Wasn't it brill - the allotment gardeners should be proud of themselves -
well done Brum.

Chris S

In article , Chris Stewart
writes
Wasn't it brill - the allotment gardeners should be proud of themselves -
well done Brum.

Very interesting indeed. I was intrigued by the chap who does all of his
gardening without ever doing any watering.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"Chris Stewart" wrote in message
...
Wasn't it brill - the allotment gardeners should be proud of
themselves -
well done Brum.
Chris S

Absolutely enthralling
I sat glued to the TV

Makes you almost want yer own allotment :~)

That chap with all the innovative ideas was brilliant and I was amused
by Monty Don's patched old shirt - so much like a 'proper' gardener
:~))))

Well done the Beeb
Jenny

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 08:56:37 +0200, "JennyC" wrote:



Absolutely enthralling
I sat glued to the TV

Makes you almost want yer own allotment :~)

That chap with all the innovative ideas was brilliant and I was amused
by Monty Don's patched old shirt - so much like a 'proper' gardener
:~))))

Well done the Beeb

Likewise - real gardeners doing real gardening....did anyone see any
decking at all? I looked in vain too for a mulch made out of old
tyres...

Loved the lady with the home-made dyes...I thought the blue Woad was
wonderful, reminiscent of what happens when yer blue pants get mixed
up with yer white T-shirts

I even managed to catch the opening credits for a change... can't say
as I approve of the new theme tune ( tsk ), and I have an eerie
feeling that the scarecrow that popped up briefly on the screen might
have been based on one of the URGlers....

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

Very interesting indeed. I was intrigued by the chap who does all of his
gardening without ever doing any watering.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

( I'll hit the right button this time and post to URG! )

.... And he left the rocks in the soil to help "retain water".

Reminds me of an experiment I heard about many years ago, where the rocks
above a certain size were all meticulously removed from half a field and the
subsequent crops compared for each half. The half WITH the rocks had better
yields.

Drakanthus.


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I think that must have been the most interesting gardening prog I have ever seen. A little nostalgic perhaps as I lived in B/ham for a few years..........no allotment though.

Peter.

Just a nice pic

In article ,
Drakanthus writes

( I'll hit the right button this time and post to URG! )

No problem, at least you didn't throw any rocks in with that unintended
private mail! :-))
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

In article , Stephen Howard
writes

and I have an eerie
feeling that the scarecrow that popped up briefly on the screen might
have been based on one of the URGlers....

Oi! Whachit!

Mike Crowe

The message m
from Peter65. contains these words:

I think that must have been the most interesting gardening prog I have
ever seen.

Bum, and I missed it..did anyone video it please? Will pay your
postage and return the tape after.

Janet.

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 08:56:37 +0200, "JennyC" wrote:

~
~"Chris Stewart" wrote in message
...
~ Wasn't it brill - the allotment gardeners should be proud of
~themselves -
~ well done Brum.
~ Chris S
~
~Absolutely enthralling
~I sat glued to the TV
~
~Makes you almost want yer own allotment :~)

shameless allotment advert
Oh go on, get half a plot. It's great fun. I'm currently picking more
courgettes that I can eat, have ripe supersweet sweetcorn ready to
pluck, runner beans, French beans, cabbages, beetroot and the most
amazing carrots (both for their shape and size and taste). Not to
mention 70-odd huge onions currently drying which cost precisely £3.25
for the bag of sets. Leeks are doing nicely and I should have some
ready in a couple of months if we ever get some rain. I don't tend to
water them much, as they get there in the end anyway. Then there's the
Bramley apple, three eaters and all the blackcurrants and berries. And
rhubarb. And gooseberries.

I'm self-sufficient in fruit and veg now - and I *only* have half a
plot (5 poles). I roared with laughter at the bloke on the prog who
said they'd had to buy a second freezer - as I did too! Not to mention
learning old arts like bottling, jam making and drying.

They didn't really touch the 'you know exactly what you are eating'
aspects of allotmentholding. I'm in my third year, didn't set out to
be organic but after seeing just how much chemical has to be sprayed
to get perfect cabbages etc I became it very very fast. And with
sufficient netting I've got cabbages which are a bit slugholey on top
but peel off three layers of leaf and they're perfect...

The carrots still amaze me. I've bought organic carrots for years,
since it was shown that the things take up pesticides and store them.
But what they don't say is that commercial organic crops are, like
most commercial crops, kept watered much more than if you just leave
them to grow. That way they sell fatter crops quicker, and organic
supermarket carrots don't taste *that* much different to non-organic
supermarket carrots. But once you have had homegrown, you realise how
much flavour you get from them being grown slower - it's so much more
concentrated. My mum's comment at first tasting my carrots was that
she'd forgotten how they should taste.

So go on, it really is a community, great fun, people can grow what
they and their families like, there are ways of it being lowish
maintenance and it's the best summer supermarket there is. Just don't
underestimate how much time you end up spending up there as it's
addictive!

~That chap with all the innovative ideas was brilliant and I was amused
~by Monty Don's patched old shirt - so much like a 'proper' gardener
~:~))))
I am rapidly finding I have a lot of time for Monty. His gardening
attitudes are rather old fashioned (bend over onions to ripen them,
trim leeks when planting etc) but they always worked back then, so if
it works, what's the problem?

~
~Well done the Beeb

I hope they continue to say what can be done in such plots when the
real series of GW comes back in September.

:-)

jane, allotment blogger and addict.

--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

"Chris Stewart" wrote:
Wasn't it brill - the allotment gardeners should be proud of themselves -
well done Brum.

Chris S
---
The best hours worth from the GW team for many a long day. I now wish that I
had recorded it and taken up an offer of an allotment 15 years ago, now I
fear it is too late.

Ah well....!
Aphodius

"Aphodius" wrote in message
...

"Chris Stewart" wrote:
Wasn't it brill - the allotment gardeners should be proud of
themselves -
well done Brum.

Chris S
---
The best hours worth from the GW team for many a long day. I now wish that
I
had recorded it and taken up an offer of an allotment 15 years ago, now I
fear it is too late.

Ah well....!
Aphodius

Like everyone I found it great, I was especially interested in the chap that
kept the dreaded carrot fly at bay, but unfortunately I could not quite
understand his method! Oh well!
Cheers
John T

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:51:34 +0100, "John Towill"
wrote:

Like everyone I found it great, I was especially interested in the chap that
kept the dreaded carrot fly at bay, but unfortunately I could not quite
understand his method! Oh well!
Cheers

As far as I could tell it involved earthing up the carrots.
I would imagine that this increases the distance between the top of
the soil and the top of the carrot's root - and perhaps this prevents
the carrot fly's larvae from getting at the root.

I get the feeling that it can't be that simple though... surely not!

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk

Stephen Howard wrote:

On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:51:34 +0100, "John Towill"
wrote:

Like everyone I found it great, I was especially interested in the chap that
kept the dreaded carrot fly at bay, but unfortunately I could not quite
understand his method! Oh well!
Cheers

As far as I could tell it involved earthing up the carrots.
I would imagine that this increases the distance between the top of
the soil and the top of the carrot's root - and perhaps this prevents
the carrot fly's larvae from getting at the root.

I get the feeling that it can't be that simple though... surely not!

Regards,

Dunno but bet he doesn't get 'green tops' to his carrots.. Carrot fly
prevention is a matter of timing and erecting a 2 ft tall barrier of
mesh, board or plastic around the carrots. Studies show that fly don't
move above this altitude on the whole
//
Jim

Not a veggie person, but as far as I could tell, he recovered the carrots
with earth for the first x months until carrot fly had stopped laying eggs!

"Stephen Howard" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 18 Aug 2003 14:51:34 +0100, "John Towill"
wrote:

Like everyone I found it great, I was especially interested in the chap
that
kept the dreaded carrot fly at bay, but unfortunately I could not quite
understand his method! Oh well!
Cheers

As far as I could tell it involved earthing up the carrots.
I would imagine that this increases the distance between the top of
the soil and the top of the carrot's root - and perhaps this prevents
the carrot fly's larvae from getting at the root.

I get the feeling that it can't be that simple though... surely not!

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk