Allotments 4 All

Watching GW, tonight did anyone else think that CAROL KLINE, seemed to have lost a lot of weight ? or is it me seeing things.

Great programme tonight i must have some of those Alan Titchmarsh, Sweet Peas, they look beautiful,  also that Monarda, which i am trying to get hold of with not much success.

Didn't notice if Carol has lost weight but agree about the sweet peas. Just gotta make sure and grow some next year.

And the coverage of the contaminated manure problem- did "ceres" have anything to do with that?

What did you think of Joe Swift's allotment.  His is on the same site as me.  Manuels and Keiths allotments are great.  Joe needs to do more work on his but is away a lot.

I thought Joe's allotment looked quite good. It was a bit sparsley planted, which I guess does not make good in terms of weed growth. Does he actually have help weeding extra before filming?

He does it himself with help from his wife and children.  I told him he should get help but he said the whole point was he wanted to do it himself.  The marestail is a problem on his and mine, lets hope he comes up with a solution, but just have to keep hoeing it.  He seems very pleasant and was very upset about all the remarks about his triangular beds.  The only thing that puzzled me last night (missed some of the programme) was where the scouts/cubs came from.  Did they say they had an allotment there, first I had heard of it.  Well it is quite interesting when they all appear to film, I normally hide.  He is away at present so nothing has been done.  It will be interesting to see if he keeps it up after the TV programme finishes, he said he wants to, but he may be too busy working on other projects. 

I thought it was just one of the scouts that said he had an allotment there(presumably with his family).
Any chanceof getting Joe to join A4A? Maybe he's already here!

One scout makes more sense.  Thanks.  I will tell Joe that everyone on Allotments 4 All loves his triangular beds and he may well join.  He has got his own blog on Gardeners World but it was not very up to date last time I looked.

Rosebud, I definitely thought Carol had lost weight when I saw her last night.

T.

Yes, she looked a bit scraggy but not painfully thin.  This Carol should do the same, I have been eating too much chocolate recently.   ;D

I must grow sweet peas again.  We had a big sweet pea frame up about 10 yrs ago but the wind damaged it so no more sweet peas.   They wre my Dads favourite flower and I like them too.  I liked both the Alan Titchmarsh and the Geoff Hamilton, loverly.

Quote from: Borlotti on August 16, 2008, 11:12:44
One scout makes more sense.  Thanks.  I will tell Joe that everyone on Allotments 4 All loves his triangular beds and he may well join.  He has got his own blog on Gardeners World but it was not very up to date last time I looked.

yeah i just looked at it on iplayer and it was only one of the kids who said they had a plot on the site.

We saw the sweet pea trials at Wisley on our A4A meet in July.  They were really beautiful.

I have to say i am disapointed with joes allotment slot. I thought it had great promise but as soon as he made those HUGE triangular beds, showing he is more a designer than gardener or would be lottie man, It completely lost credibility for me. i know he is a beginner so its not a 'how to' slot, but if i was a beginner i would get much inspiration from watching joe on his plot. Top marks for entertainment value though ;D.

As for the rest of GW, all i have to say is that it has been so much nicer having more 'normal' programmes through the summer rather than weeks of specials. Its so nice to see Berryfields in high summer, something we have always missed out on before.

Quote from: Garden Apprentice on August 19, 2008, 22:02:32
I have to say i am disappointed with Joe's allotment slot. I thought it had great promise but as soon as he made those HUGE triangular beds, showing he is more a designer than gardener or would be lottie man, It completely lost credibility for me. i know he is a beginner so its not a 'how to' slot, but if i was a beginner i would get much inspiration from watching Joe on his plot. Top marks for entertainment value though ;D.

So why does it have to be all straight lines? Why can't there be differences? Why do you always have to do things like everyone else to be accepted? Why is individuality so often looked upon as a negative?

The man is a garden designer, but he is also a gardener and in all honesty I would have been surprised if he did do things in straight rows of uniformed beds, I kinda expected his individuality/ creativity to shine through, after all I would guess its a big part of his nature, hence his career.

The thing is he set out to grow his own food on an allotment, and has achieved his goal, with successes and some failures as he himself will attest to, which hopefully will get others to do the same, maybe others who were daunted by the stereotype associated with vege growing will not be so cautious about taking the first step to either growing at home or in public at an allotment/ other community garden. I only wished that the allotment segments were longer so that we could have gotten a proper idea of the working of an allotment (so as you said for beginners to draw loads of inspiration).

I know everyone has got have their own opinion, what I don't understand is the need to criticise others for their choice of doing something different when it in no way affects anyone else.

Think we've been here before! ;D

Re; Joes allotment beds. Sorry i dont want to suppress individuality or imagination i just dont think they are very practical. To my way of thinking its all very welll having something that looks nice/stylish/designed, but if its impractical to the point of driving you mad, whats the point? Particularly on an allotment, the primary function of which is practical rather than aesthetic.

I could think of plenty of stylish ways to design an allotment and still be practical. Gardens too.

Interesting what you say about design GA, the main thing about Joe's design is that it must take longer each time you walk back to the shed, I know I walk up and down my allotment so many times when I am there that I need a central path just to save on the walking. ;)  I hadn't realised it before we planned it but I am glad it is there now. :)

T.

Quote from: Garden Apprentice on August 20, 2008, 19:03:27
Re; Joe's allotment beds. Sorry i don't want to suppress individuality or imagination i just donut think they are very practical. To my way of thinking its all very well having something that looks nice/stylish/designed, but if its impractical to the point of driving you mad, whats the point? Particularly on an allotment, the primary function of which is practical rather than aesthetic.

I could think of plenty of stylish ways to design an allotment and still be practical. Gardens too.

Then wouldn't it of been more constructive to say that he lost credibility as a garden designer because you didnot think his design plan for his plot was practical for .... (whatever reason).

Criticism for criticism sake does nothing but shoot people down, where as constructive criticism encourages debate into new ideas of improvement, at least that's what i think.

I suddenly went a bit 'artistic' this season in trying to plant beds with matching or  complimentary foliage. My leek bed for instance alternates Bleu de Solaise with St Victor, bordered all round by Lyon Prizetaker, so that by late autumn I should have a sea of blue and purple leaves surrounded by yellow-green.

Dunno why - I think I'm going a bit funny in my old age.

::)

I have self-seeded calendula that grow in all my beds, even between the potatoes.  And I plant sunflowers in any available space - looks lovely from a distance.