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Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 12:12 pm Post subject:

Of course there are many properties with little or no land, flats for example*, but there's a huge amount of gardens out there which could be used. One of the problems with allotments is people often find they don't have the time to get to them, whereas a garden is literally outside your door!

*Actually modern flats seem to be built with common gardens that could easily be used to grow fruit and veg.

OP

Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 4661
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 4:00 pm Post subject:
True, but it is easier to grow stuff on an allotment - more space, other people around to encourage you and offer advice - and swap surpluses with!

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 4:14 pm Post subject:

lots of people spend hours treating/cutting lawns and putting out bedding plants---so they have the time---no doubt if fresh food became expensive or in short supply they'd dig them up just like in ww2---it's interesting to look at wartime cookbooks and see the range of ingredients available for what was a perfectly healthy diet compared to the huge array of exotic and out of season produce we are now used to in every supermarket.Let's face it I can't be the only one who knows someone with a fruit tree that they leave the apples to rot then go to tescos and buy "perfect" imported ones

OP

Joined: 28 Jul 2006
Posts: 4661
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 4:55 pm Post subject:

Yes, guilty of that myself - few apples left on the tree because couldn't get to them in time.

And I think it is time, not space, that is perhaps the real problem. Most people are simply too busy to grow food on a serious scale. In one of the papers this morning (which I read for all of 2 mins) it reckoned that costs for middle class families are rising at 7% a year - and that is not including tax. It's difficult to grow lettuces when you are running to stand still.

boisdevie1

Joined: 11 Aug 2006
Posts: 3897
Location: Lancaster

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 5:17 pm Post subject:

orangepippin wrote:

But if food gets expensive then it might make more sense to grow your own stuff. I for one am looking forward to that day.

AnneandMike

Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 890
Location: Over the hill and soon to be far away

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 7:22 pm Post subject:
I cannot argue with anything the guy says. He should be on DS.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 7:43 pm Post subject:

orangepippin wrote:

I don't agree it's the lack of time. I've managed to grow a fair bit while working 50+ hours, renovating a house etc and my neighbours who've retired and healthy grow no food. It could be more to do with priorities: going out, shopping for the latest gadgets, going down the gym, going on holiday etc are normally seen as more important than food.

oldish chris

Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 7:48 pm Post subject:

Bebo wrote:

Would you fancy eating veg grown within a couple of metres of 1000's of vehicles hammering past every hour? What about the implications of oil / petrol run off on the soil quality. Not to mention the safety of the poor so and so's that would have to sow, tend and harvest them. Not feasibile. Might be more chance for hay though.

Agree with the woodland point.

Good place to grow bio-fuel crops?

Bebo

Joined: 21 May 2007
Posts: 12590
Location: East Sussex

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 7:51 pm Post subject:
Good idea. Only problem is it is a family joke to shout Rape, Rape! whenever passing a field of yellow flowers. That'd get a bit tiresome on a long motorway journey.

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 9:46 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

orangepippin wrote:

And I think it is time, not space, that is perhaps the real problem. Most people are simply too busy to grow food on a serious scale. In one of the papers this morning (which I read for all of 2 mins) it reckoned that costs for middle class families are rising at 7% a year - and that is not including tax. It's difficult to grow lettuces when you are running to stand still.

I couldn't agree more - it is about prioritising your time. And if you grow your own veg you do not need to go down the gym so not only do you save money on veg you also don't need expensive gym fees - in which case you could negotiate a few less working hours and begin your first steps to becoming a fully fledged Downsizer

But if some-one could come up with a way of explaining to the masses that their world will not fall apart just because they have not got the latest gadget and that picking your first home grown tomato will far outweigh the pleasure got from watching yet another reality tv show .........

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 11:55 pm Post subject:

people have more free time now than years ago---years ago my husband and I [ how royal] worked 5 days a week and saturday mornings---it's just 5 days a week now for most people---when they first brought allotments in people regularly worked 10 and even 12 hour days in the week---they just needed to supplement their food.
Nobody wants to go back to that or kids up chimneys but anyone with a few square feet of ground can produce something for a very small outlay of time and cumulatively over the whole country I think it would make a difference--alot of people do want to do something otherwise they wouldn't bother to recycle---we need a bit of government propaganda---a bit like dig for victory

---wouldn't suit the powers that be really I suspect though or they'd do it.

Green Man

Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5272
Location: Rural Scotland.

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 8:31 am Post subject:
The Government's current cheap food policy assumes it will always be cheaper to import than home produce.

SheepShed

Joined: 08 Nov 2006
Posts: 332
Location: In the middle of a Welsh forest

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 9:31 am Post subject:

Cho-ku-ri wrote:

The Government's current cheap food policy assumes it will always be cheaper to import than home produce.

Remove the words 'cheap food' and I think that accurately describes government policy

Green Man

Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5272
Location: Rural Scotland.

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 10:15 am Post subject:

Even with this winter's price hic-up food is very cheap. Householders are buying better quality (luxury) foods cheaper than ever before in human history. Only a small percentage of the household monthly income goes on food where in the past it used to be the majority. Foods and restaurant experiences enjoyed by us all today used to be only the preserve of the rich. For us 40+rs think back to what we ate as children, and how often we had scampi, prawns, steak, wine, sweets or fizzy drinks compared to today’s families. In 1979 the inflation rate was 25%

SheepShed

Joined: 08 Nov 2006
Posts: 332
Location: In the middle of a Welsh forest

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 10:34 am Post subject:

Yes, it's amazing how much the world of food has changed in the lifetime of us oldies - I was born the year after rationing ended and last night was gasping at the latest M&S luxury food advert; a world of difference.

I can't imagine we would have touched scampi or prawns with a barge pole even if they had been available and my childhood consumption of steak and wine was definitely on the low side. Not so sure about sweets and fizzy drinks though, I think I got through quite a bit of them; you could get a sizeable bag of tooth-rotting rubbish for a penny back then.

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