GYO Question...

[Buleste]

I tend to look on this forum or if there is a problem with my Toms I look here

[northmaid]

I tend to use the vine search first, then google, then any gardening books I've managed to accumulate. I also listen to Gardeners question time on Radio 4, it's surprising how many questions I can relate to. Experience has taught me not to rely on the 'expertise' of the older gardeners on the allotment site, I've lost many a plant by following their advice without checking other sources. I think many of them specialise in one or two crops (mainly leeks or tomatoes) and they seem to think that one size fits all.

[Jardiniere]

the other veg growers in my village are mainly French and my french is not good enough to manage complicated horticultural terms ..so i don't ask complicated questions! I listen and nod a lot but i'll understand about 5 words in 20! Instead i use books- Seymour, Raven, Hessayon etc and then this forum - I rarely google cos it gets so complicated and you end up going down some weird back alleys....occasionally I pick up some useful stuff from radio/tv but only when the problem and their programme coincide.

[Emma Ward]

Brilliant stuff! It's interesting to read that most of you use more than one source of information.

What about those of you who are asked for horticultural advice (either in person, or online)? Do you advise others to check what you tell them against another source?

Thanks
Emma

[Nicos]

Do you advise others to check what you tell them against another source?

NOPE!!!....I wouldn't want them to know I might be telling them a pile of rubbish!!!

[HeyWayne]

Firstly I ask God.

I tend to refer to my books as an initial port of call - in part because our internerd connection is so rubbish it's sometimes hard to get on-vine.

Books are a good starting point, but they are often a snapshot of the author, the area or the time the book was written. As mentioned above, Dr Hessayon's books are good, but seem a little out of time now with the use of chemicals. Grape knowledge is much more here and now.

[Tomatoking]

Brilliant stuff! It's interesting to read that most of you use more than one source of information.

What about those of you who are asked for horticultural advice (either in person, or online)? Do you advise others to check what you tell them against another source?

Thanks
Emma

Hi Emma

I have been asked for advice about tomato growing on here and via my blog.
I think if people send or post a picture of some problems, it helps a great deal to spot the exact problem. Other times I tell them I am guessing, and you usually find on the GYO forum that there could be many different replies.
I expect they do like I do when asking for advice, and that is to pick the solution that has been posted the most number of times.

Growing is never an exact science, there are many factors to be taken into account, but there are many people on the GYO forum with a lot of practical experience.

It is also very satisfying when someone comes back and tells me that the advice I have given them has helped.

Mr Tomato King.

[nuttyrockeress]

My usual way of learning starts with my issues of GYO. I have been gardening for a few years now but nothing to the scale of how I am now (which in compared to some of you is still small scale!).

If it's something I haven't learnt from the magazine, I have started to come on here to look for answers and ask for help. I love the community on the vine and how helpful, friendly and welcoming people are.

I also have a number of gardening books but ofter find it easier (and quicker!) to get information by doing a Google as you can ask the question direct.

Tomato related questions are always fired at my uncle as he has grown them for years and gets a massive crop! Each year my uncle and my mum water my toms whilst we're on hols and on my return I always get an ear bashing around why haven't I pinched out properly!!

[Frana]

Hi Emma,

Personally I don't think you can beat the advice of the good old veteran gardeners who have years of experience!

They are a very friendly bunch on my allotment and always very forthcoming with useful advice.

I also have a very battered and well read book by Joy larkcom called 'Grow Your Own vegetables' which has proved invaluable. It is quite technical in parts but very easy to understand and covers a massive array of veg.

Not forgetting of course these wonderful forums without which I would have been stumped on many an issue!

[susieq100]

Hi Emma
Dr Hessayon is really good - the section for each vegetable headed 'troubles' is very informative but it does make me smile, I'm probably weird. I also ask folks down the plot - there are 2-3 really knowledgeable chaps who have been gardening for years - one is 86 and still down there every day for several hours. And I have asked a lot of questions on here and used the 'very excellent search facility'. The good thing about this forum is that you can ask really 'basic' stuff that many books/magazines assume you ALREADY know ... Ha!

[rustylady]

Brilliant stuff! It's interesting to read that most of you use more than one source of information.

What about those of you who are asked for horticultural advice (either in person, or online)? Do you advise others to check what you tell them against another source?

Thanks
Emma

Online I usually post a link to a site if I've researched the question on the Internet. RHS is one of my favourite sites.

[Nykied]

It helps to know that if you've got a problem, you're never the first person on here to have that problem.

So, I first search on here and have a look through, then if there's no obvious answer to my questions, I post a thread. There are some really knowledgable Grapes on here, so I'll usually get an answer.

I also ask the all-knowing Google.

[Birdie Wife]

Best thing about the Vine is that if you're really stuck and can't find the answer after some searching, you can post up a pic showing the disease/plant/other problem and someone will recognise it. Even if they don't, you get support in any case! I'm a long way from any other growers so I use the Vine as my virtual allotment and usually get exactly what I need within a few days.

[King Carrot]

[QUOTE=solway cropper;684373]I use this forum and a similar one which shall remain nameless. Google can usually direct me to some sensible sites but it also delivers some loony ones too. And I have piles of old gardening books which keep me occupied on winter nights.

The reason Hessayon tends to offer chemical solutions is that he's sponsored by a pesticide company whose factory has been linked to cancer clusters.[/QUOTE]

do tell me more or gis a link if you have one - nice bit of scandal

[maytreefrannie]

I usually use this forum for help - though I'm fairly useless with the search facility, I trawl around the Vegging Out section looking for guidance - mostly I come across something this way (eventually) - or if not, I'd ask a question as a new thread.