Aha pn - you think you understood ... ;) It's not just the words its the meaning of the words. The understatement, irony, sarcasm etc. I think it is the 'quite' that heather was referring too as being difficult for her friends to grasp, not the 'nice'. I had an American prof at uni and he said that even after several years in the UK he was never quite sure what we meant when we said 'quite'. Regarding the differences between the gardening cultures. I've been around here for quite a long time and I think there are actually great differences in the attitudes, crops, climates, techniques and even the definition of gardening between the UK and the States. One thing which struck me immediately was the constant discussion of buying and bringing in materials and the notion of 'building a garden'. We tend to cultivate the soil that we have, rather thinking it needs something doing to it and building on top of. It's a completely different way of going about growing stuff. We also tend to have much smaller areas to play with and garden every inch, not just some discrete beds around the 'yard'. The relatively mild winters in the UK mean we garden all year round and our gardens are permanent fixtures, not something we create in the spring. The appearance of our gardens is also very different in my view. At least going by the pictures that get posted here. It is precisely the differences which keep me interested in Gardenweb. I don't follow any UK garden sites because they don't tell me anything new. Even our basic tools vary. I have never used a shovel in my garden, for example, and even our wheel barrows look different. Other concepts I had to learn about to understand these forums: lasagne, amendments, alfalfa, growing more than a dozen tomato plants, horn worms, ucg, 'spading forks', 'tilling' hardening off meaning getting used to heat and sun not getting used to cold, rain and wind, growing runner beans but not eating them, driving to get stuff for your compost heap, yards without fences, not to mention the eggplants, zucchini, rutabagas and favas, etc etc. It would be fun to hear from anyone out there who has gardened in the UK and noticed any of our strange ways.

My daughter worked in a cookware shop for a couple of months and tried all sorts of peelers but I have never found a better one than the cheapest available plastic handled swivel blade ones made by Dalson of Australia. It is very simple, light and fits in the hand. I have one which I have been using for at least 18 years. I use it on carrots and parsnips too if they need peeling. The blade has never been sharpened. It costs 95 pence over here (ca. $1.40). It' so cheap you might as well try one if you can find one. I can only find a tiny picture on Google. Here is a link that might be useful:

Lucky you to be in Vegetable Heaven! I would be attacking that basket. First, broccoli-cheddar chowder for your friend. I'll take the cabbages and use them, along with some of the carrots and peppers, to make one of our favorite coleslaws. I'll leave the jalapenos for someone else. COLORFUL COLESLAW 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup cider vinegar 3/4 tsp. celery seeds 2 tsp. dried mustard 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper 1/2 head green cabbage, cut into thin shreds 1/2 head red cabbage, cut into thin shreds 1 carrot peeled and coarsely grated 1 small onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced 1 green pepper, seeded and halved crosswise and thinly sliced 1 sweet red pepper, seeded and halved crosswise and thinly sliced Put red cabbage in a storage container in the refrigerator. Combine oil, sugar and vinegar in small nonaluminum saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 5 minutes and add celery seeds, mustard, salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Combine all remaining ingredients in a large bowl except for red cabbage. Pour dressing over vegetables and toss. Chill covered for at least four hours, or preferably overnight, stirring occasionally. Add red cabbage about an hour before serving. 12 servings. Note: You can add the red cabbage at the same time as the green but since the color will bleed out of it over time (no change in flavor), the presentation is prettier if you add it right before serving. Next, the green and yellow squashes would be "stringed" and steamed in the microwave. When done, stir in some of the chopped scallions and parsley. (squash in the pic has dried cranberries) Some of the tomatoes and the rest of the cabbage and carrots would go into a bean soup made with turkey kielbasa. A half recipe of this salad would use up the cucumber, some of the tomato and parsley, and you could substitute lime juice for the lemon. TURKISH SHEPHERD'S SALAD 3 large tomatoes 2 medium size cucumbers 2 medium size Green Peppers 1 large red onion 1/2 bunch Parsley 7- 8 sprigs fresh mint 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 and 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon salt (or less to taste) Sumac powder * (This is not a marinated-type salad and is best when all the ingredients are chopped and mixed close to serving time.) Wash the vegetables; peel and halve cucumbers, removing seeds; remove stems and seeds of the green peppers, and remove the surplus parts of onion, parsley and the mint. Chop the onions, green peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers into cubes about 1 cm. in size (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.). Finely chop the mint and parsley. Add lemon juice and salt to olive oil, whisk well and pour over the salad immediately before serving. Sprinkle lightly with sumac powder. *Note: if you don�t have sumac powder, increase the lemon juice to 2 Tbs. Gellchom, have fun with your lovely basket ingredients.

As I grew up, I had a Mom who was a southern style cook and we canned large amounts of fruits and vegetables during the summer. During canning days, my sister and I had the job of peeling. We used a peeler on many things and a sharp paring knife for tough skins such as turnips. The toughest thing to peel was peaches. A ripe peach is soft and its takes skill to skin a peach without creating excessive waste or squeezing the peach. Most of the stuff we peeled probably could have been processed without peeling except peaches. We did not want to eat the fuzzy peal that covers a peach, however, when I ate a raw peach, I never peeled it. I merely thoroughly cleaned the fruit before devouring. After my sister and I had peeled 2 bushel of fruit, we were ready to quit, but we did not. It was imperative that we keep the peeled product flowing while Mother canned. There was no set quitting time. We continued until all the needed product was finished. However, we had the cooler job. Mother canned using a wood fired kitchen stove. This may seem harsh, but this was how rural farm folks survived during the war years of the 1940s. These days, I do not peel much. Potatoes get peeled if those are to be mashed. Most of the time, I do not mash, I bake the potato. Peeling no longer appeals to me.