is it just me?

[allotmentlady]

I have noticed more and more that there seems to be more about fruit in the recent magazines....not being too much of a fruit grower, this is rather dissappointing. its making me reconsider my subscription as i am a vegetable grower. I know a few other grapes also feel like this.

[Pumpkin Becki]

I am just starting with soft fruit this year, so don't mind a bit of info on that, but I am getting fed up with the amount of 'fluff' that's suddenly appeared, ie: the whole page advertorials from Focus and Wilkos - they don't 'tell' me anything, so I flick straight past them. It certainly doesn't take me as long to read my copies of GYO anymore.

[Mac]

Even being a fairly recent reader, I have noticed a difference. Hopefully just a "summer is fruit time" blip. There seems to be more advertising everywhere, but the ads and offers for Wilkos are esp. annoying as there isn't a store for 119 miles from me!

[allotmentlady]

yeah i agree with the ads too...

[Incy]

I've noticed that ALL the gardening magazines seem to be focussed on fruit at the moment so suspect it is a 'summer is fruit time' thing. Hopefully next month will be more about veg as like you AL I'm not much of a fruit grower.

[HeyWayne]

I don't keep chickens, but there's a fair bit about chickens in the mag too.

Gotta please all sorts.

[Dottie]

I found there was too much about chickens and advertising as I'm not interested in either of those. Didn't find it much of an informative read really, glad I just tried the £1 offer. I think they are trying to cover too many things, so spread themselves too thin and then wasted more space on tips from this site.

[johninblackpool]

I wrote this on another thread that i find it anoying when you do get an offer you have to deface your copy to get the offer
Why not put a loose voucher in instead

[bluemoon]

I've been a reader since issue 1, there's always been information on chickens; in fact that's why I realized that it was a possibility rather than a dream and why I now happily keep a small flock. There used to be a large section about small holding too, which covered keeping pigs, sheep etc which was probably a little too ambitious for most readers, me included, but I found it interesting nonetheless. A year or so ago I became frustrated with all the 20 minute allotment advice - I just can't understand why anyone would want an allotment and only want to spend 20 minutes on it...just don't get it at all, they also had a spate of 'salad leaves' where just about every issue contained lots of growing information, again not something I aspired to. But they soon moved on to other things. The fact is it's a national magazine with a large readership, so if their scope was too narrow that readership would become reduced to the point where the mag was not economically viable. They can't please all of the people all of the time, but do a reasonable job of pleasing most of the people most of the time. I didn't used to have any interest in fruit, but over the past 10 years I've become an avid fruit-grower, so it's possible that people's interests may change or that they might become inspired by reading these articles. There's always been a 'Fruit Gardener' section though and I don't think the coverage has increased by that much. I admit advertising can be annoying, but all publications rely upon it, the cover price just is not enough on its own.
All in all I think GYO does a marvelous and inspirational job, especially among newer veg growers. When I grew my first toms 30 years ago there were no specialist veg books to be had, if a gardening book mentioned veg at all it was tucked away in a quick chapter at the back and learning was trial and error or nagging an old boy who knew, now there are loads, it seems like a new one every week, perhaps we're just getting spoilt?

[HayleyB]

I reckon they should get Terry from Jeremy Vine show to write a column each month now that'd be worth a read..........

[Alison]

A year or so ago I became frustrated with all the 20 minute allotment advice - I just can't understand why anyone would want an allotment and only want to spend 20 minutes on it...just don't get it at all

You can't always spend a whole day on the plot, sometimes I nip up for half an hour before work or whatever so things like that can be very useful as they discuss the things you can do quickly when time is a premium. I didn't read it as that's the only time you spend there.

Re the fruit thing, not noticed but agree with the comments made about the adverts and I do find with any mag that if you read it for a while then it stops being that useful and it's often a good idea to take a break for a bit after a year or two and then go back to it fresh a bit later.

[dexterdoglancashire]

I do think the magazine has changed recently, as you say more ads. I also think that there is a new focus on growing fruit - something Im not interested in. I've also had the magazine for 3 years now and think Ive got a good source of reference information (Ive kept all the copies).

[seasprout]

I reckon they should get Terry from Jeremy Vine show to write a column each month now that'd be worth a read..........

I agree, but he's a very busy chap, he writes for Saga on-line, creates his own podcast, is involved with Gardenersclick.com and loads of other stuff.

And of course works on his allotment.

But I agree a short series from Terry would be excellent.

[bluemoon]

You've a point, Alison. I admit I did read it as if were for those who simply had no other time to spend on the plot and confess that I thought that the only advice they should be given is to hand their plot to someone who had time to enjoy it. But if it's read as a 'quick jobs' item then it's more acceptable. There is (or at least there was) the 'if you have 10 minutes...., 20 minutes.......' advice which used to accompany the main section and was probably more practical for the varying things you could do with limited time and could just grab half an hour one day.

I remember a few years ago they had someone who wrote about ornamental kitchen gardens, there was a 'new' one every week, but in the end all seemed to be largely based on red cabbages with orange flowered nasturtiums; what should have been a series of interesting features seemed to quickly lose its way and it started to remind me of a gardening mag in the 70s which had a 'top' gardener whose only idea for a flower bed was to completely cover it in one type of spreading annual and then use a contrasting and slightly taller plant at intervals ('dot plants'). If everyone had taken his advice we'd all have had gardens which looked like municipal roundabouts, yet his articles in this vein went on and on for years. Sometimes it's easy for a magazine become bogged down and although it occasionally succumbs I think by and large GYO usually manages to stay fresh and up-to-date. The first few issues were very gritty, practical and down-to-earth, but I have to admit I probably enjoyed them the most.

[jackie j]

I have been buying the mag for nearly two years and I find it just tells you the same. Ok for a newbie but I wont be renewing my subscription. I have books as well and they cover most things I need to know anyway. Then there is you lot lol