Joe Swifts allotment, given up.

[Incy]

I wish I had a plot

[organic]

TS - I jest.
It's a very good point though - 8 miles by bike, each way, is a fair trip and even more so when trying to move things (harvests, seedlings, compost and what have you) too.

[Pies]

Only two weeks ago hewas looking forward to this year so its a sudden change of heart

[smallblueplanet]

The blog is dated March 2009 2-sheds.

[PAULW]

TS
He lives in the smoke he could jump on a bus theres one every five minutes it would take me three days by bus to get to my plot

[Snadger]

Joe's commute was 40 mins each way, by bike. So that's 8 miles each way. I don't blame him.

Mine is 7 miles away and an hour each way by bike! (Not a very good bike, or rider for that matter though!)

[SarzWix]

[...]hes only taken a few bits off his plot due to all the mares tail[...]

That's a bit of a pathetic excuse. My allotments both have mare's tail, and it affects the harvest very little - it doesn't block light, and it doesn't steal nutrients.

In fact I think the whole thing is pathetic. It's obvious that the allotment was just Joe and the BBC jumping on the bandwagon, and the only possible good to come from it is that people will see that having fancy beds isn't a substitute for hard work on an allotment...

[Alison]

I was never very convinced that he was committed in the first place and always go the impression that the other lottie holders were laughing at his seemingly feeble attempts to do it all but that may be an unfair impression. I too suffer badly with marestail and it's not that much of a problem really, pretty extensive but as Sarah says not the best excuse. Didn't like the triangular beds either

[binley100]

That's a bit of a pathetic excuse. My allotments both have mare's tail, and it affects the harvest very little - it doesn't block light, and it doesn't steal nutrients.

In fact I think the whole thing is pathetic. It's obvious that the allotment was just Joe and the BBC jumping on the bandwagon, and the only possible good to come from it is that people will see that having fancy beds isn't a substitute for hard work on an allotment...

Wot she said.........

[vegnut]

Didn't like the triangular beds either

I quite agree, them beds were bl##*y awful and not very practical.
I only live half a mile away from my lottie plot, which i'm very happy about.

[Two_Sheds]

The blog is dated March 2009 2-sheds.

So it was. I didn't think he'd had the plot for that long.

Mine is 7 miles away and an hour each way by bike! (Not a very good bike, or rider for that matter though!)

So was mine, in the end (when I moved). It was jolly hard work biking to it, and I only managed it once a week: not at all if it was belting down. (Biking was quicker than bus, and £6 cheaper)

It's obvious that the allotment was just Joe and the BBC jumping on the bandwagon

maybe so, but who else is doing an allotment programme on the tellybox?

I was never very convinced that he was committed in the first place

He was very keen to have a go: he'd never grown vegetables before. I think he gave it a jolly good go and he did stress the hard work required (he admitted having his plot scraped & strimmed of weeds, because doing it by hand would have taken too long & made v.boring TV)

He's a garden designer by trade. I don't think his triangular beds were any more silly than some of the other things that newbies come up with (like cutting beds into the couch grass instead of getting rid of it all )

I think you're all being very mean, so ner

[piskieinboots]

I think you're all being very mean, so ner

not all of us

[Two_Sheds]

All of you except Piskie

[piskieinboots]

Another media type announced giving up her allotment the other day in a.n.other gardening press - fair play to her, she was very honest and it made for a good read.

It could be a good idea to pass it out to newbies, along with their lottie rules and regs, to save them heartache.

But having said that, if 'you' don't try 'you'll ' never know and I'm sure for every newbie* that gives up a percentage will stick with it and carry on producing.

* the media lady in the article wasn't a newbie, she had stuck with it for around four years

[Ian White]

To be honest i agree with some points being made but i also think some are being a bit mean,OK the bbc may have jumped on to the Grow your own bandwagon,but as Two Sheds has said who else is doing an allotment programme on the tellybox?,i wacthed Gardeners World on bbc 2 a few weeks ago as it was going to inclued veg,well i think it took all of 5 mins of the show

As we all know it's not easy when you first start and if he had to travel 8 miles to get there in the first place,to be honest i dont think i would have felt like working when i got to the plot

At least he's given a chance to someone who is on the waiting list to get a plot and start growing his own crops,so far play to him i say.


All the best,Ian