Allotments 4 All

Hi All,

I've been asked a few times about splitting this board into different ones for different edible types, you know herbs / vegetables / fruit etc.

Well I think it is now busy enough to warrant it, but would like your input.

Let me know what you think, what the split could be, and anything else really!

Looking forward to your thought.

Dan.

PS
Vote using the poll on this thread to give me an accurate picture.

I would like to see Fruit & Vegetables as seperate entities, with a possibility of subdividing the vegetables into Propagation & Growing.

Admittedly Propagation is well on its way for this season so this might be a thought best left till next season.

I'm in favour of a split into 'Fruit' and 'Vegetables & Herbs'. 

If this goes ahead I look forward to seeing where questions about tomatoes are posted.   ;D   ;)

G x

I’m going to have to say, I like all the edible plants grouped together  ;D

I normally check-in a few times a day and just scan the main page for new posts in edible plants, if it was subdivided into several sections I probably wouldn’t check in so often as it would take longer…. Lazy? Yes, but honest!

Truffle


Grow truffles- www.PlantationSystems.com -Buy truffle trees

I`m easy but I also think if it ain`t broke then don`t fix it

I'd go for seperating Fruit and Veg. I don't really see the need for a section just for Herbs. Having said that, I quite like it the way it is too :-\

I don't think either fruit or herbs get enough posts to justify a specialist board for either.

well i'm all for it. wil make it easier to find topics...

Yeh i think its a good idea, makes it easier for folk to post in the correct board.

Yes - although not extensively - just two separate sections for fruit and veg would do I think :)

Works for me how it is. Although it is busy on here, it's mainly related to vegetables & I don't see how you could sub-divide this to aid navigation...

I have little involvement with fruit, but can see that those who do, may find the current arrangement a tad busy to follow threads ... similarly for herbs ... garlic is an interesting one - I allocate more space to garlic than to courgettes :D

Yes I think sub boards or whatever is the way forward ...

Another Board I went to at the demise of the old Beeb site in its last format had so many subdivisions I just didn't bother after a while so I'm voting 'no'. Surely enough that the title line is explicit enough?

And where would we ask about tomatoes?  :P  ;D

or rhubarb ?

I've voted no - I don't post on here much but I read it an awful lot & I think it's working well as it is.  Quite often there are posts about growing veg which then spin off into discussing fruit too which I personally think makes for a more interesting forum.
I also agree with Truffle's comments!!

happy as it is ... agree with Alishka

but a 'splitting into Fruit and Veggie might be good

Mike

I am choosing not to vote as either way would work for me.

As it is now most of the active threads are on the first couple of pages so are easy to find. That being said if it was split into separate sections it would be quicker to search for old posts relating to your question & it would be clearer where to ask for help on a specific subject.

If it was split it would take ages to sort through the current 281 pages of threads & decide where to place them which is an awful lot of work for Dan to do. Do people really think it is fair to ask him to do that?

Adding to the list of plants difficult to define bananas are herbs which produce edible berries so where would they go?

Im in favour of splitting the two one for fruit  and on for veg  tomatoe are a fruit and put the rubarb in the veg section sutton girl

It' going to be a 'no' from me - I'm with Truffle on this one, I also just click on and off at various times of the day and find it suits me to only have a couple of sections to check on.  :)

I do agree as well that it would be a lot of work for Dan to sort the 'previous' out! :-\

I happy as it is

I think it would help if folks identified the subject in question when posting a new thread, such as "The Day of the Raspberries" or "Potatoes - the Truth!" or even "General Query about planting" (unless of course your name is General Query, in which case your posting should probably be in the shed anyway).

So, on balance... er... I'm not sure.

I'll go away and have a think... I may be some time...

no for me as I just wouldnt look in the fruit - and then id miss something I needed to know

further toughts
its still a no but f it was a yes id rather it would be split further than just fruit veg eg brassicas, roots, legumes etc - this would then him looking at older posts and narrow searches

I voted no, as I don't have a problem with it as it is. 

I'm not sure how splitting it would make it any less busy, or easy to use? Looking at the last few pages in edibles there aren't that many posts for fruit and herbs, so there wouldn't be that many moved to different sections, would there?

Edibles is just busy because its a busy time of year :)

I'm not sure how much I'd look in fruit or herbs if they moved - but when those posts are all together in edibles they often catch my eye as I scan through recent posts...

Hmm, I supposed I haven't looked at it from the other point of view though: if someone was really into fruit and/or herbs, they might not want to trawl through all the veggie posts...

If it has to be split, rather than create all the work of moving old posts, what about locking the old "edibles" section (which can then still be read and searched) and just starting the new sections (veg, fruit and herbs) from scratch?  That would be a quicker fix.

But I still think "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".... so its still a "no" from me.

'Fruit' and 'Vegetables and Herbs' seems a good idea.

Quote from: Amazin on April 05, 2007, 22:09:45
I think it would help if folks identified the subject in question when posting a new thread

I couldn't agree more.  It uses up a lot of time when you have to click on posts to find out what they're about, and many turn out to have no relevance for me.  Often I don't bother as I don't have the time - and may well miss useful or interesting stuff that way.

As for dividing Fruit and Vegetables, I'd be inclined (regardless of technicalities) to classify them according to whether they are mainly eaten as a sweet or savoury - so things like toms and aubs would count as veg for me.

Hi all,  :)

I voted no.

I like the Forum the way it is.

Are people finding that threads are scrolling down the page before
they get a chance to read them?

Col

Never quite that fast, but about 10pm it really speeds up.

Quote from: Columbus on April 07, 2007, 18:31:48
Are people finding that threads are scrolling down the page before
they get a chance to read them?

That is a point in favour of splitting the Edible Plants board, surely?

Quote
Quote from: Columbus on Yesterday at 18:31:48
Are people finding that threads are scrolling down the page before
they get a chance to read them?

That is a point in favour of splitting the Edible Plants board, surely?

If people are finding the section is too busy to keep up with ?

Maybe this forum is suffering growing pains? I hadn`t noticed. Anyone ?

Col

I'm happy with it as it is, but I don't grow much fruit.

Same here.  I also often log on very briefly - or have it running in the background & usually check new posts in 'edibles' - works for me.  :)

Just voted & note it is 50% yes & no - whose going to have the casting vote? 

I just voted "no", mainly because I like the variety of the threads on the "edible" pages.

Perhaps if something must be done to tidy things up, then maybe topics could get dropped off the end (I see there are 282 pages of topics just on edible plants as of now) and archived somehow so that we get a sort of WIKI-allotmentia?

I voted no.
I think it is working as it is and if I want to find a specific topic there is the search function.

Also, it is 'Allotments 4 All' and on most allotments (at least that I've seen) people grow a variety of edible things. For example at my site, most people have raspberries, but very few focus on them. Most people on our site grow at least one herb (if not at the allotment, on the kitchen windowsill), even if it is in small quantities. All of these things are of interest to larger or lesser degrees.

For me the variety is nice and I find myself reading about things I've never grown and think hmmm maybe that would be nice to grow.

I am in favour of more specific post titles, just as there are a lot of posts and it helps us read what we find interesting.

I grow both fruit and veg and am happy with the forum as it is.  There is usually something relevant to me without having to look too hard and for those who can't be bothered to scroll thro all the posts, there is always the search facility [now it is working again that is!]

I'm not too fussed either way, but probably marginally against splitting the boards up any more.  There are already quite a lot of topics.

I am against it. It is good to have just one place to look for threads to read, but perhaps more importantly many discussion topics are not easily categorised as simply fruit or veg. And are people going to put tomatoes in fruit, as strictly speaking they should be, or veg?

I voted no - as some else further up said, I probably wouldn't review the fruit if it was separate and would miss something that might be relevant or interesting to me.  I quite like the erratic mix in the edibles board.

I'd like to seperate the fruit and veg into two sections.

and how about an edible exotics section so you know where to go when growing unusual stuff.

Or is that a daft idea? :-[

I think it is great as it is easy to find everything I want under edible plants, in fact I hardly look anywhere else. And as both fruit and veg are edible, I reckon leave it as it is.

Agree with Truffle's comments, but even if the board ends up being split, I still find it one of my favourite sites to trawl through before I got to bed... in fact it is one of the best sites I visit, apart from ebay and motorcycle sites (my other love)! Linda

I think it's fine as it is. It's nice to stumble across unexpected gems, which may happen less often if everything gets split up.

Stork.

I totally agree with Stork, its funny how often you read som epost and a few weeks later you go back as it becomes relevant to yourself.

I voted "no" to the split as I could see a great deal of confusion arising.  Some peeps have already mentioned tomatoes but what about cucumbers, squash, courgettes, pepper and chillies, aren't they also fruit?   :-\   They all have pips.   ;D ;D 

I think Dan would have to go through the postings every day and move them to the appropriate section.  It would be a nightmare. 

I like the site just as it is.    If I have time I read through all the posts but if not I just open the ones which I think may be relevant  for me.   However I agree with previous posts that clearer headings would make it so much easier to filter out what I'm not really interested in.

It works for me the way it is. If it is split too much, could get too 'fiddly'.

I originally thought yes but am changing my mind I think, when I voted yes I thought of fruit as trees and bushes, but then I consider rhubarb as fruit and it is often in the veggie section of listings and I think of a tomato as a veggie when I believe technically it is a fruit. I think it may put a lot of work on Dan, perhaps edible and not edible is better after all. Mind you with all the talk od big stuff that is going one, eg sunflowers, pumkins,maybe there should be one for OTHER big stuff..just to complicate matters XX Jeannine

So, won't show up anywhere bit my vote is now NO.

I voted no - It's fine as it is.

I say no. If the board were split up into sub categories, I probably wouldn't look at many of them - if any !  - but, as they are now "under one roof" it's nice to browse through and pick up info that may be useful in the future or that inspires one to start a new veg/ fruit that one wouldn't have considered before !!

I voted NO. I am happy as it is. Seems to work well as it is.

Me too. It's difficult enough for me to get my posts in the right place as it is without creating more pathways for me to wander off lol

I haven't yet voted, but I have read all the comments.

I think it is good to have a mixed board, as you can keep up with everything new, but when looking for old topics it would be nice to have categories. Maybe it would be possible to move threads older than x months into categories. Then I thought seeing as there is the allotment wiki, some members could copy relevant parts of old threads and put them on to the specific wiki page? There is so much good advice, and after a while it does get lost. The searching is good but sometimes brings up too many results.

The other thing I thought could be done, is somehow add a category to each new thread. It doesn't have to be compulsory, but that way people can instantly see what it is about. You could keep all the threads in same board as it is now, and have lots of categories.

Maybe split into general talking about what we are growing and a Questions on growing???

Or leave it as is???

I feel there are too many topics to keep up with all the posts but there is always the answer somewhere by doing a search.

Excellent site overall.

I'm with Truffle , keep them together we are more likely to read them. but maybe if you want to be specific we could use a search facility?

....and it's a 'no' from me. I totally agree with Stork. Finding info on other things not relevant at the time  has often sparked interest and curiosity for me, often leading to trying stuff I may not have bothered with normally.

I,m happy !    :D with things as they are . Great website ! Rohaise

I would say a simple split between Fruit and Veg would suffice, with herbs falling in with veg maybe.

Thing is where will things like rhubarb and tomatoes fit in? Classed as one type botanicaly but used like the other in practice.

I'm with glow777. Why not break the veg into Brassica's, legunes, roots etc etc

Would make sense and easier to find a subject you are specifically after.

Mossy.

how about making the first page of edibles twice as long, so you can see more recent posts?

 ;D 8) :)
    I am happy with it the way it is, its a brilliant website.

Quote from: cherry on April 14, 2007, 00:16:26
I like the site just as it is.      However I agree with previous posts that clearer headings would make it so much easier to filter out what I'm not really interested in.

Heartfelt agreement.Please, please can there be some clue as to the subject content in the headings on the more important boards?  Sometimes they are so enigmatic there's no way one could guess and for those without broadband or, like me, with a puter on an afternoon of go-slow today, really infuriating. >:(

Alishka, if you mean topic/thread titles then they are down to the person who started the topic/thread. I which case it is up to individual members to be more specific when titling their posts! I personaly try to be as accurate and descriptive when titling a new topic as i can in the space provided.

If you mean the titles of individual sub-boards (edible plants, non edible plants etc) then i personaly dont see much wrong with the titles, although perhaps a revamp of the sub boards themselves might be in order?

like it the way it is :)

I have voted no as I don,t come on the bit very offten i think it maybe confussing

Iain

It is good as it is so why change, if you had a subsection for propagation in edibles there would be very little apart from seed sowing, a few cuttings i.e seakale etc. and dividing i.e.shallots. Maybe if in the title of each post the type of plant could be included it would make things clearer as to what the post is about.

I've voted NO.
I have read threads that have inspired me to try so many different veg I would never have attempted if not for the question/answer encouragements.

Lauren  :)

I agree with elle

I thought I knew a lot about veg gardening, this area has taught me different, please dont change it, the main reason being it sets you thinking about stuff you hadnt thought of..............................erm........... that may not have made a lot of sense but hopefully you know what I mean.

vive la paix

I'm going to leave things as they are, I may have another look in the future who knows!

Cheers

Dan

OK, but may I too implore people to make the subject clear in the thread title.  I mostly don't have time to click on things to find out what they're about.

I'm with Greyhound on this one.  I don't think edibles is the place for crypitc titles, there are just too many posts.  So how about we all get into the habit of posting the name of the plant first, followed by question?  So instead of a number of posts entitled, for instance, 'Am I too late?',  we get 'Potatoes: am I to late' etc.  Just a thought.   :)

G x