'The Big Allotment Challenge'

[Bill HH]

It wasn't quite what I expected, but I'll watch it again. Bit of a let-down in terms of the veg growing, but I did like the bouquet test and the sweet peas. I wonder did the cookery judge feel sick after eating so many spoons of jam and curd.
Hoping they'll show more of the cultivation side in coming weeks and not go overboard on the 'tears and tantrums' angle.

That rather sums up how I felt about it, if I wanted to see jam making I would watch a cooking program, what I wanted to see was how they grew the fruit to make the jam. Maybe they will show that later. In the same way I thought flower arranging was not something that shouts allotment to me.

[Florence Fennel]

I'll have to watch it again, just in case it improves

[Compo72]

Perhaps I'm missing the point of the show
The mass audience is what matters

If a few people decide to take up the spade and have a go .
Like me good luck to them

Let's not be too hasty in knocking a tv programme

that gets people off their butts and take an interest in growing and eating it




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[Alison]

It wasn't quite what I expected, but I'll watch it again. Bit of a let-down in terms of the veg growing, but I did like the bouquet test and the sweet peas. I wonder did the cookery judge feel sick after eating so many spoons of jam and curd.
Hoping they'll show more of the cultivation side in coming weeks and not go overboard on the 'tears and tantrums' angle.

Interesting comments about the flowers, I didn't see the point of that bit at all but that's probably because although I grow some flowers (inc sweet peas) I would never arrange and display them like that as it's a bit twee for me so a skill I don't need.

Re the tears and tantrums, I hope so too but isn't one of the women one of the people who was on that terrible Allotment Wars programme a couple of years ago? Doesn't bode well but hopefully I'll be proved wrong.


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[Noosner]

It wasn't quite what I expected, but I'll watch it again. Bit of a let-down in terms of the veg growing, but I did like the bouquet test and the sweet peas. I wonder did the cookery judge feel sick after eating so many spoons of jam and curd.
Hoping they'll show more of the cultivation side in coming weeks and not go overboard on the 'tears and tantrums' angle.

What you say hits the nail on the head for me too, WPG. I'll tune in again if only for the camaraderie of seeing other people faff around with vegetables a lot. One of the reasons I log on here too.

[Dorothy rouse]

I watched it to, bit of a strange mixture of topics, a lot on preserving, but not much on growing, how to decide what to grow,preparing ground, planning, slugs/snails, blight, weather conditions etc. maybe it'll improve, suppose it's a first of its kind, but was more like 'Masterchef', than an allotment programme.

[Dorothy rouse]

Re the tears and tantrums, I hope so too but isn't one of the women one of the people who was on that terrible Allotment Wars programme a couple of years ago? Doesn't bode well but hopefully I'll be proved wrong.


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Do you mean the blonde lady?, I thought I recognised her also.

[iGrow]

Me too - her shed was OTT and kept getting broken into if my memory serves me correctly.

[Bren In Pots]

I've not watched the show yet but after reading this thread I'll watch it on iPlayer while doing something else.

[Bill HH]

Yes she was in the Torquay based program allotment wars, that program put me off having an allotment for life. yes i know all allotments are not like that but if I managed to get one it would have been one of those as i live in Torquay.

[gardening_gal]

I was really disappointed with this prog tbh. It seemed as though they missed out/cut out deliberately all the bits I wanted to see/know about probably simply because the nuts and bolts of growing would be too boring for this type of show. All you saw was a few seeds getting stuck in the ground.

The one comment I did find useful was the reference to the bearded blokes planting in the shade and how that wouldn't give them good root bulb growth.

I can understand the eating what you grow angle but they did it badly imo and I don't care who can make the prettiest bouquet!

I wanted to like this show, it had ordinary people doing their best to grow things. It wasn't professional growers or extreme 'grow for show' type growing, just normal folks like me wanting to grow normal things.

But it ended up being more 'made for tv' fluff imo.

[gardening_gal]

I've not watched the show yet but after reading this thread I'll watch it on iPlayer while doing something else.

Excellent idea.

[sparrow100]

I thought it was awful. And a real wasted opportunity. All the reviews of the programme in the papers focus on the reality aspect of it, which is to be expected. The actual gardening bit of it could be condensed into 5 minutes.

The contestants all got what looked like a perfect, flat, stone-free plot, with, it turns out, mature plants (fruit & next week's roses) included. I hope that the sudden rush of people wanting allotments won't think that that is what they will get, because on our site they will be confronted with brambley, couch-ridden clay that will at the very least be boggy in winter and is likely on a hill.

I wouldn't swap it for one of those though.

[veggiechicken]

I wondered about that too - but thought they may just be the caricature "Blondes*" that every show seems to have.

*other hair colours are available*

[Two_Sheds]

I really liked it: a nice mix of different interesting people and fun challenges.

It's not a "how to garden" show: we have Gardeners' World and Beechgrove for that. This is, like the Sewing Bee, made to appeal to people who don't necessarily garden themselves ~ those people who watch cooking programmes but live off Not Poodles.

The mix of people appealed most to me, and reflects today's allotmenteers: a lot younger, a lot more female & diverse than the traditional flat-capped Olde Boyes, and growing different things, like flowers, and NOT IN STRAIGHT LINES!

I made a long list of new varieties to try too, eg. Amethyst radish

A yes from me.