Growing your own - is it worth it?

[Don Petter]

Tee hee, I havent come across a potato tuba before: I guess the variety is called 'Tubby'?

If the serpents don't eat them first, you can harvest them by the sackbut.

[umslopogaas]

If you phone ee um first, ba gum (Yorkshire), they like to be forewarned.

Eu phon i um, geddit?

I'm working on trombone ... more later.

[Don Petter]

If you phone ee um first, ba gum (Yorkshire), they like to be forewarned.

Eu phon i um, geddit?

I'm working on trombone ... more later.

I'm tempted to heckle at that one!

[umslopogaas]

I can take it: what the h**l is a hecklephone, anyway? A mobile phone with political attitude?

[mercia]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckelphone

to protect your fruit & vegetables from rooks use a caw-net

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Hecklephones are hugely expensive. It's very difficult to find any on the web, new or second hand.

[Don Petter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckelphone

to protect your fruit & vegetables from rooks use a caw-net

Here's a caw-vid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz7WKiC4SpY

[umslopogaas]

Hmm ... that caw - vid looks impressive, but I think all it really tells us is that crows are very good at doing what they are imprinted to do, but they are in the end just bird-brained and havent a hope when they need to make real-world choices. Lovely video, though.

[umslopogaas]

Hoffnung ... I havent a picture of a hecklephone, but Gerard Hoffnung did illustrate 'The Serpent'. Can anyone who knows about these things post that cartoon, or at least if for copyright reasons they cannot do so, at least point us to the source?

I have never been able to see, clearly, what it is about Hoffnung's cartoons that reduce me to a jelly of helpless laughter, but nevertheless, they do.

[Don Petter]

Hoffnung ... I havent a picture of a hecklephone, but Gerard Hoffnung did illustrate 'The Serpent'. Can anyone who knows about these things post that cartoon, or at least if for copyright reasons they cannot do so, at least point us to the source?

I have never been able to see, clearly, what it is about Hoffnung's cartoons that reduce me to a jelly of helpless laughter, but nevertheless, they do.

You have but to ask ...

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.printsplace.co.uk%2FContent%2FImages%2FProducts%2F55232%2F52196%2FHoffnung_s_Orchestra___The_Hecklephone_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.punchcartoons.com%2FPS%2FStore%2FArtist%2FGerard%2520Hoffnung-%3Fpage%3D7%26qty%3D24&h=500&w=364&tbnid=PTwR2gLzmZS2gM%3A&zoom=1&docid=K5t9br87oOxIIM&ei=XIFyU-zFI4uO7Qa8xYHIBA&tbm=isch&ved=0CFkQMygAMAA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=1064&page=1&start=0&ndsp=27

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-iyx00NOOhfw%2FTfcbGZoXD0I%2FAAAAAAAALhk%2FgK1HUuDU6H8%2Fs400%2Fsymph_serpent.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbriansibleysblog.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Finnocence-and-experience.html&h=400&w=283&tbnid=qGHYLX7gf2xwwM%3A&zoom=1&docid=lilkZJc5_-ybmM&ei=mYFyU-7nOMyS7AaOzYHYCw&tbm=isch&ved=0CFUQMygAMAA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=648&page=1&start=0&ndsp=34

[umslopogaas]

Many thanks DP, that's the one! Hoffnung was a wonderfully funny man: I particularly like his 'Bricklayer's Tale' and the 'Letters to Tyrolean landlords', not to mention his advice to foreigners on visiting London for the first time: "All London brothels display a blue lamp".

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Many thanks DP, that's the one! Hoffnung was a wonderfully funny man: I particularly like his 'Bricklayer's Tale' and the 'Letters to Tyrolean landlords', not to mention his advice to foreigners on visiting London for the first time: "All London brothels display a blue lamp".

The book is still obtainable:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hoffnung-Symphony-Orchestra-Gerard/dp/1903643015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400061605&sr=8-1&keywords=the+hoffnung+symphony+orchestra

[umslopogaas]

Thanks EA, I'll investigate, its time I made another trip to Waterstones. I have an old Penguin anthology which gives a good selection of the cartoons, and two old LPs of the music festivals, which include 'Let's Fake an Opera': set in a cigarette factory in old Nuremberg ...

[doversoul1]

My peas are now five feet tall and still growing but so far not a single flower has appeared. Peas in my garden usually struggle to grow up to two feet. I did nothing different this year. The seeds are normal type, not even from Thompson and Morgan. They look magnificent but I’d rather have peas than splendid plants. What have I done? Will I ever have peas or shall I finish up eating pea shoots?

[french frank]

My peas are now five feet tall and still growing but so far not a single flower has appeared. Peas in my garden usually struggle to grow up to two feet. I did nothing different this year. The seeds are normal type, not even from Thompson and Morgan. They look magnificent but I’d rather have peas than splendid plants. What have I done? Will I ever have peas or shall I finish up eating pea shootsr?

Pea shoots are quite fashionable in the best supermarkets! But mine (grown from last year's seed) are no more than 18ins tall and are now coming into flower. If I remember, they were a dwarfer variety. My mystery is that I sowed two rows and and the seeds in the last foot of each row failed to germinate. I resowed, and they haven't germinated either. I can understand plants not flourishing if they're unhappy in the soil, but not even to germinate ...