Well said Obe, I have to agree with everything you said. Not to mention that big spikey thing he put in the middle of that tub, he didnt grow that from a packet of seeds, must have cost 30.00!
If I want to learn anything I watch Beechgrove, Monty is fine for pretty pictures and walk around other peoples gardens.
Has anyone seen the hotbeds at Heligan. They used to grow pineapples for table. All the horse muck was put in the back chamber, all brick built, thats a hotbed!
Ps. Dont worry David, we know we are experts at our job!
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Obelixx, correct on all points though when lecturing in both the army and at ICI there would also be warnings of what could go wrong and how to deal with it. We all lash out for the oddball in the garden, waste time and money only to have it fail, if Monty is into bananas that is up to him, he is showing individuality and why not, it is his garden we see it warts and all. Why not show would be gardeners a trend I applaud, that things go right most of the time but expect some failure. Those programmes have a mix of mundane to us old hands which are for those who have not had our experience though now and then I see something that makes me sit up ant take notice. It is the old adage, you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
Nice talking to you Obilixx happy memories of Belgium. Frank
Lyn, we had a walled garden and lean to greenhouses but never the room to have those super hot beds so every year we assembled boxes laid in straw bales then raw manure our own stables another straw bale then topped up with soil, it would grow anything. What came out at the end of the year was compost for the potato plot. We all have our own methods not all the same otherwise it would be boring, I do not watch BeeChgrove.
First time back in ages, and nothing has changed, if Monty gives advice it is up to all gardeners to reserch further what they would like to do,in their gardens / allotment .Too much time is wasted on what could have been.I have read recently a book by Mr Middleton, "The wartime Allotment" becides the chemicals that you cant get now, his advise still holds through.
Hi Novice 7 - If they're in a sunny spot I find they need watering virtually every day, and they need a good soaking, not just a dribble, but you have to use your eyes - if the plants start looking 'soggy' or as if they're developing mould or rot near the roots, then cut tight back on the watering.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Anyone remember the Beeb's 'Victorian Kitchen Garden' (still available on DVD) with head gardener Harry Dodson and co-presenter *Peter Thoday? A wonderful series, inclusive of an insight into how the Victorians grew pineapples on hot-beds.
*Peter Thoday is a horticultural historian who went on to be head horticulturist at The Eden Project.
I was rather sleepy (jet lagged) when I watched Monty doing his hot bed. What did he do wrong? It didn't look enough to me and didn't look fresh enough. What else?
I used to make a hot bed in the GH from the fresh manure from my horses. In March I piled it up nearly chest high then put a wooden frame on it which I half filled with compost. Then I left it for a couple of weeks, except for watering it to keep it moist. It got very hot and steamy and meant I didn't have to heat the GH for sowing bedding plants. Then when it cooled down a bit I sowed my tomatoes in the compost on the hot bed. Worked well but was a lot of work. I then left it to turn into manure, watering it when it got dry. Then in the winter I dug it into the earth in the GH floor for planting next year's tomatoes. But it took up a lot of room that I now need, although it was amazing how much it shrank while it was rotting.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
So what I'm reading here is mixed. In some eyes his watering advice is correct, in others not so much. What seems clear to me is that pots, coming in different sizes and materials, need different levels of watering. Earthenware pots dry out more quickly I've noticed, the smaller the pot likewise.
For me what Monty failed to put across were these details, rather we had a blanket general rule. That said I still think he's a great gardener and enjoy his shows
Posts
Well said Obe, I have to agree with everything you said. Not to mention that big spikey thing he put in the middle of that tub, he didnt grow that from a packet of seeds, must have cost 30.00!
If I want to learn anything I watch Beechgrove, Monty is fine for pretty pictures and walk around other peoples gardens.
Has anyone seen the hotbeds at Heligan. They used to grow pineapples for table. All the horse muck was put in the back chamber, all brick built, thats a hotbed!
Ps. Dont worry David, we know we are experts at our job!
Obelixx, correct on all points though when lecturing in both the army and at ICI there would also be warnings of what could go wrong and how to deal with it. We all lash out for the oddball in the garden, waste time and money only to have it fail, if Monty is into bananas that is up to him, he is showing individuality and why not, it is his garden we see it warts and all. Why not show would be gardeners a trend I applaud, that things go right most of the time but expect some failure. Those programmes have a mix of mundane to us old hands which are for those who have not had our experience though now and then I see something that makes me sit up ant take notice. It is the old adage, you cannot please all of the people all of the time.
Nice talking to you Obilixx happy memories of Belgium. Frank
Lyn, we had a walled garden and lean to greenhouses but never the room to have those super hot beds so every year we assembled boxes laid in straw bales then raw manure our own stables another straw bale then topped up with soil, it would grow anything. What came out at the end of the year was compost for the potato plot. We all have our own methods not all the same otherwise it would be boring, I do not watch BeeChgrove.
Frank
The Beechgrove is good - it is gardening on a more 'domestic' scale. and they do lots of trials.
First time back in ages, and nothing has changed, if Monty gives advice it is up to all gardeners to reserch further what they would like to do,in their gardens / allotment .Too much time is wasted on what could have been.I have read recently a book by Mr Middleton, "The wartime Allotment" becides the chemicals that you cant get now, his advise still holds through.
Derek
How often do you need to water hanging baskets and fence pots ?
Hi Novice 7 - If they're in a sunny spot I find they need watering virtually every day, and they need a good soaking, not just a dribble, but you have to use your eyes - if the plants start looking 'soggy' or as if they're developing mould or rot near the roots, then cut tight back on the watering.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Anyone remember the Beeb's 'Victorian Kitchen Garden' (still available on DVD) with head gardener Harry Dodson and co-presenter *Peter Thoday? A wonderful series, inclusive of an insight into how the Victorians grew pineapples on hot-beds.
*Peter Thoday is a horticultural historian who went on to be head horticulturist at The Eden Project.
A lot of it is common sense.
I was rather sleepy (jet lagged) when I watched Monty doing his hot bed. What did he do wrong? It didn't look enough to me and didn't look fresh enough. What else?
I used to make a hot bed in the GH from the fresh manure from my horses. In March I piled it up nearly chest high then put a wooden frame on it which I half filled with compost. Then I left it for a couple of weeks, except for watering it to keep it moist. It got very hot and steamy and meant I didn't have to heat the GH for sowing bedding plants. Then when it cooled down a bit I sowed my tomatoes in the compost on the hot bed. Worked well but was a lot of work. I then left it to turn into manure, watering it when it got dry. Then in the winter I dug it into the earth in the GH floor for planting next year's tomatoes. But it took up a lot of room that I now need, although it was amazing how much it shrank while it was rotting.
So what I'm reading here is mixed. In some eyes his watering advice is correct, in others not so much. What seems clear to me is that pots, coming in different sizes and materials, need different levels of watering. Earthenware pots dry out more quickly I've noticed, the smaller the pot likewise.
For me what Monty failed to put across were these details, rather we had a blanket general rule. That said I still think he's a great gardener and enjoy his shows