This morning a rhetorical and relevant question to our readers. Will the grass be greener . . .?

WE’RE DOOMED!
WHO had the biggest bashing in the referendum run-up? Experts. Now hang on. Specialist dealers’ USP is that they are experts, they are the people to talk to for advice. But listen to the Leavers, experts know nothing and can’t be trusted. So we're doomed. Away from the political arena enter Richard Hayden who is described as turfgrass expert but also as a ‘mercenary’, engaging in incompetence and sabotage by the French for the quality of the pitches for Euro 2016.  No matter that Hayden is highly qualified, has worked on prestigious projects such as Croke Park in Dublin, Ascot, the pitches at Euro 2012 and 2013 Olympics venues. As ever, the rationale and reasoning behind the state of pitches will probably become clear in the long-run rather than in the heat of a tournament. Who’d be an expert? 

COMBINING ART
TRYING to find a buyer for an old combine? Why not explore the art-world.  A 1976 John Deere 3300 combine harvester is the star of an unusual new artwork at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut that explores the relationship between nature and technology. For the installation, sculptor David Brooks has disassembled the machine into thousands of constituent parts and put each one on meticulous display which takes over 9,000 square feet in all areas of the museum.  “There’s an uncanny aspect to this weird-looking box slowly consuming the landscape,” the artist said. “A combine is a thing that puts food on the table and feeds millions but at the same time contributes to the destruction of the terrain and a decline of biodiversity. Separated from its body, it is a horrifying thing,”  Not sure I’d put that in the sales blurb.

WHAT A GAS
The city of Fort Collins in Colorado is offering rebates of up to $50 for the purchase of "clean" lawn and garden equipment. Residents can claim a rebate for recycling petrol powered lawnmowers and purchasing clean lawn care. The rebates are part of a city push to cut down on gas-powered equipment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each rebate is worth $25, and each applicant can receive two. Interestingly though eligible equipment for recycling includes push (reel) cylinder mowers!

THE STING
Surely using a weed-whacker to tame nettles would have been easier? But no, cut them in two feet strips and feed them to the locals is the solution for The Bottle Inn at Marshwood in Dorset which stages an annual nettle-eating contest. No ordinary contest this, it’s the World Nettle Eating Championship no less. Held last weekend the winner munched his way through 86ft of nettles.  Even then, nettles were probably a soft-option for the winner, whose name is Phil Thorne!  “I suffered a bit of blackness round the mouth,” said Thorne, “but it does mean you have to go to the toilet quite regularly”.