Topic: Gardeners World Allotment

[Sinbad7]

I didn't see the programme but wish I had.

One year, many years ago now, when one of my plots was in a terrible state with bindweed, grass etc.  I rotovated it in May and planted the whole plot up, it was brilliant my crops were great so much so I won first prize in the borough for best plot.  So I do think they have their place on allotments but saying that I never used a rotovator again as I repented at my leisure and feel for sure I am still taking the bindweed out from that season.

But if you take over a new plot this time of year I would say go for it as it is very satisfying to see what you can do in your first year and then you have the coming winter to start the long hard dig.  The secret to it is to plant it all up, so you have to do it at the right time.

Sinbad

[betula]

Sinbad you can watch it on the BBC I player.

Sorry I do not know how to put in the link

[Sinbad7]

Thanks betula, will do, I have the link saved on my favourites.

Sinbad

[Mrs Ava]

I watched it and smiled seeing him make the same mistakes, lets be honest, most of us have made.  Very lucky have the council deliver free compost and bark chippings.  Wish our local council were as generous.  His shed looks in similar shape to mine, but I did get the old man to make my strong and weather proof.  I love hs diamonds and triangles and say nuts to the old timers who poo pooed his efforts.  When I first took on my lotties, all the old boys stood together watching me work, doing things my way, laughing and taking the pee, and look at me now, the old boys come and ask me for my advice and I am the one winning first prizes at the shows.  Where is it written that allotments have to be in straight lines and right angles?  Yup, he was dead lucky having it scraped clean and of course bottomless pits of money so he can hire the rotovator just like that and having Cleve West as a chum who has had an allotment for donkies so is a mind of information.  I enjoyed it a darn site more than Carol doing her thing with the folks in Devon.

Off my soap box now.

[Simon05]

I enjoyed the program, he did well getting the the timber, it all looked nicely pressure treated for free,  I dont think so. At least we know why he didnt show it last week it wasnt finished, if he did less taking photos he would get more done, there is only a certain amount of photos you can take of a weed infested plot

[Robert_Brenchley]

Can someone post the link? I used to watch it on their site, but they no longer put up the whole programme.

There's some TV company considering my site for a series on 'A Year in the Life of an Allotment site' so hopefully there's something meatier in the pipeline somewhere. Keep your fingers crossed, we could do with something half decent.

[gunnerbee]

just started watching it on bbc online, only to realise that i saw that episode months ago. doh!!

[Slug_killer]

I watched it and smiled seeing him make the same mistakes, lets be honest, most of us have made.  Very lucky have the council deliver free compost and bark chippings.  Wish our local council were as generous.

...

I enjoyed it a darn site more than Carol doing her thing with the folks in Devon.

Here the council sell the compost at just less than B&Q prices. the rest they give to farmers.
The can't be bothered with a bit here and a bit there, they only deal by the lorry load.

As for bark, I get the local tree surgeon to dump a lorry load either on my drive for  the garden, or down the lottie.
It saves him from paying to dump it at the local tip.


I also enjoyed it more than Carols bit.  Although I think Joe's bit should have been split into 2 as it did go on rather too long, and us GW addicts are used to 5 min. slots.

[sarah]

what an interesting and different mixture of opinions  :D.
i was expecting the usual five minute slot and was very pleasently surprised at the half hour marathon. i really enjoyed it. i think it showed joe in a very endearing light as up till now i have found him very boring. i liked that he was so enthusiatic and full of big plans like we all are when we start out.

i think he said more than once that rotovating was not the best idea but he explained his reasons for not taking his own advise and i tend to agree with him.  it was very lucky getting the plot scraped but it was part of his tenency agreement and so why not take advantage. who wouldnt. and to be honest if he hadnt done that we would still be watching him turn over couch grass untill christmas. he will be pulling out weeds until kingdom come as it is but at least he might get some veg out of it too. I thought the triangle and diamond beds were hilarious and totally agree with the old timers on that one!!

cant wait for the next installment.  :D

[manicscousers]

There's some TV company considering my site for a series on 'A Year in the Life of an Allotment site' so hopefully there's something meatier in the pipeline somewhere. Keep your fingers crossed, we could do with something half decent.

wow, Robert, I think we'd all look forward to that, let us know what they decide  ;D
I can only find an old episode from february, what am I doing wrong?

[springbok]

I think the people dissing joe have forgotten the excitement of starting out and the enthusiasm that us newbies have.

It was stated in episode one that Joe was clueless with allotmenteering...and that he had got a plot for himself and his family!!.

Monty Don, in episode one said that Joe would be followed with his woes and successes throughout the year.

I think him making "simple" mistakes is fab...coz as a newbie myself I have made loads too...

You never know, Joe may be asking questions on this forum lol.

[AndrewB]

I thought it was a great programme, yes he was lucky, but some people are, we get free manure & woodchip and some plots have been skimmed over on our site.  He was aware of what he was doing with the rotavator and I think it would have been pretty boring to watch him digging over the plot by hand and I guess he would have lost heart.  We all do thing diffrerently and why not!!

[simon404]

But surely the point is that Gardeners World is meant to be the nations premier gardening programme. People watch it because they expect to see expert advice which they can follow.

Unlike other novices Joe has 40 years of archives at his fingertips, researchers and all the rest. He may know little about growing veg but he calls himself a gardener and so should know the basics about clearing and preparing fresh ground. I think it was inexcusable.

Manics: Gardeners World isn't available on BBC iPlayer but if you have the technology you could have watched him cocking things up in glorious HD  ;D

[manicscousers]

ah, well, not that technologically advanced, will wait 'til the beeb put it on cable..I can wait  ;D
thanks, simon  :)

[flowerofshona2007]

I was like watching us 12 odd years ago :lol
It was great to see Peter from the nat allot as he is local to me and the chairman of the fedration we have here of all the local allotments, he knows sooo much more than i will ever know !
I had to laugh at the 'shed' i couldnt believe the floor they put down !! going to have some great mice in there later  ;D
And how convenient they got all that free wood !! My hubby has worked in a timber yard years and has NEVER been given wood like that !!!!!
Made me want to get up my lottie more but time is limited.

[AndrewB]

I take Simon's point totally but like a few others found it entertaining, and  he did admit the rotavator wasn't the best thing horticulturally but good for him psychologically and its his allotment. 

[Suzanne]

I have to say that I enjoyed the whole half an hour and switched over when his slot finished.

I think he was taking the older hands advice most of the time and did say he had picked a plot next to someone who knew what they were doing just to get that advice. But like us all on our plots at the end of the day you can decide whether to take the advice or try something different.

I know my "organic" methods caused a bit of comment from older hands, and I haven't admitted to planting by the moon to them yet - goodness knows what they'd say about that. But the chaps told me what type of raspberries and soft fruit I'd inherited and how to prune. They scoffed when I wouldn't use a rotovator as I wanted to know what the soil was like and where the weeds were. But at the end of the first season when everything grew - with little weeds left - they took the time to say that I done the real hard graft in gardening and how well they thought I had done. One of my lifes proud moments - I was recognised as a "worthwhile" novice. The next proudest moment was when of the old hands adopted enviromesh after seeing me use mine.

Having said all that my raised beds are 4ft wide and I do think the triangle/diamond potager look will be difficult to manage. And like everyone else - I'd advise to always take the time to dig and clear - not rotovate.  So part of the enjoyment of last night was being able to sit back, take a sharp inward breath and mutter - "oh dear I wouldn't do it like that" ;D

Amazing how quickly we all become "old hands" ::)

[AndrewB]

Must admit I thought the raised beds were rubbish

[markyb23]

I think anything that promotes allotments has got to be a good thing. I like the idea of him doing his own thing despite better advice. To me that's part of the beauty of it all. You can take advice if you want, but, at the same time, you can do as you please and learn from your mistakes as you go along.
  If i had the chance to get my overgrown plot rotovated i'd go down that way too. I think the couch grass problem is over stated, and, it's a lot easier to get the weeds out once the soil has been cultivated, especially if it's heavy clay soil. I'm not sure about the mare's tail though!
  Best of luck to him i say-and the same to anyone else just starting out. :)

[rosebud]

Hear, hear, EMMA JANE, well said.