Kitchen Garden Forum

did anybody see the "gardener" on GMTV this morning supposedly trying to inspire people to grow their own?
he was pushing tumbling toms into a hanging basket with such force,and simply stuck strawberry plants in a tub without firming them in . its alright when you know stuff but if you're brand new to gardening you need good advice.he didn't mention feeding the toms and even suggested they'd be watered by the rain
if people fail t their first attempt they may not try again...

I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that many of these gardening programmes are dooming new veggie gardeners to total failure. When you've grown your own for many years, you forget just how uneducated some people are when they start from scratch. One of my neighbours decided to try growing vegetables in containers this year, bought a bag of compost, a few small pots about eight inches deep and enthusiastically sent off for some plug plants. She is now the proud recipient of 10 PS Broccoli, 10 cabbages and 10 Brussels Sprout plants and is doomed to failure because she didn't realise they need plenty of depth and space and are not suitable container plants. And my next door neighbour has caught the Grow Your Own bug too. He has dug out a small vegetable patch in the darkest corner of his garden, in the shade of a large shrub, and adjoining conifer trees which are 12 feet high. He too is doomed to disappointment.
A lot of gardening writers are making money writing articles which don't point out the simple realities of growing some vegetables and it worries me that people will be so disillusioned by their first attempt at growing vegetables that they will never try again.

Very true Primrose. Us lesser mortals have had to learn to walk before we could run but not so TV gardeners/presenters apparently who live a strange instant world where everything is done over-enthusiastically in 30 second video shots and the final result of their efforts will be wonderful veg. As you say when those new to growing copy their methods they will inevitably be doomed to failure and probably be put off for ever.

John

Absolutely agree John. So many people see things on the telly that makes it look like having an allotment is easy and all you have to do is chuck a few things in the ground and hey presto, a couple of months later, wonderful home grown veg appears. The reality is somewhat different and when people take on a plot, only to find out that it's bloody hard work sometimes, they quickly lose interest. It happened on several of the plots around mine last year and it was very frustrating to see them cleared and then left to go to ruin again because the tenants had got bored or found them too much like hard word.

FA x

I heartily agree with all the above. We had a few young couples last year who did exactly what FA said and their plots are now full of weeds again and abandoned. One couple asked how we did it after we told them our plot hadn't been worked for 5 years prior to us taking it and how I stood in the middle and my husband could just see the top of my head,(I'm 5'4") We hacked down tree sized docks, strimmed the rest and dug manageable beds. As soon as we had a decent patch, we planted crops in it and worked our way through. We knew if we tried to dig the whole lot before planting, it would quickly return to a wilderness. The couple did a bit, stayed away for a month and were very disappointed to find the weeds growing back and we never saw them again. Shame really. We eventually managed to double dig most of our plot, which improved the soil no end and got rid of the really persistent docks and thistles. We still have a problem with couch grass but hey... you can't have it all ways!! After five years of hard work we are happy with our plot. Perfect it ain't but it's very productive!