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

[Lovelybitofsquirrel3]

Due to circumstances changing I moved from the family home (owned, not by me, by family) to a council estate a few years ago.
Generally people don’t bother to plant anything/haven’t bothered with their gardens. There are hardly any bees, butterflies or insects that visit and I’m finding it depressing. A lot of people haven’t bothered with their gardens.
I planted potatoes last year which were never pollinated, and one or two bees visited, I don’t know where from and they died quickly.
I’m not looking for excuses as to why people don’t plant but surely it’s simple to buy a few packets of seeds and turn over some turf.

Bloody hell Monty Don, those thick povvos in your new neighbourhood won't go far wrong with you to guide them on their way to eco paradise will they.

Atleast I’m making an effort and doing something in the garden. I assume you don’t bother to do anything and yet you’re taking the piss out of me. Get a hobby

What a wonderfully privileged world you must live in where nobody experiences adversity.

My time is limited largely because I have a full time job and a family including a disabled 8 year old son, among other things, but mainly my son being my main “personal concern”. I’ll be sure to tell him next time he’s in agony, or needs a hospital stay, or his medication administered “Sorry darling but no can do, I have to pot some daffodils, the planet is my priority!”.

Is that the kind of prioritisation you’re looking for?

You're not making much of an effort in all honesty.

What did you do with the rhubarb? Lob it on top of your car?

Council houses used to be built with decent gardens with the assumption that the tenants would want to grow veg to feed their families. My grandad did, and also kept chickens.
I suppose no-one who works has time for that any more.

How are you on MN? Are you posting through the medium of a beehive? Or do you have your phone in your hand?

I've got an entire troupe of chitted potatoes that do my posting for me.

OooOOOooooh that’s you told @SoManyTeeth 🤣🤣 I trust you are standing in the place you’re so firmly been put in 🤪

I think people are greatly exaggerating what I suggested when starting the thread.
I don’t think it’s awful to suggest people plant more especially considering the noticeable lack of and declining numbers of wildlife in this country.
I won’t be responding to comments taking the piss out of my suggestion anymore, which was supposed to be helpful.

Oh and I have very good “excuses” and no I can’t be arsed and don’t want to. Cry harder

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

<sniggers>

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

What part of your OP was helpful exactly?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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?

That’s really shocking. What do people get out of stealing plants and tools?

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.