Gardeners' World Special

[Borlotti]

Tonight at 7.00 with Joe Swift.  Challenges himself to grow vegetables.  Well, he didn't keep his allotment for very long and when he had it didn't water it for 6 weeks.  Be interesting to see how much he does himself and how much help he gets. 

[Borlotti]

[betula]

Yes was dissapointed to hear he did not keep it up,suppose his lifestyle does not suit tending an allotment.

[manicscousers]

when was this recorded, he's still on the allotment  ::)

[Tee Gee]

For one who doesn't like TV gardening I have to admit I enjoyed this programme.

But in truth I think it was the supporting cast that made the show.

What came to mind was a saying that was popular in pre-decimalisation and that was;

What is the best green manure?

The answer; Pound notes!

He certainly spent some money on this exercise as he mentioned quite often.

My first question would be did he do it on ' expenses' meaning we the public paid for it.

Now that I have these comments out of the way I have to say his onions and carrots were quite nice for a beginner.

I would have thought because of the fact he was not growing organically he might have used some slug pellets to protect his onion.

I was interested in how he grew his beans i.e. In pots! I have never considered this method!

So I learned something from him for once!

But the man for me was Mr Jones.....that set up was something else!

But yes he found out it takes a lot of dedication and no holidays,well certainly not during the growing season!

I used to take my holidays in February!

[Ninnyscrops.]

Oooops just seen this thread - sorry for creating a duplicate  :-[

Ninny

[elhuerto]

I saw it on Freeview here - Mr Jones should have his own show, Joe. Don't you think, Joe? He was brilliant, type of guy I'd love to have as an allotment neighbour.

Do you know what the "gold dust" was? Something about 70 million year old mineral deposit.

[aj]

I saw it on Freeview here - Mr Jones should have his own show, Joe. Don't you think, Joe? He was brilliant, type of guy I'd love to have as an allotment neighbour.

Do you know what the "gold dust" was? Something about 70 million year old mineral deposit.

Mr Jones wasn't Joe's mentor - he was the young guy.

He was a character though......Charlie Macey was his name.....

[elhuerto]

That was the one - apologies.

[andyf]

Do you know what the "gold dust" was? Something about 70 million year old mineral deposit.

This has been bugging me too.

Spent a while researching "70 million year old mineral deposits" and kept finding references to Greensand from New Jersey USA but nowhere to buy in the UK, even though what was used in the program did look a bit like a green sand.

On looking at the BBC we site about the program it mentions "Supplementary feed on carrots - Joe used an organic growth stimulant containing high levels of humic and fulvic acids". Searching on this info I found Nutrimate at Garden Select (http://www.gardenselect.co.uk/nutrimate.html), which looks very much like the white tub we saw.

[Froglegs]

He's just a fake, it's all just a for the camera and to put brass in his pocket with the book he will no doubt have in the shops at xmas. >:(

[Digeroo]

I found the system of putting carrots/parsnips in dustbins of sand and then filled with potting mix.  I could for example find mysef using something to make round holes and then filling with mix.  We have a rather shallow soil depth and it is very gravellly so this might be a good quick method of producing longer roots.

But I agree lets get rid of Swift and have the Welsh guy instead.

[Tee Gee]

We have a rather shallow soil depth and it is very gravellly so this might be a good quick method of producing longer roots.

Have a look at the last paragraph here Digeroo;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Parsnip/Parsnip.htm

or here for carrots;

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Carrot/Carrot.htm