Allotments 4 All

These were taken yesterday; http://tinyurl.com/2c7p8s

I didn't think this year was as good as the last time I went in 2004 judge for yourself; http://tinyurl.com/28odt6    http://tinyurl.com/27kv9d

Thanks for that, scratch 'n'sniff facility and I could be there!

Teegee. Enjoyed looking at all your photos. Thank you for sharing.
Lorna

Thankyou so much for taking the pics TeeGee. I was not able to go myself but looking at your slideshow was the next best thing. Thanks also for sharing them with us.

Thanks TeeGee.  So much better than my pics from yesterday.

I'd agree this year wasn't as good as 2/3 years ago - can't remember when I last went.

There seemed to be fewer display gardens this year & OH & I thought that the Gold medals were an odd bunch.

It's turning into a very expensive day out now & when I remarked to OH about how when it first started it was a great way to get a much wider selection of plants at really good prices, now it's easier to use the internet & the prices there are pretty steep.  We then got chatting to another woman & the stallholder in the plant mall next to us joined in re established nurseries we used to see int he marquee with big stalls now doing smaller stalls in the mall & the comment was made that the cost of a pitch was up so much they had to do huge amounts of business to recoup costs.

Christine thingy of Christine's garden was really entertaining, we caught her by accident & she was the highlight for us.

We've started going to the small local plant fairs & shows & now enjoy those more than the huge commercial ones, but they are a great experience now & again & if possible I'd say go at least once.

Cheers

Quoteit was a great way to get a much wider selection of plants at really good prices,

I was chatting with  few of the stall holders and one told me the hire rate for his plant stall in the plant mall was £3000 yes three thousand pounds thats not accounting for getting his stuff there daily, and his accommodation.

Is it any wonder that the prices of plants were so high?

Didn't manage to get into the Food fair but spent the last hour in the Home fair and met a few stall holders who were quite angry at the three shows being put together.

It would appear they got very few customers because most of the visitors had come to the Garden fair and many of these only went into these two fairs to get out of the rain.

The free show I went to was just a load of waffle, I would have been better entertained if I had remained out in the halls.

Then when I had to pay £1-40 for a cup of tea which was a cardboard cup,a tea bag and some boiling water( not even a stainless steel teapot)............I was going to say that took the biscuit but I am afraid at those prices I couldn't afford one  ;)

This morning I received an e-mail from the organisers thanking me for attending and asking if I would like to comment................I did ...........I more or less wrote what I have written here.

All in all I enjoyed my day but I think that was down to me and my friends who  with our stiff upper lips and brollies made the best of it..

ps I also mentioned to the organisers that the biggest queues of the day were at the ATM machines as people  who were being fleeced replenished their wallets  :'(

3 Grand!  Blimey, and the plant mall was apparantly cheaper than the marquee - hate to think how much that cost.

Think I'll stick to the Arley plant Fair at Arley Hall, Norton Priory rare plant fair, and Shrewsbury show next year.

Cheers

Hi Guys.

With a big thankyou to jitterbug who kindly gave me her tickets here is my report on what was overall good day.

I have been for the first time and my major complaint was that there was no flow to the show we seamed to be wandering around aimlessly the signs were mounted high inside the halls. There was no one i could go and ask where things were.

We walked around the garden show, the food show and missed out of the home show.  That said i could not find Aces garden, i could not find the root trainers i wanted to buy, and quite a few of the stalls had run out of stuff and had closed. We came in at the end of the carol Klien talk in the grow it stage and missed monty don.

Bought 1 rhodadendron (fireworks) from gold medal winning 'cooks' stand and has small white flowers
Bought 3 begonias ( huge flowers ) from gold medal winning stand and has small white flowers
Bought 3 Delphiniams ( 1 from same place i got the begonias 2 from same place as rhodadendron)
Bought 2 Tomato Currants from the UK veg stall
( and a big trug to carry them home in for £5 )

We went into the seed swap which had maybe 10 people there and big buckets of seeds mostly RHS flower seeds but i came out with a good haul of veggie seeds inc DF Bean - Navy bean 'edmond', and Tomato orange and banana from the heritage seed libary. T&M tanacetum 'jackpot', marigolds and about 20 RHS seed packets i will post a list later.

Major gripe was waiting 25 min for a cup of tea!! 4 girls serving and the only one with a clue (and able to work the cash machine had collapesed so the rest muddled through till the 1st aider said she was ok to go back to work! ARG!!! I ended up having a muffin and a cup of tea the entire day  :o Thankfully the mother in law and macdollands came to the rescue on the way home.

I got stuck by this guy on a french wine stall (£2 for a taster) who tried to sell up a box of wine at £45 a bottle  :-\ But i did buy 2 bottles of wine from argentena ( not £45 a bottle more like £6  ;D and full of flavour )

We watched John Terode while a thunder storm hit outside and he recomended this finishing olive oil which the husband said he wanted to get. So we headed off to the stall and £47.50 later we had 2 bottles of single estate oil, a bottle of 12 year old balsamic vinager and one bottle of garlic infused olive oil.

Met jimmy from jimmys farm and have just had a bacon butty from his produce :-)

We visited the Garlic farm but all we caught sight of was the huge garlic bulbs we could not get to the tasters as there was 2 many people there.

We visited the 'kenco' stand which i think was briliant they had it set up so you were transported from one area in the world to another tasting coffee as you go. And i have about 20 samples which will make me coffee on the plot  :D

Photos are http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n61/cambourne7/BBC%20gardeners%20world/ more to come

Cambourne7

Swaps Received
   Marigolds
   Tanacetum - Jackpot
rhs   Carex pendula
rhs   Iris Foetidissima
rhs   Phlomis Fruticosa - Jerusalem Sage
rhs   Plectranthus Argentatus
rhs   Tanacetum - Parthenium
rhs   reseda lutea - Mignonette (kings Spear)
rhs   Nigella Damascena - Love in a mist 'miss jekyll'
rhs   Kirengeshoma Palmata
rhs   Eryngium Giganteum - Sea Holly 'Miss Willmotts Ghost'
rhs   Cleome Hassleriana - Spider Flower
rhs   Caryopteris x clandonensis
rhs   Verbascum Nigrum - Nettle leafed mullein
rhs   Verbascum Chaixii - Nettle leafed mullein
rhs   Chaenomeles Mixed - Flowering Quince

Hertage Seed Library
Tomata - Orange & Banana
Dwarf Navy Bean Edmond

If anyone has any help on these i would appreciate it, most of the rhs ones were just pick and hope as they only have the latin names :-)

Cambourne7