[shaun]

Just as a total piece of nonsense did you know that his dad plays the part of Richard Bucket. Hyacinths husband in " Keeping up appearances"

like father like son then  :roll:  

[John]

I'm amazed he doesn't listen to the other plotholders instead of blaming them for not being receptive to his ideas, which are not practical or efficient for vegetable growing.

I suspect that big TV stars aren't used to being disagreed with

[mkhenry]

I'm amazed he doesn't listen to the other plotholders instead of blaming them for not being receptive to his ideas, which are not practical or efficient for vegetable growing.

I suspect that big TV stars aren't used to being disagreed with

I think that he is making a reputation more than he is making a lottie programme. He will fufil a need in some people and may in fact get a few people to take up a growing their own veg, but on this showing he will soon be back doing his day job.  :roll: Whoops it is his day job. :roll:

He is also trying to drag allotments into the 21st century.  The thinking seems to be, lets not have the normal raised beds lets muck about with the shapes etc.  If it catches on he will indeed be a TV garden hero, but we all know that there is no chance whatsoever.

[John]

Sometimes a conventional design is done for a reason. That's why cars have 4 wheels (OK, I know about 3 wheelers) and raised beds are rectangular about 4 feet wide and 10 feet long. Proven optimum design.

He's not contributing to the general knowledge pool, just trying to be different for the sake of it.

[bimbler]

I loved the old guy who on seeing Joe's original bed designs came out with the line "there's a reason Geoff Hamilton made his beds 4 feet wide and ten feet long" maybe he should have used metres or not mentioned GEOFF HAMILTON and don,t mention the survey on here Ten years dead and still the preferred choice of Allotment Gardeners.

[Snap Dragon]

Having now watched the programme - I don't really have a problem with his design, I'm all for a bit of individuality, but I think it is the size of his beds that are the problem.

I wonder if he had made smaller triangles and diamonds his fellow plotholders, and the rest of the watching world, would have still kicked up such a stink.  :?

I think it is Leaf that has posted pics on here of his lovely 'knot' design which seems to include sensible sized beds. He received lots of positive comments from many of us.  

Sometimes a break from regimented rows and oblong beds is a refreshing sight.

[John]

Good point - well made

[mkhenry]

Having now watched the programme - I don't really have a problem with his design, I'm all for a bit of individuality, but I think it is the size of his beds that are the problem.

I wonder if he had made smaller triangles and diamonds his fellow plotholders, and the rest of the watching world, would have still kicked up such a stink.  :?

I think it is Leaf that has posted pics on here of his lovely 'knot' design which seems to include sensible sized beds. He received lots of positive comments from many of us.  

Sometimes a break from regimented rows and oblong beds is a refreshing sight.

Its not the shape of the plots that most people are having a go about, its the size.  The idea of any plot is to get the best from it.  Once he starts working them he will soon find out why most peeps opt for the well tried shape.
If he had sized them correctly I for one would have thought well its different and may not have even given them another thought,  but he has lost a lot of growing space and elongated some of the points on the triangles.   Surely there is room for different shapes , and practicality.
If he had given it more thought he could have done something far more interesting and at the same time sensible.

Somewhere I have a book showing the use of irregular shaped raised beds.
It was printed in the 1960s so what he is doing is far from new.  Over the years there has always been someone trying to do something different trying to push the boundries and move things along.  Some times they succeed and sometimes they dont. This rehashing of old ideas is not however either groundbreaking or practical.  He has just fixed on the idea and not thought it through properly.   Lets see how he lays out his seed beds.  Has his shapes allowed for spacing etc, crop rotation, or even row lengths.  I doubt it.  So back to my point.  He had a chance of doing something outstanding and well thought out.  Its my opinon that he has failed so far. :roll:

[woodburner]

Actually I have more of a problem with the shape than the size (just to be different ). Corners are bad enough at drying out without making them extra pointy!

[compostqueen]

I enjoyed watching it!  Cos it's about someone getting a lotty.  He and zillions of others get a plot and rotovate the weeds in, so he's no different. He'll regret it (we know that) but he's a newbie and that's what they do. So, next week he might be telling us that was his first big mistake. Give the guy a break. Folks like us moan that there are no progs about lotties, then the first time we get one, everyone pours scorn on it

That's the thing about plotters, you can ask 20 different plotters the same question and you'll get 20 different answers  

So what if his raised beds are triangles, so what!  They're his chuffin triangles, he can do what he wants with em. Who says the straight row folks are always right :roll:  Vive la difference.  Gawd what a boring prog that would make, do things like everyone else. Yawn. PS Geoff Hamilton is dead

[lucywil]

i enjoyed watching it because it is at the end of the day about allotments but i did spend a lot of time shouting at the telly, my problem is not with the shape or size of his beds, at the end of the day he is the one that is gonna struggle with them, but him getting all that wood for free makes me want to scream!! how unrealistic is that? and his pallets were top notch as well, things like that just don't happen unless you are making a programme for the bbc

[compostqueen]

yeah but it's not important to the plot     You can all get free stuff for your lotty, you don't have to be Joe Swift  

[pumpkin-queen]

How frustrating was this feature to watch? You can get stuff for free, but you do need to be resourceful & imaginative as the lottie community generally is, but you also need to have transport, time & ability which not everyone has the luxury of. I don't care what shape or size Joe Swift makes his beds, he's the one that has to work with his decision. But I work in a garden centre, and we try very hard to inspire & encourage people to grow their own, whether it's at home or on a plot. There was NOTHING inspirational about this feature. Your hard graft is rewarded with satisfaction, produce & FUN. All this feature showed was;
a) The hard work was in NO way enjoyable, but you have to do it all in one go so take short cuts.
b)Do your own thing, ignoring the well-meaning advice and community spirit of an allotment.
c)Buy a large van, otherwise forget the whole idea.
 I hope this feature improves as I feel obliged to watch it so I can answer customers questions about it the next day. If only Joe had watched Carol Klein's series on growing your own. THAT made people want to have a go.

[Scribbler]

It was really unbelievable. He's going to have couch grass shooting up right left and centre, in beds he can't reach the middles of. I agree with Bimbler - the best bit was when his neighbour made a reference to how GH would have done it.

And apart from the rotavating in the weeds and the shape and size of the raised beds, there was the creation of lovely cosy rat space under his shed.

I'm willing to bet we never see ANY couch grass on that plot in future. The magic of TV. In real life it would be all over the place.

Send him a copy of your book John - I think he needs it!!!

[Teen76]

I feel like I could be the odd one out here saying this but I'm willing to give the programme a chance.  I am a beginner myself and I feel that so is Joe Swift in this area (veg growing).  I like the fact that he could be making mistakes as eventually these mistakes will appear and he will learn from them and so will all us beginners who may not have spotted them all.  

He did also mention that the plot get free manure and bark chippings, not just him.  Also it sounds as though others get their plots scraped off at that particular allotment site, so I think perhaps he's just lucky.  We get free manure delivered to our site!

London is one big building site so I imagine there are a few more chances of finding wasted timber and pallets, than maybe the rest of the country.

I also enjoy his enthusiasm he is clearly excited about the project, and yes his design is not to everyone's tastes but he is a designer and like everyone on allotment plots they customise their own plot to how they want it, whether someone else tells them its rubbish or not.

Now that I have watched the first episode of Joe Swift actually on his plot, I look forward to his ups and downs there.

I know I'm  perhaps the odd one out here saying all the above, but I'm always willing to give people a chance especially when they are only learning and they have so much enthusiasm.   At least he's having a go and we could do with a few more programmes on allotments.

OK you can all beat me up now