The Edible Gardener - New BBC2 Series with Alys Fowler, starts 7th April

Lotus-eater

misskool wrote: »

maybe like everything on the bbc now she is just flogging her book?

Her twee hippie style of doing everything drove me nuts

I like it, cute. I said to my OH, I bet she'd be a great neighbour to have.

But she is very vague about most things.

Frugal_Mouse

I agree with earlier posts, it could have been more helpful for newbie gardeners. Sadly it seems that those responsible for creating new television progams and/or the format of programs do not see this need. As a slightly more experienced gardener (still have lots to learn) I did enjoy the program and it has given me some ideas to take away and try.

Congratulations to thesinginggardener for your first post. Sorry that you did not enjoy the program. I would guess from that tone of your post and the fact that you refer to Alys by her surname that you are not one of her biggest fans. Just for the record, Alys lives in Birmingham, not London.

FM

irishwexford

One idea I did take from this was planting dried peas for salad type leaves. I will try that. I did think she was attempting to be the Nigella of gardening with the licking of fingers and the sexy way she ate the beans, but I will watch it each week, perhaps picking up some tips. I do agree she did not give much information about actually planting the crops as some are heavy feeders and will need a good dollop of manure. I would prefer to watch Alan Titmarsh as he does start from the basics and takes you step by step through the whole process.

maysmummy

As an excited, newbie veg grower, I sat down to watch Alys and felt really disappointed.
Like others on here, I was hoping to learn some tips to feel confident of growing my veg this year but I didn't learn anything except that she has a silly, little girl voice, makes pea sticks from foraging in the park and that she thinks that chickens are part of gardening.
Instead, I have bought Alan Titchmarsh's book from B&Q 1000x more informative than Alys( silly spelling too)

chelms38

In these penny pinching tighten your belt times there is a need for a gardening show that takes gardening virgins on a step by step lesson on how to grow both plants,fuit & veg.

ALIBOBSY

I quite enjoyed it, especially the fact it is in a smaller plot. However not sure which audience it was going for.
Certainly wasn't enough factual guidence stuff for beginers, and as someone on yr 3 of GYO not much to pick up on either. But not bad to pass on 30 mins of time and better than GW.

To the poster whose friend wants to grow beans and isn't sure how, we just banged various types in last year, made our own wigwam structure and read virtually nothing about what to do. We still had loads of beans to eat, peas are even easier. Broadies were so easy, but we didn't know about taking off the growing tips so left them. Did plant some nasturtums next to them (blackfly prefer them) and blasted the blackfly with the hose when watering. Actually ended up with loads of ladybirds and their offspring which the kids loved watching, and when digging/weeding beds yesterday we have loads and loads of the little red stars just ready to start munching again yeah.

We learnt far more from getting out there and planting and watching out own plot, we also know what we love to eat the best and what thrives here.
I would advice anyone to buy cheaper seeds/free seeds in the first year and just dive in, learn as you go its great fun espcially for the kids.

ali x (off to sow some more broadies)

gillian62

Just watched this on iplayer. It was enjoyable, and gives some good ideas. Not too sure about the old film like clips though - think they may get a bit annoying.

Lotus-eater

maysmummy wrote: »

As an excited, newbie veg grower, I sat down to watch Alys and felt really disappointed.
Like others on here, I was hoping to learn some tips to feel confident of growing my veg this year but I didn't learn anything except that she has a silly, little girl voice, makes pea sticks from foraging in the park and that she thinks that chickens are part of gardening.
Instead, I have bought Alan Titchmarsh's book from B&Q 1000x more informative than Alys( silly spelling too)

I thought that she bought up chickens as being part of her plan, was one of the more important things she said,
I've believed that for years and years and do exactly the same things she was talking about.

I don't think you can blame her for the spelling of her name.

To the people who mentioned she should have bought ex battery chickens, there are good reasons not to buy them, just the same as there are good reasons to buy them. Neither is right. I wouldn't have ex battery chickens again.

Churchpolly

Poundland have a great gardening section at this time of the year, selling seeds as well as plant food etc. and again in the Autumn when they have lots of flower bulbs etc. Just go and buy a few packs and have a go, it really isnt that difficult and if you arent sure, then ask someone you know - from my experience gardeners are a very friendly lot and more than willing to give you their views! As for runner beans, they are ace and dead easy - I dig a trench about a spade and a half deep and about three spades wide and line it with cardboard (keeps moisture in and saves water) then I fill it with compost made from last year's vegetable scraps and put the soil back on top. Dont worry if you havent got any rotted compost, just fill in with your soil and add a few handfuls of Growmore fertiliser. Then I shove a few canes in (Poundland or if not available they can be bought from Focus or similar - garden centres tend to be expensive (take them out at the end of the season, wipe and store in a shed or somwhere dry and they will last you years, mine are over twenty five years old), then pop a couple of bean seeds in on either side of each cane, (if you soak them in water overnight before planting they will get off to a quicker start), water well and watch them go! Keep the plants watered in dry weather, give em a regular feed once small beans form (Phostrogen is cheap and good), and you will be picking them by the bucketload - and believe me, nothing tastes as good as a home grown runner bean! Finally, I always grow two trenches, one for eating and one for freezing. Good luck, enjoy your garden, Polly.

Petlamb

Bearing mind she does have an accompanying book out (which IS already in my city library, and I should be getting in the next couple of days to read at my leisure) and there are limitations as to what you can actually do and say in 6x 30min programmes.

I like her being a bit hippyish, and I like her 'silly' name and 'silly' voice too. I don't actually think either of those things are silly, in fact. Cute, yes.

I did learn about the dried peas, which is interesting and a trick I think I'll be having a go at.

I spent some time today reading her other book, the thrifty gardener and it's great, lots of intro stuff to gardening and plenty about container/small space gardening and how to get over those first few hurdles.