Kitchen Garden Forum

Good to read in the magazine that both Bob Sherman and Edwin Oxlade consider (in their separate ways) that the whole idea is a non-starter.

A fair amount of loony stuff seems to make it in to the magazine though. March's edition was quite rich with unsubstantiated ideas - especially the raw food diet article, and some wild ideas on companion planting elsewhere - lots of assertions as to what grew best next to what, with little attempt to test or explain why.

Sometimes the standard of journalism can be frustrating - I remember a while back an interview with someone who concluded that grass paths were best for allotments, and that he'd tried woodchip and it was hopeless ... Why did they just publish that without asking him to explain WHY ? At the time of reading it I had just spread woodchip over all my paths and was desperate to know why I'd just made a big mistake. Still don't know !

Wait for next month, a real treat in store if you are looking for loony stuff I guess.

Tony Hague wrote:Sometimes the standard of journalism can be frustrating - I remember a while back an interview with someone who concluded that grass paths were best for allotments, and that he'd tried woodchip and it was hopeless ... Why did they just publish that without asking him to explain WHY ? At the time of reading it I had just spread woodchip over all my paths and was desperate to know why I'd just made a big mistake. Still do't know !

Personal use of wood chip leads me to three conclusions.
1 it rots down so needs topping up and eventually supports seedlings.
2 Animals find it easy to dig or scatter.
3 Either it sticks to mud on boots or wheels and tracks away, or, it collects the mud hastening its return to bring a growing medium.

Plus side it doesn't throw couch three foot into the plot every year like my grass paths do.

Geoff wrote:Wait for next month, a real treat in store if you are looking for loony stuff I guess.

What could you possibly have in mind?