Paul Corfield writes
On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:51:26 +0100, "shazzbat"
wrote:

I've done several of those, especially the first year I got the plot. I
expect you did a couple yourself, no?

Well exactly - I'm afraid I read the list as people being "told off".
There is a way to write these sorts of things which would be much more
helpful and supportive rather than condemnatory. It is unrealistic to
expect brand new allotment gardeners to avoid mistakes and to have
garnered all relevant experience. Also who's to say there is only one
method of doing something - the GW programme on allotments showed a wide
range of practices being used and yet everyone seemed to be able to
grown the stuff they wanted. Isn't that the point?

One of the things that puts me off an allotment (although I did have one
for several years) is the thought of public scrutiny of my gardening
practices! I know that I don't grow any of my stuff to the optimum
standard - but I put in to it as much as I wish to, and get results that
please me and more than justify the effort I've put in.

Most of my learning has been practical - don't follow accepted advice,
see what happens, and you learn. Simply follow advice, and you may
produce good crops, but you don't learn anything. For some people, the
good crop is most important, for others, it's the learning that's most
important.
--
Kay