Consequences

[rhonsal]

Amazing - love seeing young people of all abilities being encouraged to enjoy gardening! And your plot looked amazing - very jealous of it and if you got to meet Jim!

[Snadger]

I was the one with the Champion Celery, Champion Broad Beans and brassicas to die for

Thought so, the modest one.. Impressive though, well done you

(Can I have your autograph?)

[Aberdeenplotter]

Amazing - And your plot looked amazing - very jealous of it and if you got to meet Jim!

Very kind of you to say so. On average, I spend at least a couple of hours every day(excluding weekends)on my plot. That can slip a bit if I'm really busy at work but if my plot does look amazing it is simply a reflection of the work that goes in. Gardening is my hobby and I also do it for a living. Lucky git I know but that's the truth of it.

I've done some simple things that make the plot easy to work and keep tidy. The biggest job was laying slabs on all the pathways. A lot of work to do but no expense, all sourced on freecycle or the local free ad paper but the payback is in terms of the huge amount of work saved and it also means I can get from top to bottom of the plot with clean footing in all weathers. Not that I mind getting my feet mucky but it does encourage my better half to come potter about as well. My hoe is also always kept sharp and more importantly kept moving!!

Jim McCall lives locally and he was very supportive in my struggle about allotment rents with the local Council(history now thankfully) so our paths have crossed before. This wasn't shown on camera but I asked Jim if he could identify a pernicious weed I'm having difficulty getting rid of. He immediately said it's a nettle but took away a bit of it complete with roots and came back the next day with the answer - confirmed by his mates at Beechgrove who all agree that the plant is Woundwort. Probably Marsh Woundwort – Stachys palustris. A quick gurgle and I discovered it is aka Marsh hedge nettle. He may now be 80 years old but he is on the ball.

By the way, that plant is a marginal pond plant but it is an absolute thug.

[vixylix]

I saw this too AP - well done you, your plot did indeed look amazing. I love Beechgrove - the breadth and depth of their knowledge never ceases to amaze me!!

[veggiechicken]

Re the Woundwort, my garden is full of the Hedge variety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stachys_sylvatica It stinks, literally and very invasive, with its roots and seeds.

[alldigging]

Is there a catch up online anywhere?

[bearded bloke]

Is there a catch up online anywhere?

Ere yer go gal ......... BBC iPlayer - The Beechgrove Garden - 2015: Episode 22 ........