Tue 21 May 2013 (continued from Part One)
HM Customs & Excise are equally unhelpful. Their website reminds us that non-food plants are subject to VAT, so if you have the temerity to bring a wee cutting of the Bird of Paradise back to the UK after your brief sojourn in Spain you must declare it and pay the duty or face the consequences. Mind you, it would be a useful diversion if you had half a distillery in your hand luggage.
Apart from that, HM
This is probably the most unhelpful piece I’ve ever written for this column.
And as an opening statement, I’ve just broken Rule No 1 for wannabe journos everywhere. I feel justified, though.
The story starts on the British Expat Forum, in the humble but evergreen Clark in the Park board. Several queries have cropped up recently regarding the movement of plants within the EU, mainly concerning those who are leaving the UK and want to take Katie the Cactus, who has become
Forgive me for writing with my mouth full, but I just can’t stop eating the very first of my parsley-buttered White Duke of Yorks.
I have broken my own record by ten days.
In fact, for the first time in my life, I have not bought tatties to bridge the gap between last year’s and this.
I still have some Kerr’s Pink and Records in store. Doubt I’ll be using them.
(Update – tonight looked at the squidgy mass, decided against chappit tatties, even
It’s the only thing Baldrick and I have in common. Honest. This obsession with the turnip.
I had a wee peek back through the Garden Gate, and was amazed that I had not offered you something on neeps. This will now be put right.
For the purposes of clarity, let me first define neep nomenclature. In Clark-speak, early neeps are turnips. Maincrop neeps are swedes. I will say this only once.
GeneralBotanically, Brassica campestris rapa, and a close relative of the cabbage. (The
Cutting edge technology
For a change, I’m not going to bore you with words.
Well, perhaps just a few. Irrespective of hemisphere, you can clone your favourite plant with softwood cuttings. I say irrespective of hemisphere, because although I am conditioned to taking softwood cuttings from June to August, the name of the month is actually irrelevant. The ideal time to take softwood cuttings is around two months after bud-break, or if you like, two months into the growing season. At
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