Allotment Know-it-alls

[Effigy]

Does anyone else have to put up with an Allotment 'Know-it-all'?

These are the people who spend the majority of their waking time tending their allotment, who look down their noses at the efforts of others, and freely bore you to death imparting their 'wisdom' whether its asked for or not.

I think I'm getting close to telling ours to "eff off"

Maybe I am doing things wrong, maybe I dont have the best tools, maybe I should be planting things differently.......I don't care! Its my allotment, not yours!




Ahhh, that's better

[Flummery]

Do it your own way effigy. When they offer you their unwanted advice, tell them that, yes, that's one of the theories you've heard before. Cast a seed of doubt!

[lynda66]

yep, my next door neighbour tells me stuff all the time, then him and his wife have a giggle at something i've done,just cos he has 40 years of experience and i haven't any.... i just nod and smile sweetly now, then carry on ripping out anything pink from the garden, that apparent'y i should leave cos they are very rare ....... funny how he doesn't want them when i've ripped them out lol

i'll have the last laugh when everything grows though

[OverWyreGrower]

My elderly next door neighbour is a bit like that. When he is out, he will lean over the fence and tell me that this or that won't grow properly, or that I'm not doing something right...

Actually, the latest is that veg gardening is a man's job and I should just let my husband do it, as I'll just mess it up.

Which makes me laugh, as Mr OWG has absolutely no idea when it comes to actually planting/growing! He is great at demolishing stuff, designing and building stuff, hard landscaping etc, but hasn't a clue about planting, weeding or anything!

[Pumpkin Becki]

I always wear my headphones to ward off unwanted chitchat from the neighbours - they aren't plugged into anything, but my neighbours don't know that do they!!

[Snadger]

Don't want to sound big headed here but............... I have the opposite problem. My allotment neighbours ask ME for advice without realising I haven't got a clue what I'm talking about!

[Kristen]

"they aren't plugged into anything,"

FanTAStic!

[janto]

sorry effigy i think the head phones are the best idea. i am lucky there are only three members on our site so we very realy meet up and we all are novices we just enjoy trying. but help each with advice if asked.

[Rachiered]

My neighbour is a bit like that. Back in April when he asked my if my broad beans were growing well, I said that they were about a foot tall. His response was,"well, mine are flowering". He always has to go one better!
Experts, hey?!!

[chuffa]

I think healthy competition is ok on the lottie, but if you do get the ones that get up your goat, then with a friendly smile on your face, tell them to go and bo--ocks.

[rogesse]

As a 40yr girlie on a predominantly male over 60yr site, I was a magnet for every bodies advice!

My come back - growing the best early brassicas, especially my caulis. Those who gave advice so freely have come seeking - I feel a total fraud, I've never grown them before!

I've got a new neighbour this year; (female) and ten years my junior. She's the new target. We opperate an early warning system where we signal each other if we see an approaching offender (bit like Meerkats) - then we find vitally important things to do in our sheds!

[Stacey Steve]

The security desk man at work keeps telling all and sundry that I'm a plant wizard, despite me saying I know ten percent of naff all, even told the people from the company that tend our grounds and indoor plantings. Really embarrassing!

[Cloud]

Hello its only me!!You don't want wanna do it like that you wanna do it like this!

[jackie j]

The chap next to me can be a bit like but he has also given me stuff or offered to.
I just nod and answer in the right places and get on with what I want to do. He is ok really and I take some things he says with a pinch of salt. Another bloke tends to talk about this chap behind his back sometimes in a nasty way, that I dont like, and I have ignored him and now he doesnt bother me.

[duggie]

When I first took on the allotment, my OH wasn't very interested but as it was very overgrown said he may come down and help with the heavy digging. For the first few weeks he stayed away and lots of the fellow allotmenteers would stop and encourage my attempts at pulling brambles, nettles, mares tail, couch (oh! the dreaded couch). A few weeks into the new plot OH came with me and really got stuck in - and sucked in! The point of this ramble is that now OH spends more time at the plot than I can and all of the (mostly male) plotholders only stop to talk when he is there. If I am there alone they just drive/walk on past with just a wave of the hand. But I get to hear their 'advice' second hand from OH who is convinced that they know better. They probably do but I would like to make my own mistakes or successes and I have ideas that I would like to try despite being advised that it is wrong (via OH).

Allotment know-it-alls on our site now have OH on their side How do I solve this?