Kitchen Garden needs YOU

[KG Emma]

Hello you lovely lot on the KG forum. I thought it was time to introduce myself. I'm Captain Carrot's (editor of KG) sidekick. I sit next to him and kick him if he nods off! Actually it's the other way round. Anyway I am after some victims, sorry volunteers, who would like to be special contributors to Kitchen Garden next year. We are starting a new feature in 2007 on gardening around the UK and would like short reports from gardeners all over the UK on what is growing well, weather problems etc on their plots. We would like gardeners from all four corners so hopefully correspondents from as far afield as the Highlands and Islands of Scotland down to Cornwall, even the Channel Isles and not forgetting Wales and Northern Ireland. And of course from north, south, east and west England- and the middle!
We will probably only be able to fit in one report from each specific area each month, so in theory I need about 8-10 gardeners in total.
If you would like to take part it would be best if you are on email and can provide digital pictures.
I will be doing this on a first come, first served basis in case we get inundated from one area so if you want to get involved get writing DOUBLE quick. Please send us an email plus digital picture of yourself in your veg garden/allotment and a letter with a bit about yourself and how long you have been growing veg and why you enjoy it and we will get in touch with the chosen ones!
Just one other point. Sorry guys but we don't have the budget to pay for contributions so its all for the love of it and the fame or should that be infamy?
Please send me a personal message to register your interest.

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Lady Lettuce, a very warm welcome, i was only thinking today whether you would venture onto the forum.
I am deeply sorry, but i will have to decline your very kind offer of becoming a reporter for your magazine.
But i am sure as you say, you should have lot's of willing volunteers, that can do the job far better than myself.
I bet Mr Potato Head can be a right tyrant in the office.
One more thing, i thougt you looked very fetching in your green wellie's in the November issue of the K.G. magazine.
On a more serious note, i do hope you get a good response.

[Jenny Green]

Just wanted to say what a good idea! I'll look forward to reading that.

[Allan]

I will have to say thank you but not on the terms you describe. However I would be much more interested in covering some specific topics which are of particular interest to me and in my view have had insufficient, indeed sometimes no, coverage yet in the magazine. If you do a search of the mailings in my name you should have some idea of the extent of my interests and experience.
Allan

[Johnboy]

Priceless simply priceless!!
JB.

[Allan]

If the last time of posting to get into the December issue of the magazine is early October, how can these reports possibly be up to date seasonally. Contrast this with the Forum with almost instant publication. It's no good either storing them for the next year, one year is not like another.
Allan

[richard p]

allan. the format has worked in other magazines for years, so i dont see it as a pointless exercise. richard

[Colin Miles]

Yes - as Allan says, it should be what WAS or WASN'T growing well, etc. Still, should be interesting even if this Forum is so much better in this respect! The column should contain an addendum saying, 'For really up-to-date information on growing conditions and problems, please see the Forum on the KG web site.'

[Allan]

Colin, you've got the message, well done.
Has anybody offered their services yet, no mention here so it must be by PM if at all.

[Allan]

I think my first mailing was capable of misunderstanding. to re-phrase it,if there were the demand I would personally undertake to do an article on a chosen subject for the magazine, based on my personal experience together with the most accurate information available to me. It would have to be strictly on the same terms as the other contributors of magazine articles, no freebie,to me time is money. I suggest that waterng systems would benefit from a better coverage. LL and Steve, it's your choice.

[Chantal]

Lady Lettuce did ask for volunteers to PM her rather than post an offer on here. She also clearly stated that it was for the glory and the greater good of gardening, rather than remuneration, Allan. I would think she's had quite a few offers by now (not me by the way).

[richard p]

i think allan has missed the point completely as i understood the origional post whats wanted is a short diary of whats happened on the contributers plot, if allan wants wo write a thesis on watering systems he can do so and send it to the ed as any freelance writer would, if kg dont buy it send it on to another mag.

[Weed]

Allan's comment...'time is money'....I used to think a little that way as well

As I have aged a little and hopefully become a bit wiser I have come to realise that money isn't the 'be all and end all'.

I have a lovely wife, a comfortable house, two lovely daughters and four grandchildren, my health is not too bad although I have had to be rebuilt in several areas....I still reckon that I am rich beyond compare.

I do write articles regularly for some of my Trade magazines and have never wanted or received a penny. I willingly commit to this as my industry has provided me with a living for many years and it is my way of putting something back.

[Allan]

Let us not confuse the two issues. The original request still stands as far as I know but it remains to be seen whether anybody volunteers to do it.
I have merely made a counter-offer on my own terms.It is up to the magazine editors whether anything comes of it.If I were to write an article it would be drawing on my experience in kitchen gardening which has cost me many thousands of pounds and at the expense of time which could have been used in furtherance of paying crops.
Allan

[Piglet]

Stick to growing paying crops then Allan, the articles wanted are quite clear in their nature and renumeration, if its not to your liking, keep out of it and stop making what is a quite simple request, like decoding the rosetta stone.