I’d been looking forward to this series starting on BBC2, a show about the challenges of an allotment, growing your own produce and what you can make or do with it. Or at least that was what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what the program was about.
It was more about the competition element of having an allotment. A bit like the annual village horticultural show on steroids. Very little about the effort that it takes to grow vegetables and flowers of the standard required to show, and much more about the uniformity, conformity and competition.
I admit that I’ve never been one for the competition side of the allotment. I deliberately do not take part in the horticultural show on our allotment, partly because I don’t have the time, and partly because the reason for growing, is for eating and producing. Not for getting one up on my allotment neighbours.
Growing stuff can be hard, but size, shape etc. don’t matter so much when your growing it to eat. A crooked carrot can taste just as good as a perfect straight one.
I was following the show via twitter as well, and it seems that opinion is mixed. Some people loved the show, others not so much. I’m afraid I’m in the latter camp. It didn’t do it for me. I think it had lots of potential, but it wasted a whole growing cycle and focused on the competition. I appreciate this is entertainment and shows such as Bake Off etc. are all the rage. Maybe an allotment is not the right medium for reality competition.
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I agree, I wanted to hear about growing methods and planting schemes. The mini allotments looked fantastic. I didn’t bother watching to see who was put out. A missed opportunity in my opinion.