Allotment Wars Tonight BBC 1 - 10:35pm

[Kirk]

I have relatives in that area of the UK, bit further North, and when it comes to growing leeks the secret of getting large leeks will be taken to the grave with them.

Being a blood relative is totally irrelevant, living 250 miles away is irrelevant, having no interest in competitions is irrelevant. Never will anything be divulged.

Never actually heard my uncle talk of anything other then leeks so not even sure if he tries anything else.

[alldigging]

. So they recruit extroverts and oddballs and turn it into "entertainment".

I don't think they recruited them especially. I think they're out there. Often a lot closer than you'd imagine.

[leonmc0708]

The young lad on that show - the teachin assistant. He didnt pay his rent and had reminder letters and lost his plot - nothign to see there. The fact he was stupid enough to think he could keep going is hardly TV.

The two older ella's who had "fallen out" had in fact got a healtyh rivalry in competition. Nothing new there.

As for the dolly birds who had their shed broekn into - nothing was stolen just a brew made.

Dont see what the fuss was about meself.

[Kitchen Gardener]

I will watch tomorrow on catch up via internet ....

[AmyG]

but I stick with my point: If you have a decent sized garden, you should not be allowed (at all) an allotment if there are zillions of people in flats wanting to grow their own things

What would you call a decent size garden, DIM ? My garden is about half the size of my half allotment plot. Should I be forced to give it up ?

[Bill HH]

I applied for an allotment in 2008 in Torquay (one of the featured allotments incidentaly), I did it online and was told there was a 2 year waiting list. After 2 years having heard nothing I rang them and they said there was no trace of my application. Having watched the BBC program I may have had a lucky escape, I am sure if I had one I would soon fall foul of the rules and regulations. I hate committeeeeees. I will just have to make the most of the back garden I have. I actualy found some of the prog quite intersting and funny but was left with a feeling that i would like to bash a few skulls in with my dibber.

It has just occured to me that this shortage of allotments could be quite easily cured if more farmers were to offer plots to people, it would be more profitable than farming for sure. Many farms have little areas that dont fit in with their overall scheme. Maybe its against planning regs i dont know.

[Olorin2001]

Reality TV but without the reality - our site is nothing like that, but none of us show our produce.
Yes we do have some strange character, me for one - we have tea drinker who grow a few plants and talk a lot - we have dedicated gardeners who are borderline antisocial, we get on and everone does their own thing without let or hinderance.
And to all those zillions of flat dweller wanting an allotment - come to sunny Southampton, on the west side of the city there are plots you can rent and start on tomorrow.

[Olorin2001]

Southampton allotments are council owned and run - Sue, a very, very nice lady is the allotment officer and each site elects a rep to deal with site matters. For that they get the princely sum of £10 a year and are expected to attend the biannual council meetings. If a plot holder has a querry or problem they go to the rep, and if the council got any issues they tell the rep and they relay the message - so the rep is a gopher, has no powers to tell poeple what to do, just to point out the rules and regs - and the system works well, no commitee to get power hungry. So totally unlike that TV programme.

[Sheneval]

What would you call a decent size garden, DIM ? My garden is about half the size of my half allotment plot. Should I be forced to give it up ?

AmyG - Of course you shouldn't - don't fall into this individual's trap - if you read dim's previous posts you will find they make provocative statements to get conflicting responses from people who will obviously get upset at the views expressed - these types are more common on Political sites and are the work of what is commonly known as a Troll; ie; someone who casts a net or a lure upon the water and then sits back to see who takes the bait.

[Olorin2001]

there are zillions of people in flats wanting to grow their own things

And out of that zillion a small percentage will bother to put their name on a waiting list, and an even smaller percentage will take on the challenge when confronted by an overgrown plot, and most will give up within a year.
In Southampton the council have just opened up a new site so the waiting list in the west of the city is zero, obviously none of your zillions live here.
Thinking about growing your own is one thing - actually living the dream is something totally different.
Talk is cheap but it don't put food, or beer, on the table.
While I trading insults is not my style, some people do pick rather Dim user names, LOL

[bearded bloke]

..... watch the documentary

Hmmmmmmmmm,that was classified as a documentary ?