~ WORLDWIDE Vegetable Allotments ~ REVIVAL of last years thread ~

[Hattie the Hen]

Still boggy, 'boggy'..........!!!!

I'll try to find you some more stuff to keep you going!

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[boggybranch]

Still boggy, 'boggy'..........!!!!

I'll try to find you some more stuff to keep you going!

:rose Hattie :rose

That worked out perfect......if I must say. LOL

As always....Thanks

 

[Hattie the Hen]

So boggy b

Here goes, the latest trawl of the allotments..............!!

-- I'm fascinated by your interest in us Brits & our veggies etc........?????

http://igrowveg.com/category/my-vegetable-plot/

http://www.veggies-only.blogspot.com/

http://organicgrowingpains.blogspot.com/2010/01/rhubarb-and-robins-on-plot.html

http://paddyplot32.blogspot.com/

Now the last one is Irish but I thought you might enjoy it.

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[boggybranch]

Hahahaha...you're not NEAR as fascinated as I am. Here, gardens, for the most part, are regimented rows on harshly tended garden plots that look nothing like what you guys accomplish in your plots in the uk.
My garden, on the other hand, comes closer to what ya'll do, a little bit of chaos (but in a visually, pleasing way) and that is where my fascination comes from.
As I watch the slides shows and read the diaries, I look more at "how" you do it, than I look at the plants, themselves (thought I enjoy focusing on them, secondly).
One big thing that I've learned (with your help) is to take disappointments (in gardening) in stride....and just have a go, again.
And to see a group of people, gardening side by side and actually enjoying the work (in my neck of the woods, its mostly gripe, grumble and complain) and the rewards, is just great.....and to grow more for immediate table use, which makes for a more diverse garden, is what I shoot for in my gardening.
AND while I enjoy a growing season that is, just about, year round, it amazes me at what ya'll are able to accomplish in a much shorter growing season....and believe me, the fascination list goes on and on.

 

[boggybranch]

And, here is an example of learning "stuff"....on one of the link you just posted. I noticed that the gardener had put small pebbles in the top of the seed cups, with tomato seedlings.....an ingenius way of keeping water from splashing soil onto the stems and moving the soil around in the seed cup.....you just don't learn stuff like that, over here.....cause it's just not done (that I've ever heard of)
Sure gonna share that idea with gardening friends on another forum.
Jeeeez......I just love learning stuff like that. It's like getting a whole, new, different perspective on doing something you enjoy.....and it's dark, out, here...so I can't be in the garden LOL

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi boggy b,
Thanks for the explanation! Well I think it's highly unlikely that I'll run out of allotment blogs as the movement is expanding every week.
Have you subscribed to any of them -- I enjoy getting regular updates via my email.

By the way, re the stones on top of the soil to conserve moisture, I have done that for years. Last year we talked a bit about that here on the forum because I bought it up. I first saw it done in Malta & in Spain round the stems of tomato plants. It works very well & if you are selective about the colours of the stones they can enhance the look of flowering plants.

So far I have limited the results of my searches to allotments but I could send blogs etc from interesting vegetable growers(in their own gardens) if you wanted? I also have some European ones too -- these are sometimes not in English!

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[boggybranch]

You betcha, Hattie......I subscribe to every one that offers email updates and email newsletters (some probably wonder why a grower from the U.S wants to subscribe....lol).
And I would, surely, be interested in the blogs by gardeners that have vegetable gardens ANYWHERE over there. Thanks for the offer....just hope that I'm not imposing.

Your explanation of using colored stones to "enhance the look of the flowering plant" is just another example of how much more ya'll are REALLY into making the gardening "experience" as enjoyable, as much as you work at making it productive......and the fascination grows.
Makes me wonder if the person who came up with the phrase, "Stop and take time to smell the roses"...came up with it after visiting with a Brit in his/her vegetable garden. LOL

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi boggy b,

Ah well! then that really makes it interesting as I am a collector of blogs of obsessed gardeners.......!!
I have spent a lot of my life doing research of one kind or another -- I was a designer in the theatre & travelled the world doing it. It involved a huge amount of researching. Then I also had a restaurant based on home cooking from various countries. Now I have slowed down a lot (due to illness); I have to take things more slowly & carefully.....!! So I have a lot of time to spend finding out about gardening etc. I love my laptop as there are so many layers to the internet once you start poking around & asking it questions -- it keeps my brain very active!

This woman's site is very interesting -- I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Yo need to read everything on there...!

http://www.daughterofthesoil.com/

:rose Hattie :rose

 

[boggybranch]

Well, Hattie...it appears that we are, somewhat, in the same boat...you have had to slow down due to illness (hope you get better and better) and I have had to slow down due to my wife's illness (progressive dimentia). My computer has replaced my tele and my garden has replaced my "work/job".....not complaining, just trying to make the best of a bad situation. Gardening and learning about it (and my sweetheart, 6 1/2 yr old, "babygirl" grand-darling) are about the only things that keeps me sane (LOL).

Something else that Brits do, that is not, even remotely, used in the U.S.......is to put raised beds, instead of nothing but shelves, in their greenhouses. Perfect for seed starting AND growing things during the winter (maybe not so much there...but, absolutely, where I am) without having containers sitting around in the greenhouse that ALWAYS need watering.
I, actually, enjoy learning through observation more than through the written word.....keeps the ole brain receptors "firing on all cylinders".
When you, pretty much, know how things are done on your home turf (always something new to learn, there, also....occassionally), just "move" you're attention abroad for new ideas.

 

[boggybranch]

There is a "movement" over here, also, of more and more gardeners going back to planting heirlooms and saving seeds (got my hand raised). Everything I raise are heirlooms....and learning more about seed saving. The movement has really "taken off" due to the mega-conglomerate, Monsanto, and their efforts at absolute control of seeds and seed regulation.
Without the preservation of old heirlooms, we will wind up with generations of people who will never know how good veggies can, and should, taste.
I "take my hat off" to Daughter of the Soil......she's going in the right direction, for sure.