nick Maclaren. |
#15
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Asparagus berries
In reply to Nick Maclaren ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say : In article , "Uncle Marvo" writes: Sadly, K, you are in a minority, being capable of assimilating said information and acting thereupon. I think so much has to be dumbed-down in order for the burk-at-large to use something without actually killing himself with it. Well, this is somewhere I agree with the Blessed Margaret. The solution is to provide LESS protection for such people and not MORE - they will then learn, or eliminate themselves from the gene pool. If you did that, there would be a whole raft of unemployed ex-Health-and-Safety people. But they SHOULD be provided with help if they want to improve themselves, which is where I dissent from her position. I agree. Who the Heck is The Blessed Margaret? |
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