Kitchen Garden Forum

So, I was reading Octobers edition when I came across the article about gardening "communities" and "being in it together" The author was happy to be left alone and do his own thing and found making smalltalk with the neighbours at his house an intrusion into his gardening time. He was unhappy at the media putting gardening under the "we must turn this into a community and all help each other" banner, making people feel uncomfortable if they do not wish to be included and wish to be left to do their own thing.

So, what do you think about it? Personally, I don't mind the chatter, especially with Grockie where we sit on the lottie, drink tea, smoke and generally put the world to rights and have a bloody good laugh too. But I also enjoy the quiet time, when it's just me and I can do what I have planned to do, and then just listen to my mp3, or the birds and generally have a think and watch the clouds go by.

Go on then, what do you think?

Dear Lizzie, i suppose at the end of the day, gardening is just like the rest of life, some people like to do things on there own, whilst others feel more comfortable doing it in groups.

I have never really thought about it before, but i think i would prefer to have my own plot against sharing one with others.

I can sympasise with anyone preferring their own company, I always have been happier on my own. That is not to say I don’t like people or don’t enjoy occasional conversations but in general I avoid people and seek solitude.

I have to shamefully admit in the past occasionally running out the back door when relatives arrived at the front door but unfortunately can’t run so fast these days. I was at my most happy and content in life when I worked as a service engineer with just my van, tools and working outside alone before the days of mobile phones, pagers, laptops etc. if anyone wanted to get hold of me they had to wait until the next day at the workshop. I always make a point of acknowledging people at the allotment or anywhere else, to ignore people is in my view rude, and am quite happy to comment on the weather etc, but don’t go in for much socialising. My wife, children and grandchildren say I have no small talk whatever that means so I guess people think that I’m just a miserable old bugger.

Goodness knows what these young Townies think of me moaning at them for walking their dogs around some fields I rent. I just can’t keep the out, their kids pull my unfriendly signs of the gates, they clamber over my masses of barbed wire, there is just no stopping them. Only last week I saw a young couple with two dogs and carrying a young baby walking across my mowing grass, I just drove out of the field and padlocked the gate with all the barbed wire wrapped around, but my wife wouldn’t get in the car until I had gone back and unlocked the gate to let them out and told me I was too harsh. They just don’t get it when you explain to them that grass is a crop and not a dogs’ toilet. My advice to anyone is do not rent ground near any town or new housing estate they all think that they have the right to roam and if you leave a gate open they ride quad bikes and motor bikes over any fields.

No, in my view you are better off without loads of people, allotments should be a place of peace and solitude with nature, there are now fewer and fewer places where you can get away from it all, let allotments be one of them.

Get off my land

Barney

I was just about to type almost the same when I read that Barney! I am also a solitary soul usually happiest in my own company, can tolerate small groups that I know but large gatherings defeat me. Doesn't help that my hearing is a bit odd, I hear all things at the same volume so in a noisy environment cannot separate out the close to. Small talk is also beyond me, if it is meaningless why bother? I don't watch soaps either, is that another symptom? While sociability is obviously important in such a crowded world I think there would be a lot less unhappiness if more people were satisfied with their own company. If they were satisfied with their lot in life as well even more problems would be solved.

I'm somewhere in between.

I enjoy passing the time of day with fellow plotters and being generally friendly. A few of us spend time having a coffee together or a BBQ when having a break between jobs or just when we feel like it. But I don't want to be pushed into joining in with competitions, days out or parties and taking part in 'organised' events which some people may find anti-social which it isn't.

Just because we all have an allotment doesn't mean we necessarily have lots of other things in common or all will get on. To be honest there are people on our site who can be really unpleasant just as in other areas of life and they are best avoided.

We found this article the other day http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/6143459/Meet-the-vegilantes.html and to some extent I could relate to much of the article as playground politics has been a feature on our site too!

Some allotment holders aren't called plotters for nothing!!

I admit to being somewhere in the middle of this. I am perfectly happy in my own company and am not in the least bothered if I don't speak to anyone for a few days.........very difficult to do in this house

There are people on the lottie that I avoid cos they are nasty, vindictive people and I do not want to chat with them, and only do so when I have to.

I don't watch soaps or much tv at all...............I can be heard regularly shouting "Why is that gob^&*% still on the television" and walking back out of the room. I'm happier with a book.

If someone does acknowledge me then I will be friendly and say hello etc......am ok with people I know but do not like large crowds cos I can never hear what people are saying to me cos of the noise. Think I must be going deaf in my near middle age.

I never realized sixty was classed as middle aged, you learn something new everyday.

OI.........i'll do for you ya cheeky bugger........

Having spent several years stuck at home after a break down(me not the car )I cherish the people we meet down the allotment, I think most of them know I'm a bit nuts but with few exceptions they're all very friendly.I think you get to know the ones who like their own company and they're entitled to it ,we're all different.
ciderboys you have my sympathy it's your bit of land and they shouldn't be on it ,would they "walk" their dog in your back garden?I don't think so and frankly I don't see the difference

Don't have an allotment but I do tend to regard my gardening in my BACK garden and vegetable patch time as "ME" time and like just pottering around in my own company. As well as getting on with the necessary jobs, I also use the time to reflect on the various issues that are happening in my life so interruptions for pleasant chats can be rather disruptive. However, in the FRONT garden I'm happy to be a different personality and chat quite happily with neighbours or others who are passing by. We had a friend staying for a few days recently and on sunny days she insisted on trying to help me in the garden. But as we don't see each other very often, she was chattering non-stop until my brain hurt and I almost lost the will to live. So on balance, I think I'll opt for gardening solo in contemplative silence.

I would be quite happy sharing an allotment with certain forum members.

Hi OH,
Even with 60 year old Lizzie! How cruel can you be?
We all know the milestone she reached this year with her bestest mate Grockie. They were both 21 again! And may they both be 21 again next year! Bless then.
JB.

Reading some of these posts, I thought I'd stumbled into a 'miserable ol' gits' forum

Miserable old git was what sprung to mind when I read the article, but thinking about it, I do like to enjoy the peace and quiet and just listen to and watch nature while I'm gardening. I do have the best of both worlds though, because as well as a large garden at home, I also am part of the Community garden group on an allotment site.

Gardening on your own can be quite isolating and I must admit I enjoy the allotment. It is surprising how much more we can get done in a morning when there are eight people sharing the jobs out, and putting the world to rights over a cup of tea is most enjoyable.

Johnboy wrote:Hi OH,
Even with 60 year old Lizzie! How cruel can you be?
We all know the milestone she reached this year with her bestest mate Grockie. They were both 21 again! And may they both be 21 again next year! Bless then.
JB.

Thank you JB..........very nice of you to say so......I intend to grow old disgracefully. I will go kicking and screaming into hell, skidding sideways on a Ducatti, fag in one hand, tea and chocolate in the other screaming at the top of my lungs "Woooooooohhhhhhhhoooooooo, what a ****ing ride!!!"