membership of organizations

I'm a member of the RHS. It gives you free admission to a lot of gardens (although all the RHS gardens are too far away for me); a good quality monthly magazine and access to advice. There are other benefits too but I haven't used them.
I used to belong to Garden Organic and the Heritage Seed Library but I resigned for those this year.
Again, free admission to some gardens, "free" seeds from the HSL and a magazine a couple of times a year. Advice, discounts and other benefits, none of which I have used.
Just remembered The Cottage Garden Society. Quarterly magazine and a seed swap.

I'm a member of the RHS too. I find the monthly magazine, which I read cover-to-cover, is worth the cost of subscription on its own.

I also manage to visit the two RHS gardens within reach (Hyde Hall and Wisley) at least once a year and usually more, free admission to member + guest.

Of course I'm into flowers and ornamental plants and garden design, if your only interest is veggies you might not find it as worthwhile.

My RHS membership is up for renewal at the end of this month.
From what I personally take from being a member these days it's perhaps not the value for money it was when I first joined some years ago.

Wisley is 40 mins away for me so quite accessible. I go once a year for myself. I might go again if friends from further away are visiting for a few days and are keen to go themselves. Hyde Hall in Essex I've been to once. The other two RHS gardens are too far away.
Although membership allows access to many more affiliated gardens, I'm yet to visit any.
The advisory service is good, but with google at my fingertips and the good people on this forum to draw on, I very rarely use that service. Replies typically take 7 days+ (and they're not always as detailed as you'd like).
Probably the monthly RHS magazine is the most valuable aspect of membership. Interesting on point articles and updates of the RHS trials.
The society also have a range of books which they regularly update and promote through the magazine. The books are generally very good (I've bought a number of titles over the years) and discounts on the cover price are another benefit of membership if you buy direct.

Consider ALL aspects of membership of these organisations and the likehood of actually using the benefits on offer (eg having access to lots of less known, private gardens is nice in theory but will you have time to visit these places)?. Will membership enrich your gardening? Are they still value for money in the long term?

I'm a member of the NVS in fact a Committee member of Scottish Branch.

WHat benefits are there in being a member?

Biggest benefit I think is that we have Branches at local level which we call District Associations(or DA's).

Our DA is very typical and we are extremely happy to share our knowledge with others and indeed we share seeds plants etc.

On the downside, in my view, the Society is inclined too far towards growing for exhibition as opposed to growing for the kitchen but on the plus side of that, trying to grow for exhibition greatly improves the qualityand condition of veg grown for the kitchen.


The Society has a panel of judges and lecturers (I am on both) and hold shows at regional and national levels annually which members are able to enter without payment .

The NVS has its own Forum, and a public website and also a quarterly magazine - Simply veg. The annual sub is only £17 which is reasonable given what is provided.

Best of all though is the camaraderie. You may read about sabotage of folks exhibits while growing or disputes here or there and of growers fiercely guarding their knowledge and growing methods. Not these days. All throughout the UK we have expert growers who are happy to share everything (I got three dozen leek pips in the post yesterday from the UK National Champion for nowt) and we have made so many really good friends.

I never try to do a hard sell at any talks I do for local gardening clubs(and I never charge the clubs for the talk). I'm happy to encourage anyone to have a go and most NVS members are the same.


Ooops, I've run off at the mouth a bit. If anyone wants any further info I'm here

Thank you very much for your answers folks, the RHS dose not appear to be a wise investment for me, most of the gardens in Scotland are SNT which I am a member of, so no advantage of free entry, as for the magazine, although its not just veg that I am interested in, unlike Martin I doubt that there would be enough in it to make it good value for me, the post that AP has put in makes the NVS seem like good value so will give this some consideration, so as I started with thank to you all for your answers.

We did go along to the village Garden Club whic offered a range of talks and visits to local gardens of interest but when they put the price up to £5 each per month I decided not to bother.

On the plus side there was a very interesting talk from a local bee keeper which taught me alot - other than that does the Tufty Club count?

^^^^^^^^no

Yep, I've just been on the NVS website -and for £17 a year, looks great value for money, despite me having no interest in exhibiting things.

Earlier this Summer a relative made me a member of the RHS as a thank you gift. I visited Harlow Carr in the Summer. Would I go again? No.

But then I'm not really interested in gardens only fruit and vegetables and the shops were very expensive and Betty's Café (the only place to eat on site) was a complete and utter rip-off. If I pay top price I expect food at least as good as I can make myself.

Would I pay to join myself. No.

I think I will see where my nearest NVS group is however.

Must agree with you greenishfing, was at Harlow Carr a couple of years ago, and although I do like both flowers and veg. I didnt find it one I would rush back to, and yes the cafe was a ripp off

Right AP, would you please let me know how I, and other interested Grapes go about joining the NVS

Should be easy enough from the link below.

http://nvsuk.org.uk/join-us.html

Yes, that link will let you get to where you need to be matey. You can pay online via paypal and it is very painless

Thanks Kevin and AP, but AP paying is never painless