A Nice Green Leaf: A (Joe) Swift affair
I am starting to love Joe Swift. Every time he appears on Gardeners' World lately I start thinking "Oh, what a nice face he has." Everyone knows that is just girl code for I want to kiss him.
Partly it's to do with the drubbing he got over the allotment he's started: I am a total sucker for the underdog in any given situation, especially if it's horticultural - I couldn't believe the level of vitriol aimed at poor old Joe. I also love the way he talks; he has one of those accents which couldn't be from anywhere but North London, swerving dangerously between educated Islington and market-trader-Hackney within the space of one sentence.
In additional evidence for his lovability, I would encourage the court to accept in evidence the fact that he got his wife and kids (yes readers, there's no future in this amour foudre) down the allotment. There's nothing like a man who is fond of his children to make women go all gooey.
However, I am going to have to draw the line at the patio garden he started making last night on Gardeners' World. Oh my god! We said patio garden, Joe, not pub garden. First he put a jasmine in a pot with some random lavenders round the bottom, then made the grossest windowboxes ever - they were nice to start with, although a bit on the large side. But then he painted them faux medieval browny-black and put them on curly iron supports. Sigh. Still, it had to go wrong somewhere.
I think Joe is fine normally, but the allotment thing has been a fiasco from the start. It's not great television watching somebody digging over an allotment, but it would have been more honest television. Kudos to him for getting the wife and kids there, but do you think they will be regular visitors?
Posted by: jakers | Sunday, 18 May 2008 at 08:33 AM
Cannabis grows so well in the warmer summers we have now, and is such a genuinely cosmic crop when grown 'ital'- organically outside. The kitchen garden is ideal, it really is insane that these war criminal liars and perverts in government make this generaly useful herb illegal. All things being equal in the right setting such as described it is an improver of consciousness - but one MUST act on the dreams that one has when using cannabis, i.e. ENACT the permaculture garden/lifestyle etc and not just red/think about it. Oh and how about sharing with people outside your sad little nuclear family, wierdos?...Because that is the number one solution to eco-armagedeon...and of course their are scum generally known as BNP/cops/politrickion that activly seek to to turn any pyscotropic drug trip into 'skitzaphrenia'.
I would say allow the youth to grow cannabis in the community permaculture orchard of the future if you want to survive the changes required as a result of the pathogen that is current mainstream western type society. Yes I know this is a long long way from Cameron/Brown werr-ruld..which is why you insane scum (hi there mr and mrs normal) frighten me so much! Sad sad dinasours, please sort yourselves out! Get out there and garden organicaly, find out about 'forest gardening' and 'permaculture', and do it like your life depends on it! Oh, problem - permaculture was invented by Bill Mollison - a way of thinking resultant from taking ILLEGAL pyscotropics in the '60's. My god you people are losers. How dare you give support and succour to those perverted scum in government. How dare you not in fact take direct action against the CCTV police state. Really, how dare you play the game of those sick and evil scum. You have no idea what-so-ever do you now. Worthless creeps. What sort of morons are you. You're pathetic, weak, weirdos. Yes you.
Grow up and act with honour you sad headcases.
Blessings
Posted by: Jim | Sunday, 18 May 2008 at 12:35 PM
I find the allotment issue deeply fascinating. There's been SO much discussion of what would constitute "really" doing an allotment, as opposed to what he's done - for example having the council come and scrape the site etc. And all these accusations that he must have gone straight to the top of the list. I'm gripped by how strong everyone's feelings about it are. Is it because allotments are such serious business? It's weird, because I don't think anyone would have minded if Alys had given him an overgrown corner at Berryfields, and let him mess around there...
Some people do have allotments as a couple - it does really work. Although a friend of mine got told off for bringing her kids too often as they were (shock horror) "running around".
I have been watching a lot of the Youtube allotment stuff this week, as a result of thinking about how it could have been done better... I am going to post the ones I really like next week - there are some absolutely sweet videos on there. Though sadly no timelapse, so far.
Posted by: emma townshend | Sunday, 18 May 2008 at 01:06 PM
I must be doing the longest timelapse in the world Emma - a shot taken every 2 weeks :~)
Posted by: VP | Sunday, 18 May 2008 at 03:28 PM