Search found 491 matches

by Skippy
Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:17 am
Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
Topic: Oregon grape
Replies: 4
Views: 14864

Re: Oregon grape

Funnily enough i did that with my own "proper" grapes. We put them through the liquidiser and didn't quite have enough to fill the demijohn so we topped it up with apple juice. I'd like to try just with the oregon grapes but i'll have to seehow i go.
by Skippy
Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:09 pm
Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
Topic: Oregon grape
Replies: 4
Views: 14864

Re: Oregon grape

Yes i think i'd struggle to get a couple of kilos . There are several of these plants in places i visit but the grapes are hardly huge. I may have to pick what i can and drop them in the freezer until i get enough.
by Skippy
Wed Sep 30, 2020 7:02 pm
Forum: Home Brew and other Country Skills
Topic: Oregon grape
Replies: 4
Views: 14864

Oregon grape

I recently asked to identify what turned out to be a japanese quince . They were in a couple of gardens i work in . Also in a number of gardens i visit is another plant although this one i know , it's an Oregon grape. Spikey things they are when you have to remove them . They do of course have grape...
by Skippy
Mon Aug 10, 2020 7:18 am
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

Assuming wikipedia is correct then the fruits are edible but harder and more astringent than other quinces although odsox's experience might seem to classify them as barely edible .
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaenomeles_japonica
by Skippy
Sun Aug 09, 2020 6:05 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

I would assume you are right , odsox may know more of how they should look once ripe. Wikipedia seems to say they are still hard and astringent even once ripe so i don't really know. I don't have any quince plants although i've considered getting some , but then only a few minutes walk from me are s...
by Skippy
Thu Aug 06, 2020 5:05 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

I've just told my wife what you have said and her reply was "wonder what they'd like in gin?" Not totally random as she has a few bottles seeping away , plum gin , redcurrant gin and so on. We have just tried a piece of one of the japanese quinces and they are pretty sharp as well as hard ...
by Skippy
Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:36 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

Thanks Odsox , that's what someone else has said so that seems to confirm it. Perhaps a tiny bit embarrassing as i said it wasn't a quince but it certainly looks different to the quinces we've used in jam. I generally don't get to see the flowers as i don't tend to be there between the end of octobe...
by Skippy
Wed Aug 05, 2020 7:41 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

As I should of done at the start I have actually taken some photos and also brought a chunk home with me. I have had someone suggest a species but without saying what it is I thought I would see if anyone on here came up with the same suggestion. https://www.flickr.com/photos/183515781@N05/501930289...
by Skippy
Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:27 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

It's been a while since i've seen a medlar . The last time must have been over a decade ago when i worked at Stowe house in Buckinghamshire and we had a fair few off the trees and very nice they were too even if they look as if they should be chucked rather than eaten . So i'm pretty certain it's no...
by Skippy
Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:18 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Re: Help with identification please

Thanks , i've googled images of wild pear but don't think it's that. The leave are more pointed and more of a semi glossy dark green possibly more like an evergreen although as i don't see the bush over the winter i'm not certain. Plenty of fruit on it which almost seems a shame if they are inedible...
by Skippy
Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:00 pm
Forum: Wildlife, Flowers and all other things that grow
Topic: Help with identification please
Replies: 15
Views: 39392

Help with identification please

Working away today and i was asked a question about a bush in the garden. The guy wanted to know if it was a crab apple. I knew it wasn't but embarrassingly don't know what it is. A photo might help but unfortunately i don't carry a camera and whilst my phone can take pictures it's owner can't work ...
by Skippy
Tue Apr 07, 2020 12:50 pm
Forum: I read the news today, oh boy.
Topic: Emptying the supermarket shelves
Replies: 69
Views: 139023

Re: Emptying the supermarket shelves

I don't think that bit is quite right. Lorry drivers can only drive for a limited amount of hours before they must take a break but as far as i understand ( unless they've relaxed the law on this point) a driver cannot take his required breaks in a moving vehicle. I didn't mean that lorry drivers h...
by Skippy
Mon Apr 06, 2020 5:20 pm
Forum: I read the news today, oh boy.
Topic: Emptying the supermarket shelves
Replies: 69
Views: 139023

Re: Emptying the supermarket shelves

I don't think that bit is quite right. Lorry drivers can only drive for a limited amount of hours before they must take a break but as far as i understand ( unless they've relaxed the law on this point) a driver cannot take his required breaks in a moving vehicle.
by Skippy
Tue Mar 24, 2020 8:25 pm
Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
Topic: Self Isolation
Replies: 80
Views: 158446

Re: Self Isolation

And just now on BBC the following: "But on Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said those who cannot work from home should go to work "to keep the country running"." Er - what? :scratch: I didn't work today largely because the government advice was so unclear. I had arranged ...
by Skippy
Wed Mar 18, 2020 2:58 pm
Forum: The ish Local - (Chat)
Topic: Self Isolation
Replies: 80
Views: 158446

Re: Self Isolation

At the moment we are not in the position where we have to self isolate. We're in our fifties without any health problems and have a teenage daughter currently at school although she has said that pupils with a cough are being asked to go home along with any siblings they might have at the school. We...