Topic: New gardening shows

[Mrs Ava]

Did you see them, on the beeb tonight, 8 until 9.  The first was about a lady who lives in Harlow and gardens for a living, and for her living.  The Mr T's new show, gardening year or something.  Quite good, but one thing that does get up my nose a little......I know, we will reshape this bed, now all we need are a few plants....and they go off and buy probably 500 quids worth of new plants!  I know they have to be practical and show us the viewer what effect the garden will have immediately, and I know if you grew all the plants from seeds, cuttings or divisions, you would only have to wait a couple of years to achieve the same.....I just wish they would be honest I suppose.....tell you the price, give you alternatives.....or have I just become a grumpy old lady?

[CotswoldLass]

EJ,

No, not grumpy (unless I am too!). Garden shows that 'just plant' are, in my humble opinion, not the real thing.

Anyone with a chequebook can do that! Have just visited a friend's fantabulous new farmy place and he kind of said 'what do you think?'.

I said he needs a greenhouse for starters,

I don't  actually watch gardening shows  for EJ's reasons

CLx

[Glyn]

That's TV for yer. Entertaining, but total bunk in a real world. ;D

[rosebud]

I have taped mr T to watch tomorrow EJ, but they do wind me up with instant gardening,anyone can do that. ;D

[busy_lizzie]

Do agree with you Emma, they always go for the quick fix and do spend a fortune. I think real gardening is about doing it yourself not popping out to the garden centre.  As you say they never mention how much it has cost to supply all those plants either.

 Saying that however, it really cheered me up seeing a gardening programme at this time of the year and really makes me realise how much I have been missing it. Even got me thinking about how I can reshape my garden, so it was a a little ray of sunshine amongst all the snow and ice that my garden is at the moment.  busy_lizzie     

[wardy]

Missed it!  Like the gardening programmes though but not the instant makeovers.  Dread to think how much those conifers cost in GW last week  :o
The gardening heroes thing was good on GW a week or so ago - I really enjoyed that. 

[RSJK]

Agree with you Emma, I watched A.T lastnight why oh why do they have to go into a garden the size of Wembley stadium everytime to do a garden programme, how many people have gardens like that.  Also like you Emma I have not got money falling out of my pockets to be able to buy al those plants,  infact I have not got two half pennies to rub together, but I have a loving family and my allotments to keep me happy.  Just wished they would make a REAL gardening programme with REAL everyday gardening people doing them.  Anyway last moan for 2005 out of the way (I think)

Happy New Year Everyone.

                               Richard   ;) ;)

[amanda21]

I quite liked Christine's programme as it is 'fly on the wall' and I'm nosey like that!  I can't see how it can go on and on for a whole series though - or was it a one-off?  I like AT and this programme did seem to be aimed at newbies like me but not a mention of veg! :o

[Garden Manager]

I liked Mr Ts new programme, though it did feel a bit like 'How to be a gardener continued'.

To answer the criticism that the programe is not realistic enough, and spends unrealistic amounts of money, I'd say that they need to do this to show you the ideas, that is they need an instant effect for the cameras. TV gardens are outdoor studios/sets after all. It doesnt mean you have to do the same thing to acheive the same effect. For instance for a design for a perennial border they will buy decent sized plants and spend the money to sow a good border for the cameras.

We on the other hand can take the plant names and the planting plan, then over a longer period, buy the plants when we can afford them or get seeds/cuttings/divisions and produce the plants ourselves for a fraction of the cost the TV people spent. 

Of course there are those (with perhaps more money than skill) who will slavishly go out and buy all the plants, plant them and get the instant effect. Thats their choice I suppose.

Thats the way i look at these programmes. they give ideas and solutions but thats as far as i go to copy them. The rest i do my own way.

I agree though that they should show the alternative to going out and spending a fortune on plants

[Robert_Brenchley]

Some years back they had a programme which followed real gardeners for a few months as they carried out their own projects. Something like that strikes me as far more valuable as it shows the mistakes we all make, like the guy who dug a new allotment in a hurry and left it full of couch roots. Same mistake as I made my first year.

[redimp]

Most gardening shows seem to be aimed at richer people who want pretties rather than us who like to get our hands dirty and do things the hard way.  Reminds me of the programme I saw the other day where a woman was trying to sell her £350,000 to downsize (i.e. make a profit) but the two people who had been to visit didn't make an offer.  The BBC in their wisdom invested £1000 of our money in making her house better.  Excuse me, but could the please come round and advise a public servant who works very hard and very long hours how he is ever going to be able to afford to live in anything but the most basic urban terraced house rather than giving the money I contribute throught the license fee to somebody who patently does not need it.

Rant over.

[RSJK]

Think you have hit the nail on the head  Redclanger

[Garden Manager]

Just out of interest, what did we think of 'Garden School'? (those that bothered to watch it that is!). I thought it was quite entertaining and had a surprisingly good outcome . i did though find some of the 'teaching' methods a bit hard to follow/understand.

[Dan 2]

I enjoyed Garden School, i thought it was very good OVERALL!

[Garden Manager]

I enjoyed Garden School, i thought it was very good OVERALL!

Clearly then Dan you found some specific bits a bit annoying/baffling/boring like i did?

[Dan 2]

Yes thats right, some bitrs were a bit boring and sometimes Diarmuids teaching plan was a bit unclear- baffling. Overall I thought it was quite interesting and I thought they all clearly got lots form the course. Some of them even have thir own websites doing Garden Design.

I ddin't really like 'Christine's Garden' that much because I got nothing out of the program (apart from a 30 minute sit down). Alan's program was good as ever but I thought they squashed a bit too much into 30 minutes, should have been an hour I think. Sorry about the moaning! Dan :-)