Joe's allotment

[goodlife]

I belong to that 30 to 40 gategory...and our outlook is not any different to your 50 to 60 nor older...
and it is not about his triangular beds...it is how he presented the whole thing..
First being dead serious about providing the family, difficulty of finding plot..rotavating all weeds in...getting free this and that....it was all just big show.
From first program it just did not come across as serious attempt for lottie stuff...and he was advising people in serious manner like being expert..whole show "smelled" fake
Now if they would have done follow up in style.."this is what I did then..and this is what I think about it now" style...that would have been educational for everybody not just for newbies
When Monty did allotment program..now that was interesting...you could see that he wanted to know and learn how different people do things on lotties.
I bet BBC did well with viewing figures...Joe's gardening did get us all going.. ::)

[goodlife]

[Psi (Pronounced 'Si'!)]

I miss Geoff.  I can't say that Joe Swift did anything for me.  However, before we dismiss him i think we should bear in mind that his allotment slot would have been planned well in advance of filming.  This means that at that time they would have been looking at the non-gardeners and trying to get them interested.  The thirty to forty group have a substantially different outlook to those of us in the 50's to 60's  or even those of us in our 70's and 80's.  They might find the appeal of the triangular beds because it got the old f**ts talking about it and not about what they were doing "wrong".  It is right and proper that every younger generation should explore the boundaries.  Haven't some on here tried "raised beds" and decided to get rid of them.  That is their choice.

If Joe made it easy for the non-gardeners to "join in" just like Geoff did for me well good on him.  Yes many of us may not like the idea of him "dropping" in on an allotment.  But we can't say how much that worked.  I just hope that those people that have joined my allotments stay and continue to enjoy their gardening.  Best wishes to Joe in his endeavours,  whatever they may be.  At least, in his own way he is trying to help, just like javascript:surroundText('

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After all growing veges is secondary to enjoying life.


Bill

I agree - if notjing else he kind of helpred demystify allotments for some people and I must say he always appeared to enjoy the process.  Just an opinion.

[Borlotti]

Beat they don't show this on TV. 

[Borlotti]

Try again forgot to add the photos.  :( :([attachment=3]

[goodlife]

Ohh..not nice that..leaving rubbish behind..how big job would it been for future "gardens president" to take it with him..he had plenty of helpers after all to bring it on... >:(

[Rixy]

Some nice bits of timber there that could be recycled into other things........

[Borlotti]

I am sure that a lot of it will be reused, and then a big bonfire to clear the site, which is going to split into 3 for the newcomers.

[cornykev]

Most of that would be on the back of my plot by now, you could make yourself some small  raised beds with that lot Borlotti.    ;D ;D ;D

[goodlife]

yeah..triangular... ;D

[grawrc]

... or even hexagonal! All it takes is imagination1 ;D ;D ;D

[albion]

Bought the book, Joes Allotment, will send it to the charity shop now. Not buying anymore gardening books. Glad I did not pay full price for it.

[betula]

Not really surprised,it was just part of his job but I think he did enjoy it.His lifestyle meant that he had no hope of keeping it up.Sad really.On the positive side it highlighted allotments and sure it encouraged many people to have a go. :)

I do like Joe. :)

[Digeroo]

Are you saying that he spent less than a year on the allotment wrote a book about it and then just abandoned it,  what a cheek. :o

[Borlotti]

A year on the allotment, you are having a laugh.  Only when they were filming.  I do like Joe, or should I say did like Joe.  His wife and children are great.  Perhaps he should go into politics, don't believe a word of it.  I don't think many people bought his book. Have so many people on the allotment that work so hard, every day, rain or snow, and could have presented the programme.  I believe that the BBC is like Parliament, jobs for the boys or do you have a relation in the BBC.  Don't forget Joe Swift is the son of Mrs Bouquet's (Bucket's) husband, can't remember the name of the programme.

[Hector]

"Keeping Up Appearances"

[Borlotti]

Thank you.

[:(]

Hes also the son of Margaret Drabble.

[Borlotti]

Who is Margaret Drabble??.

[:(]

A writer -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Drabble

[Pesky Wabbit]

Are you saying that he spent less than a year on the allotment wrote a book about it and then just abandoned it,  what a cheek. :o

I very much doubt he wrote it, more just put his name on it. Just like his allotment.