Allotments 4 All

HOPE YOU LIKE THIS POLL  ;D

So how much do you think you know about gardening?

I know that you can never know ‘everything about everything’ and have 100% success on an allotment, but some people must come pretty close â€" especially the veterans on our allotment site (that have mentored/tormented me for the past 3 years  8) ) and a few members on here.

Sometimes I think I’m a beginner and then sometimes I think I know more than I THINK I know and tentatively give advice to ‘Absolute Beginners' ... poor souls  ;)

And then I log on to A4A and WANT to give advice but feel like I can’t because there are EXPERTS on here who know more than me!

Does this make sense? Probably not!

But I fancied starting a poll.

Trixie XXX

I'm rating myself as a '3'  ;D

To me it is about fun, knowledge is a bonus, and those that are more capable will be able to impart their knowledge and experience readily. I will continue as long as I enjoy growing and then eating my produce.

PS. I cheated, I have never tested the PH of my soil.

CURRY! I will have your vote deleted unless you test your PH  ;D

Arghh, I have not formally tested it, but everything seems to grow normally, indicating it is within acceptable limits - is that adequate?  ;D

Go on then Curry!  ;D

Hi Trixie, i look at thing this way, if you know the answer to some body question, answer it, as i live in the south, and if somebody want to know when to sow seeds up north, or by the northsea, i have to take in the account of the weather and location, four weeks difference in time scale, or the salt in the air, differences in temperatures, day and night, soils i only give basic advise, but ha this place helps us all to learn, feel free to answer any thing you like.  I'm doing an RHS course but don't fell i really know what I'm on about at time, only when I'm on my allotment,
windy

Trixie dear girl,

there isn't a day goes by that I don't learn something!!

think I will be a permanet beginger 'in perpetuum'   ;D ;) :D

I am no expert, but I kinda muddle through and do okay, and yup, people are always asking me advice, that is why I entertain myself gardening for others, but like flowerlady, everyday I learn something new or do something wrong, or nurture a weed and dig up and treasured plant!  Yup, I can grow bananas and pineapples, but do you think I can get perrenial poppies to germinate, not a chance, and turnips and swedes, still trying! :D

;D

right there with you EJ!

Oh this is difficult as before I saw the options I would have said beginner or possibly the second one but I have to admit I did know what chitting was and I have tested the soil!  I guess I am a beginner that has grown up around very avid vegetable growers with my grandad and dad....maybe some of it DID rub off!?!  But I've never ever had an allotment before though and never grown anything other than cress on blotting paper so I'm going for the 2.   And I'm reading anything veggie related from cover to cover at the moment!

well i've got u all sussed cause its pH and not PH!

:P

Putting us on the spot eh, Trixiebelle!  After 20++ years I shouldn't say I am a beginner should I :-[ but every year I muck up/learn about something new so I think I am an "expert beginner"!! ;)

i've given myself a 2.  ok, i have three spuds sitting on an egg carton in the spare room but don't think they're doing anything let alone chitting, and whilst i did buy a soil testing kit, it is still sitting in one of the plastic greenhouses waiting for me to do something with it.  :o

tbh i don't even have an Alan book although i wouldn't mind a gardener's year, but i have been buying a couple of mags monthly for about the past 7 months.

some stuff i just had in my head, but just by reading this board i've quadrupled+ the knowledge i had.  let's just hope i put it all the to good use and have something to show at harvesting.

I am not an absolute beginner having dabbled since I was little but had a kitchen veggie patch for about 5 years and then an allotment for three years, but I am by no means an expert either.  I know a little bit by experience, but have so much yet to learn and I see  many people on here who far outweigh my knowledge. It has been a great help being part of this forum and has certainly developed me as a gardener. busy_lizzie

I blag my way through it ;D ;D ;D

Really don't know the answer to this one!!

I spent 2 years at a local college learning Horticulture then spent a further 2 years at Pershore studying full time, but would you believe it I know virtually nothing about Veg...its a long learning curve again!

Expert beginner?? :D

I started gardening over 20 years ago, so I'm an expert beginner. I've reached Hapless.

To test this level of experience, just count the scars - have you:

Stood on a rake

Poked a bamboo cane in your eye

Punched yourself on the nose while pulling up a dandelion

Walked backwards into the pond (always backwards)

Mummified yourself in fruit netting

Put your foot in a bucket of... something

Checked the flow of your hose... by turning it to face you

If this sounds like you, then welcome to my world!

Fortunately, I have expert plants.

;D

Amazin, you are amazing and I can identify with most of your many "gardening experiences".  All I can say is ME too, and that punching yourself in the nose while pulling up a weed,  -  that really hurt!  ;D busy_lizzie

i can chit with the best walk in to the rake  always and as for pH thats got me where would you say i was lol ::) and my other best trick  is sowing far to many seeds just in-case they don't germinate and the lot germinating and having no where to plant them im number 2 then ;D

okay so who voted to be Mondy Don's adviser? I want to know how to grow a pineapple in a thimble ;D ;D

Amazin - add to that list that I have TWICE pinned my foot to the ground when slamming the fork into the ground at the end of a long dig. And then tried to walk away.

I'm with Amazin' and Tim.   Can you also include in that list a scratched cornea from a twig in the left eye 8)  from bending too close to pick a daffodil.  I have never know pain like it.

Don't forget the 'not keeping your fingers out the way of secateurs while pruning' one. Nearly severed me digits more than once.  :o

I am an expert in my garden and allotment only.  I do things my way and it usually works but I'm always learning new tricks and trying new things out.

I don't think gardening is about expertise so much as sharing knowledge. :)

Since we are adding to the catalog of disasters; clipping an axe off you foot! While naturally wearing all the correct safety gear - shorts, t-shirt, lack of gloves and of course solid footwear - sandals!

For those who can't decide what they are, here are a couple of pointers

Absolute beginner - has to mark handles of all tools with the word TOP. Has, as some time, dug over someone else's allotment by not recognising yours is the one next door. Has taken the pile of rotting vegetation in that square of pallets to the tip to tidy the plot up. Dug the beds over twice thinking that was 'double digging'. Thinks rotovating a derelict plot will save time in the long run. Gets thirsty at the plot

Beginner - Has read a Monty Don book and thought it was full of expert advice. Knows now why planting the onions close together to save space is a baaad idea. Thinks starting all the seedlings off early will get a headstart on the year. Knows what chitting is. Takes a flask to the plot. Sometimes gets a cuppa off a neighbour.

Middle of the road - Knows what chitting is and gets over 70% of the potatoes the right way up first time. Has tried at least 3 ways of growing carrots. Has had at least 5% harvest in both swedes and turnips. Knows not to plant more than 2 jerusalem artichoke plants and to dig at least 4 ft down to remove them. Knows the pH of their soil and despite lime still can't grow cauliflower. Gets sniffy about the idea of rotovators. Has full brewing facilities in the shed.

Semi pro - CAN grow cauliflower. Still manages just over 5% success with turnips and swede. People ask your advice and you can sound plausible on any gardening subject ( even swede and turnip ). Has grown celeriac that looks more like celeriac than a medusa. Does not get carrot fly. Has tools that no-one else can identify but you wouldn't be without for that once a year job. Has full brewing facilities in shed, neighbours call round.

Pro - When Monty Don is wrong ( as he often is ) it's because he ignored your advice. You don't grow pineapples any more as they aren't a challenge. Last had a seed not germinate in 1997. Can tell pH and nutrient levels by sniffing the soil. You sow by the seasons, others sow by you. People ask your advice and you actually DO know the answer, you also realise you'll never stop being a beginner. You have full catering facilities in your shed and you are in the truck drivers guide to good food.

that's a very good description DJ ;D ;D

EXCELLENT! DJ

;D ;D ;D

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y31/GREENWIZARD/smilesn.gif)
funny djb

Useful!

Amazin,   ROTFLOL which is a bit embarassing as I'm in the office.

Add to your list, bending down and planting your bum in the patch of nettles behind you.

No idea what level to pick, as you say, the plants seem to work it out just fine most years.  I'm definitely turning into my gran, I bake scones without measuring anything, sniff the weather & garden by "feel" as in "feels about right".  Not starved yet.....

Gardening is one big learning curve ....On lotty plots there are dozens of experts but it is they guy who says nowt because he is busy filling his barrow with produce that you need to take note of  ... ;)
 Curry a PH meter is a must .  ;D ;D   Anyhow it's good PR when we walk around garden sticking the ph meter in it looks as though we know what we are doing  cheers ..Jim

Well perhaps I will mention the pH meter thing to my wife, so she can mention it to family ... I will probably get several next Christmas ... they will all sit unused in the drawer though ... The most technical piece of kit I have on my allotment is a ball of string ! :)

I would have considered myself higher, but moving and having a totally different type of soil,   gone from lovely dark, black stuff to very grey heavy clay, I am a beginner again...???
Having the advantage of previous knowledge has upped my rating.:)
At the end of the season, if it is on my plate, tasting great, and devoured with agusto, then I consider myself an expert.... ;D

Sorry Trixiebelle I can't vote. Was going to vote Beginner Beginning to learn  (veg)
BUT who is Alan Titchmarsh please?? ;D

Quote from: myrtle on March 14, 2006, 08:16:46
Don't forget the 'not keeping your fingers out the way of secateurs while pruning' one. Nearly severed me digits more than once.  :o

I am an expert in my garden and allotment only.  I do things my way and it usually works but I'm always learning new tricks and trying new things out.

I don't think gardening is about expertise so much as sharing knowledge. :)

Thanks for letting me know there is someone else out there. I thought I was the only  gardener stupid enough to come close to cutting off a digit with a pair of secateurs. Painfull isn't it :(

And what about:

Being nearly knocked out by a giant cooking apple after throwing sticks into a tree to get it down? I know it's how gravity was discovered but I nearly took myself off to A&E. Apple Crumble Conscussion.

DJ!  ;D Excellent!

I voted Middle, although that's probably being a little generous!

I'm pretty good on things like herbs and some periennials, know most of my weeds once they get going (but not before the true leaves) and can give advice to beginners. But I still do everything too early (or too late), and think that things will fix themselves when they just won't. And I know nothing about brassicas (except radishes!) and tropical plants. Or lawns.

I can do a good double dig and know which way up the compost should be!

well so far things seem to have been going quite well and thought perhaps I'm a middle of the roadie ... until my mum, after querying why she couldn't see my shallots at the w/e, explained I should have planted them on top of the soil ... not an inch under it  >:(

.... will send myself to the back of the class  :'(

Now I'm really confused!

Think i'll be a backward beginner! But did slice my nose open when a saw fell off the wall in the shed! So heading for expert but backward!

I'm not sure just where I fit in (in the first 'half' of the options of course).

I know what I'm supposed to do, but I have no idea what will happen when I do it.  :D

Quote from: aquilegia on March 14, 2006, 13:42:49
 

. But I still do everything too early (or too late), and think that things will fix themselves when they just won't. 

like you i try to trick mother nature..........but she always wins ::)