'The Edible Garden' starts at 8pm on BBC 2 on April the 7th

[Millymollymandy]

Goodness but that is quite French, I swear French men don't know what an indoor toilet is! It quite disgusts me when we have our hamlet get together and the old git across the road has a pee in their little garden, IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!

I caught him ambling off towards some trees at a wedding reception, I just KNEW what he was off to do, so I started a conversation with him on purpose . [oh we soooooooo need an evil grin smiley]

Seeing blokes peeing in supermarket/brico carparks and at the side of the road is very common round here.

Mind you French women never use the toilet in other people's houses either, I don't know how they manage to hold onto it. I couldn't care less and use their bogs if I need to.

[Green Aura]

Haven't you read Clochemerle, MMM?

[southeast-isher]

Alys reminds me of this chap...

(her clothes anyway)

[Millymollymandy]

Haven't you read Clochemerle, MMM?

Nope, never heard of him or her!

Off to google.....

[contadino]

Seeing blokes peeing in supermarket/brico carparks and at the side of the road is very common round here.

I don't use supermarkets, but if I did I'd be tempted to pee in them.

This hang-up about peeing really is misguided. Blokes are blessed with a degree directional control, and it's valuable stuff in nature, so why not?

[Millymollymandy]

It doesn't do tarmac a lot of good and I really don't want to see old men's codgers on display thank you! They could at least have the decency to go behind a bush, or use the bloody public toilets!

[jim]

Dear MMM,

use the bloody public toilets!!

Having taken part in the quest for a clean French loo (oh the ladylike screams from female members of my family on each encounter!) I can see why the custom of alfresco pee-ing has such a grip in France

Love and Peace
Jim

[Big Al]

It was pretty, and cute, had some points of interest, and I will watch again. But I get the feeling that the idea is, if you want more and want detail, buy the book (inevitably there is/will be a book). I suppose the BBC get the best of both worlds by making a light prog that will have broad appeal and also selling attached book.

Theabsinthefairy wrote:

“Felt sorry for the tiny area her chickens were housed in though.”

Didn't Alys say that the chickens make a complete loop - you get the eggs, put their manure on the compost heap, and give them stuff from the kitchen? But she didn't say what stuff from the kitchen, or did I miss that?

Citizentwiglet wrote:

“I kind of begrudgingly liked it, although I did get slightly miffed by her idea of a 'small' town garden being 20 ft x 60 ft; when mine is about 10 x 10!”

Yes, when will telly gardeners get into the real world for most people.

Citizentwiglet wrote:

“…the underlying messages of which are 'jolly good smashing fun if you have pots of money in the bank to fripper about with; particularly if you have a lot of invisible background chums to help you out, but stay conveniently out of shot for most of it, giving the impression that I have 56 hours in every sun-drenched day to potter in my garden'.”

It would be very interesting to see telly gardeners bend their knowledge and ingenuity to a situation where a person has no money to spare for gardening paraphenalia, doesn't have knowledgeable chums, etc - the thousands on low incomes, for example, or perhaps they don't need "grow your own", £1 ready-meals from Iceland are good enough for them.

I think you are being hyper critical. My garden in a town is 45 ft by 52 ft and in many of the "town gardens" in the likes of Birmingham et al are long and narrow rather than balcony sizes in the likes of London. People whinge about garden programmes being shot in London and catering for city folk with lots of disposable income so they shoot one in Birmingham and they still get slagged off.

I didn't see any gardening paraphenallia on the last programme, in fact she made a few plant stakes etc out of salvaged willow trigs admittedly with a "knowledgeble friend" Having said that I recently done a tree layering event for a few hours to learn howe to do it and have now passed that info onto at least 3 of my neighbours.

I've whinged about the last series of INEBG where a young couple "eco renovated" a house in london with a budget of £100,000 + but this programme is different. If you have a 10ft x 10ft patch it is more than some in high rise flats!
The idea for me is to take what the programme offers and utilise it in a scale that suits your own situation.

BA

[LemonBalm]

Big Al wrote:
I think you are being hyper critical. My garden in a town is 45 ft by 52 ft and in many of the "town gardens" in the likes of Birmingham et al are long and narrow rather than balcony sizes in the likes of London. People whinge about garden programmes being shot in London and catering for city folk with lots of disposable income so they shoot one in Birmingham and they still get slagged off.

Yes, I take your point that average garden size varies across the country (UK). I will admit I was thinking London.

However, I still think Citizentwiglet hit it on the head when she said, "…the underlying messages of which are 'jolly good smashing fun if you have pots of money in the bank to fripper about with; particularly if you have a lot of invisible background chums to help you out, but stay conveniently out of shot for most of it, giving the impression that I have 56 hours in every sun-drenched day to potter in my garden'.” However much Alys recycles and makes-her-own, I think she does this as a choice, probably an ethical choice, and not a necessity.

Big Al wrote:
I didn't see any gardening paraphenallia on the last programme, in fact she made a few plant stakes etc out of salvaged willow trigs admittedly with a "knowledgeble friend"

Paraphenalia (sic) was the wrong word (sorry). I must clarify that I was thinking about people who haven't even got a fork and spade, and who would view the cost of buying them as a significant expense. I'd really like to see a prog called "The £1 Garden", where, starting from scratch, nothing could cost more than £1 and nothing more than £5 could be spent in any one week.

The idea for me is to take what the programme offers and utilise it in a scale that suits your own situation.

I agree.

[Millymollymandy]

old men's codgers

Thankfully nobody picked up on this cos I meant old codgers' todgers! Oh well it was early and I hadn't slept enough.

[khimbar]

I quite enjoyed it, but then I'm new to all this. Seemed a nice way to while away half an hour.

And nice to see Birmingham vaguely positively portrayed on the TV.

[Shirley]

old men's codgers

Thankfully nobody picked up on this cos I meant old codgers' todgers! Oh well it was early and I hadn't slept enough.

I was just too polite to mention it M3 xx

[contadino]

It doesn't do tarmac a lot of good and I really don't want to see old men's codgers on display thank you! They could at least have the decency to go behind a bush, or use the bloody public toilets!

Oh, now I'm confused. It's somehow indecent to have a pee? There was me thinking that it wasn't just natural, it's a necessity.

What do you think happens to that pee on the tarmac next time it rains?

No, you're getting in a flap about nothing. Cool your jets, for heavens sake.

[contadina]

No, you're getting in a flap about nothing. Cool your jets, for heavens sake.

As we're discussing peeing alfresco there's not one, but two, unfortunate turn of phrases

Pretty much all our male visitors ask if they can water a tree whenever they need a pee. Seems a better option than going indoors to me.

[Big Al]

Big Al wrote:
I think you are being hyper critical. My garden in a town is 45 ft by 52 ft and in many of the "town gardens" in the likes of Birmingham et al are long and narrow rather than balcony sizes in the likes of London. People whinge about garden programmes being shot in London and catering for city folk with lots of disposable income so they shoot one in Birmingham and they still get slagged off.

Yes, I take your point that average garden size varies across the country (UK). I will admit I was thinking London.

However, I still think Citizentwiglet hit it on the head when she said, "…the underlying messages of which are 'jolly good smashing fun if you have pots of money in the bank to fripper about with; particularly if you have a lot of invisible background chums to help you out, but stay conveniently out of shot for most of it, giving the impression that I have 56 hours in every sun-drenched day to potter in my garden'.” However much Alys recycles and makes-her-own, I think she does this as a choice, probably an ethical choice, and not a necessity.

Big Al wrote:
I didn't see any gardening paraphenallia on the last programme, in fact she made a few plant stakes etc out of salvaged willow trigs admittedly with a "knowledgeble friend"

Paraphenalia (sic) was the wrong word (sorry). I must clarify that I was thinking about people who haven't even got a fork and spade, and who would view the cost of buying them as a significant expense. I'd really like to see a prog called "The £1 Garden", where, starting from scratch, nothing could cost more than £1 and nothing more than £5 could be spent in any one week.

The idea for me is to take what the programme offers and utilise it in a scale that suits your own situation.

I agree.

I seem to think there was something on the telly or in the press pre computers so must be pre 92 for me where there was the £1 / £5 limits but I can't for the life of me think what it was about.

I appreciate the fact that many people, me included are on the poverty line[I went to the credit union today for a loan {having waited 5 weeks for the appointment}only to be told I'd have to wait a week for an approval and cheque when my mortgage is due in two days] but if people are a bit ingenious then they can get by. I'm not shy in coming forward in any way and so if I need something i'll ask my neighbours if I can borrow soething of theirs knowing they won't refuse but then I help them out in other ways. It's got to the stage now that before they order a skip or throw things out they knock and ask me if I can use it.... whatever it is and most times I can find a good home for it either myself or from some one I know is "looking" for such items, lol.