Grow Your Own Magazine

Just watched tonights prog, and as a newbie waiting to take on their first lottie I found it really interesting. I know no planting was done, but to see it start from scratch means that I might have more of an idea of what to tackle first. Would be interested to know what the more experienced of you thought. I will look forward to next weeks. Does anybody else get really annoyed at Carole Klein's scarves? They would drive me crazy. Be interesting to she if it stays on when she starts digging next week

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Do it! Life's too short

Hi,

To me he made it look all to easy. Although found it very intersting.

When I took my plot on in a similar state I had no one to dig the top over, drop free wood chipings, got free compost and no DIY store to give me scafold planks (TV cameras do the most unusual things dont they).

But I wouldn't change my plot for the world. Its my little piece of heaven and all the hard work DOES pay off in the end.

Hope you get your plot soon and good luck

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Stout hearts, strength and honour.

Bummer, just realised I missed it. It's the only bit of 'live telly' I watch and forgot as I was watching a taped bionic woman - which I LOVE and am gutted they have canned it.
But more gutted to have missed G.W.
Is it repeated?

janeyo

not sure about repeat but I think it's on iPlayer

i loved the fact none of the other allotmenteers could get their head around his triangles!! but i agree with fezinio it did look far to easy - though when i look at the progress my fellow new alltoment holders have made compared to myself then perhaps it is! we do get bark chips and leaf mould delivered to our site from the council but i think thats only cos our bod in charge is a parky and commenders them for us

I keep looking out for repeats to Janeyo as trying to watch the tv on a Friday evening is turning into a near possibility at the moment. Stupid question this, but how does an i-player work? Do you download it onto an i-pod? or watch it on your computer? Sorry .......... bit of an oldie with no idea of IT ............

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~
Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway.
~ Mary Kay Ash

The i-player thing lets you watch it on the internet - BBC iPlayer - Home , click on A-Z, G for Gardener's World. Unfortunatly I can't get it to work at the moment though, anyone else having probs?

edit: sometimes Virgin Media comes in useful... it's on the 'watch again' (on demand) service

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he made me laugh when he kept going on about the weeds and the soil. I thought welcome to the real world and not lovely berryfields.

He did make it look easy, I have had my plot for 3 years now and I still have sections I have not planted yet and need to be sorted - hope to sort that out this year.

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http://warmanallotment.blogspot.com/

I thought it was too good to be true, all the 'free' deliveries. He didn't pay for it himself or see money swap hands, but it bet the BBC paid for it.

I may be being over cynical, has anyone heard or had this? It is difficult enough getting a recycling bin from my council let alone a few tones of wood chippings.

Having said that as soon as I get my allotment (only applied today), I will check with the council in case the winds of change are upon us.

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BW
James

James' Allotment Blog

"made it loook easy" - would any of us really watch him digging for half an hour? They're bound to show the "highlights" - when he's finished a bit, the before and after so to speak. I thought it was great.

As for all the things he got "free" - I only pay £11 for my plot and I get £11's worth of services thrown in. If I was paying £65 like Jo is, I'd want a fair bit more too.

I think it's good to challenge the norm, if only to find out that you were wrong - one of the best ways of learning the right way is to get it wrong.

Keep up the good work GW I say.

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A simple dude trying to grow veg.

http://haywayne.blogspot.com/ - UPDATED - 11th June

http://www.sloganizer.net/en/style2,HeyWayne.png

I enjoyed it, but it was totally out of touch with reality!

I couldn't get over the amount of space he's wasting with his triangles. Looks good but it kinda misses the point of making the plot as productive as possible.

What was he thinking -rotavating it -when it's got mares tail !!

Having just spent hours painstakingly removing the tiniest pieces (and big bits too!) of couch grass from a very small patch of my veg garden, I cannot understand why anyone would go and chop it into millions of tiny pieces! The man has to be mad!

I sort of perversely liked the programme because I think it showed what NOT to do on a new allotment. OK, the Council stuff was fine, as he said getting the scrape done etc was all in with the price and the manure was free to all, not just to him - we can do that here also.

But he's supposed to know what he's doing in gardens and I thought a lot of what he said was barmy. He got the allotmenteer of the year in to give him advice and them ignored it, he even thinks he knows better than St Geoff about the dimensions of raised beds, then had the arrogance to take the p**s out of the regulars because Joe Swift wanted trangular and diamond shaped beds.

I thought one of the real benefits with allotments is talking to the other plot holders, getting advice - which of course he can accept or not, his call - but badmouthing them the way he did when he was putting his tools away was rude if nothing else.

I don't usually want to see somebody fail or come unstuck when they're gardening but in his case .........

And I though Carole was excellent, I know JUST how she feels about propagating plants and seeds, for me it's still one of the bestest parts of gardening! But ditch the BBC make-overs Carole and go back to how you used to be.

But does anybody know where I can get a man sized version of her duffle coat, have the scarves already!

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TonyF, Dordogne 24220

GW Repeated::: Tue 15 Apr, 02:30 - 03:30 AM

BBC One

Spring in the West Country: Carol Klein shares her propagation secrets from her home garden in Devon, and celebrates the season's iconic flowers, including primroses and tulips.
BBC - Gardeners' World - Home

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I play hide and seek with my cat
http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk

I really enjoyed GW. I havent got an allotment yet but I've allready learnt a lot of things Im not going to do.
I think he is wasting loads of space with those daft triangles. How on earth is he going to reach the middle of his raised beds. As for the weeds I think he was mad to chop the whole plot up but I think they are going for the effect of doing the whole lot in one go. Im sure most people would tackle one little area at a time and then you would be able to get rid of all the weeds by hand.
Im looking forward to the rest of the series.

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Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup!

Yes I have to agree, I love going to the allotment and saying hello to everyone. I get great advice from them and they are always happy to help me where they can.

Loads of stuff he mentioned I just laughed at, the traingle bed is going to be a nightmare, we had smaller beds and a pain to weed and when a weed started to grow up the side it was really hard to get the weed out. We have now taking out all the bits of wood.

I hope he does fail, mean I know. BUT if it helps other new people then its worth it.

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http://warmanallotment.blogspot.com/

My beds are regular in size so I can put netting, fleece, whatever over them in ready made frames. Would hate to construct a triangular jobbie! I also wonder if 'someone' will tackle the weeds as they come up so it doesn't look like we all know it would with chopped up baddies in the soil? Will he net - will he get cabbage white damage - is he looking for one of those twee potager type things that you daren't harvest a lettuce from because it spoils the arrangement? Or is he going to turn into a 'real' allotmenteer. No prizes for guessing in my opinion!

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Some days you're the statue, some days you're the pigeon!

vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated July 7th 2008

I thought it was excellent programme, full of helpful tips possibly not from Joe but others that he has chose to ignore. Furthermore, yes he has done Triangle Beds, reminds me a bit of Geoff Hamilton's and isn't a diamond just a Squashed Square, and surely if he uses bricks or something down the middle it will work. I am not for straight lined sowing anyway and seeing the success of veggie plots at RHS Harlow Carr, I have just done small beds with general sowings, easy for me and made it easier for protecting with fleece etc. My allotment friend said they were rubbish, but changed his mind when he saw the way they have turned see my 'my Folia' for my Journals on my musings and images.

As for freebie's its there if you look, Pallets are available from all over, check shops and even Garden Centre's, mainly look for shops that get big items. The biggest thing to do and especially this time of year is skips, just need to ask permission, never been refused yet and actually ended with more stuff when they find out what it is for.

As for free compost, our local council are doing it and when it arrives at our local recycle centre the Jungle Drums are out and it is crowded with prospectors as my wife calls them. I went to our local council viewpoint meeting about this particular subject, and we were advised all councils now have to recycle garden waste, so maybe a phone call is needed in your area to see how and where.

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