verbascum, harmful, marketing

This Verbascum thapsus seeded itself as it did last year and the year before in the vegetable garden - a garden escape. It turned up this time among the potatoes, where it is a most welcome escapee. Also running wild among the potatoes are my favourite nasturtiums.

The threat of legal action for almost any mishap arising from almost any commoditiy nowadays penetrates even the Womens Institute's Country Markets. The handsome Lobellia cardinalis with its scarlet flowers is unlikely to be mistaken for a vegetable, yet the Country market label warns: "harmful if eaten".

Since Morrisons closed its supermarket premises an easy walk from here, a small newsagent has jumped into the gap it left and become a convenience store. And very conveneint it is. This morning I complement the owner on the service it provides, as he loads a new set of shelves by the door with baskets of fruit and vegetables. "It looks good," I say. " If it looks good, people will buy it," he says cheerfully. The basket are not too large so that that the produce on display will be be sold before it becomes stale or tatty.