To think people can make more of an effort with their gardens

I also think trends change - big flowery gardens were very much a thing in the 80’s and 90’s, we had a big garden growing up but you couldn’t move more than 4 feet with stubbing your toe on a plant pot. Whereas nowadays I think plain and simple minimalism is in style, decking, little square table sets, fake grass etc, have a look at marketing pictures on websites that sell garden furniture - the gardens are all very plain.

I'm from a fairly affluent area of London. I dont live there anymore, but each time I visit DM there, I notice a decline. Lovely big houses whose front gardens look neglected, and just an overall look of decay to the area. Money and time must be tight for a lot of households these days.

Leave it at least three years before you put potatoes in the same place. You can put other things there though, just not potatoes or tomatoes.

In fact you definitely should put something else in there next planting because the soil will be nice and turned with all those tubers and digging and the weeds will be a lot weaker. (Weeds never really go, as such, imo.)

You could make more of an effort is not a great way to motivate people, it doesn't sound very encouraging, more like a criticism.

I love my garden and I have lots of plants but I haven't been able to tend to them as much as I used to due to pregnancy. Some of my more tender plants may not have made it through the recent cold snap, I'll have to wait and see. I wasn't well enough to wrap them all with horticultural fleece or put the pots indoors like I would usually do. Gardening can be too physically demanding for some people and others just don't have an interest. I try to make my garden a little haven for wildlife and not worry about other people's gardens because I don't know their circumstances.

Starts a thread being deliberately goady and saying they "don't want excuses", get annoyed when people call them out...

But seriously. There are far more actually useful things to do than sit on MN and bemoan how other people act. Many given already:

• buy packets of seeds and post them through your neighbours doors. If even just one person uses them it's a start
• Find a patch of land and see if you can make it a community garden where people can come and help as and when they have a bit of time
• set up a "swap shop" of tools and equipment. Have a stash of pots for people to take. Local FB freebies and even asking around garden centres might help
• don't go around looking down your nose at those who don't garden and telling them you don't want "excuse" instead try listening to their "excuses" and find a way to instead help them combat those

Sorry my comment was meant to be sarcasm. Because apparently we should just be asking for cuttings.

I guess people stealing veg are either desperate, or just low life.

No, it is whole veg. They steal onions, cabbages, carrots, etc. And tools from sheds... as in lawnmowers etc. Not little hand tools.
Anyway, being poor or whatever is no excuse to be nicking this stuff from other people.

Yes, quite. I might go and start a thread moaning that more people don't do a weekly ballet class because I like it, it has a lot of benefits and I think everyone should do it.

(In case anyone misses the sarcasm I don't think everyone should do ballet at all. I wish I could afford a weekly class though!)

There are some people who don't bother, my previous neighbour a retired guy in good health spent his days watching tv all day. Like come on you have the time to go do some weeding better than watching tv all day!

The other neighbours, the wife was always telling her husband how she doesn't care about the garden.

My sister, she gets her kids involved in the garden, our parents have always been gardening and we were helping out when we were kids too. So now I'm too spend time in my garden
I like my garden looking nice though, in love seeing my giant allium swaying in the wind, the small trees I planted turning beautiful colours through the season. Whilst it take 1-2hrs once a week to maintain it do find it enjoy it. Back to nature, getting your hands inot the earth. You see it in news now again how gardening is really good for your mental health.

If your time poor or cant afford it then fair enough but if you aren't well....?

Maybe they’re just prioritising the planet 🤷‍♀️

Cuttings for their own garden and the tools to plant them?

Yep. There’s something quite narcissistic in people who turn nasty because other people don’t want to hold the exact same beliefs, values and hobbies as them.

Why am I an embarrassment and why do I disgust you? I answered your question and asked what part do your OP has been helpful?

Actually op on the off chance that you really do want to grow potatoes, they are excellent "pioneer" plants for a newly acquired perhaps overgrown garden because they go deep in soil and churn it all up. They take up a lot of space and compete well with weeds.

You need to put them deep though to avoid them getting disturbed by animals and also to keep them from sunlight otherwise they will release a toxic chemical - you can see when that happens if you buy green spuds.

So, dig a trench. Buy chitted potatoes from a nursery - if you plant sprouted ones from the supermarket they may have diseases but nursery chits are developed for planting. Put your potatoes in at 6 inch intervals. Cover them up. When the leaves appear, pile a little soil around them, continue to do this for a while. Weed by hand so as not to disturb your plants.

Water on dry days, the leaves should get fairly big. You can feed them if you like but you don't need to.

Eventually the leaves will start to die. This means your spuds are nearly ready. When they collapse, give it a couple of days then gently dig under one with a fork, just getting the first of the potatoes. They should be all under the leaves on a network of tubes underground. If they're not ready, just cover them back up and wait a bit more.

If they are ready you can start working them out of the soil with your fork. Get them all out.

Knock the worst of the mud off, pack them in cardboard boxes with brown paper, keep them out of the light. They'll do you over winter.

Give the ground they've been in a good digging. Don't plant potatoes or tomatoes in that bit of your garden for a couple of years. Beans would be good for next use.

Yep, my mum has two allotment plots, and the whole site gets broken into all the time. Produce taken, and tools from sheds.

I live in an area with lots of nice gardens. We did our front garden because we didn’t want to be the house with the horrible front yard.
Why don’t you research cheap low maintenance ideas see how it goes in your garden, once you have established something offer to help your neighbours. Lend tools, cultivate cuttings and get a couple of houses close to you gardening. This will bring bugs and wildlife to your area. Then hopefully others will join in and share resources. I love walking down my street seeing plants that were taken from cuttings from my garden.
I think it’s great that you want to see more houses with gardens, but rather than complaining that others won’t do the same you could actively do something about it.

🤣 Can't believe so many people think there's a need for any justification beyond "I don't want to".

Could be that some people have tried and others have ruined their efforts? Our local allotments have problems with people stealing their crops, for instance.

I agree with you OP. It really doesn't take much time or effort. If you have no money and ask for donations of cuttings, unwanted plants etc on any local FB page you'll be set in no time. The benefits to the environment are huge.

But, as expected, this thread has gone down the defensive route. Is is so depressing and predictable.

It’s not what you’ve said, it’s the way you’ve said it.

What part of your OP was helpful exactly?

<sniggers>

It's pretty well documented AFAIK that people now a day's have far more demands on their time
In the past they had more time for themselves than now