Topic: Monty Don tknow his arse from his elbow.

[busy_lizzie]

The advice on chitting was confusing, but MD did seem to acknowledge that the trials last year were flawed.  GW isn't perfect by any means, but it is all we have got at the moment.  I have recently been watching old editions with Alan Titchmarsh and Geoff Hamilton and I have to admit it was better then.  Agree with Trixiebelle though, Monty in his boxers Cor!!!  :o busy_lizzie

[froglets]

I still watch GW but not as avidly as the previous presenters series'

Yes, it tells me the weekend is here & I tend to video it so I can watch it on Saturday morning over breakfast & see what it inspires me to do over the weekend.  I always believed Geoff & Alan, now I trust me own judgement first ( mostly  gleaned from Geoff & Alan as well as experience & advice from real gardeners)

I love Monty's writings & am impressed by how passionate he is about real fruit & veg & living in harmony with the land & nature, but he's not a source of gardening knowledge.

Yesterday I walked around a daffodil farm with the retired owner & I learned more in that hour than I've done in the last three years of GW.  Truly humbling to be around someone who knows so much and is so modest about it.  He said the BBC wanted to come & film him talking about the heritage varieties he has & some of the crosses he's still working on, but when they said it would be Monty, he said stuff it.  I had to agree.

[theothermarg]

missed GW don't think they repeat it.     watched the worst gardening prog in the world the other day on uk style called garden rivels  a female and a
um male fighting and arguing over whose design was chosen to be poked in the ground in a day   makes GW look very good

[grawrc]

True the instant makeover stuff is pretty far out.

[Gardenantics]

Baby Oil! I didn't think the mental image could get worse, but it has. I suppose it's my fault for being uncharitable. I'll stop if you will Trixabelle.
But before I do;
I am a blokey sort of bloke, not very in touch with my female side, and found Brokeback Mountain a very deeply cringeworthy film, but I think if you put Chris Beardshaw and Monty Don side by side, and handed out baby oil to the invited women, then surely Chris would end up slippier than Monty. They could then have a wrestle to see who should present Gardeners World. And I thought the mental image couldn't get worse. I'm so so sorry I started this.

Brian

[Trixiebelle]

I think if you put Chris Beardshaw and Monty Don side by side, and handed out baby oil the invited women, then surely Chris would end up slippier than Monty. They could then have a wrestle to see who should present Gardeners World. And I thought the mental image couldn't get worse. I'm so so sorry I started this.

Brian

SEE! YOU'RE GETTING THE HANG OF IT ALREADY!  ;D

[Curryandchips]

This may end up in the watershed ...  ;D

[Gardenantics]

Not baby oil though, maybe Swarfega the green alterative.

Brian

[kitty]

weeeeeell....if i may drag this back to the soil! ;D

getcha minds back on gardening perlease!brian!less of the baby oil!

now...i am not a monty don fan-way past using baby oil-even on babies ;D ;D...but-i am 3/4's of the way thru' the jewel garden-'and i have a grudging respect fer the bloke now-he's been thru some tough times-and i would  say (even tho he spends FAR too much money in the programme)that he is passionate about gardening,and has learnt the hard way-and he got inyto telly presenting by accidentand,as he admits-being in the right place at the right time....


i still want to see more progs about how i garden-with tuppence hapenny and ingenuity not loads of cash!
kitty

[Gardenantics]

To be fair, it wasn't me that introduced baby oil, but as we are on the subject, did you know that it's great for cleaning stainless steel. Rub it on with a cloth, and wipe off in a flowing action in one direction, Sorry that makes things worse mental image wise!

Brian

[Deeds]

Thank goodness it's not just me, I have given up watching MD as I used to get so annoyed I would throw things at the telly and scare the cat.

He's a failed jewellery designer who had to resort to growing veg to feed his family - my heart bleeds as I doubt he's ever known what it's like to be REALLY hard up.

I always recon Monty Don is, personality wise, like Delia Smith, if you were doing something (followinh one of her recipes or his advice on veg growing) and you dared to deviate one little bit from 'their way' they would slap you.

Not my cupof tea at all. Bring back a proper time-served gardener, preferably someone with a little sense of humour, and a little less sense of their own importance.

[Merlins Mum]

he is passionate about gardening,and has learnt the hard way-and he got inyto telly presenting by accidentand,as he admits-being in the right place at the right time....

absolutely kitty and he's particularly passionate about allotments.  he has been VERY supportive of fat larry and my fight to save some allotments locally.

and as for chitting, well I know someone who always saves some spuds from the previous year and leaves them in his greenhouse.  on nice spring days they will certainly be in a warm and light enviroment.

I like him and I couldn't care less what school he went to.

MM

[DenBee]

My chetties are chitting on my conservatory windowsill.  Seem to be doing pretty well in what can be a pretty warm environment.  :)

I like any enthusiast, whatever their subject, and that's what I've always liked about Gardener's World, no matter who the presenter.  You can see that they love what they are doing.

I think Geoff Hamilton is the one who I think of as THE GW presenter, because he was doing it when I started watching.  I don't think I would have liked to have been taught how to garden by him, though, because he seemed more than a little headmasterly - very strict in his way.

Alan Titchmarsh, again very enthusiastic, but for me a bit too much of the gardening woman's crumpet image.  And I've read one of his novels.   ;)

Monty Don seems quite approachable, and I'm not sure he doesn't kind of cultivate his amateur gardener aura, as a way of not intimidating the novice punters.  Of course that will annoy the more experienced a bit.

I must admit I watch GW to enjoy the pretty pictures and design ideas as much as for the advice, which really you can get elsewhere.  :)  There seems to be a bottomless fountain of it on here.  :D

[umshamrock]

Finally, DenBee said it! Alan Titchmarsh acts about 50 years older than he actually is. I can't even stand to read his column in GW magazine....his writing is so flowery and just...old fashioned. As a young gardener, Monty definately speaks to my generation way better than Titchmarsh. And I think his ideas are pretty good. Plus, yeah, he's pretty cute.

[caroline7758]

Kitty, I agree, my opinion of MD went up after reading "The Jewel garden"- he's been very honest about his depression and how gardening has been therapy for him and he's passionate about gardening as a community and pro-environment activity. I know this thread started as a discussion of whether his advice was correct, but as an advocate of gardening as a positive thing in lots of different ways, I think he's one of the best.

[Trixiebelle]

I doubt he's ever known what it's like to be REALLY hard up.

Oh I bet he's been hard up in his time! Haven't we all at some point?  ;)

[kitty]

[He's a failed jewellery designer who had to resort to growing veg to feed his family - my heart bleeds as I doubt he's ever known what it's like to be REALLY hard up.
/quote]

actually-he's not exactly that :)....his business failed during one of our many recessions as a lot of peoples did..but instead of whingeing about it he worked his backside off.....and as caroline said-he hit the nail on the head about depression and how gardening helped him..he seems to me to have been very honest in his book  about being poor-
i think the way gw is produced is more to do with todays lack of concentration powers judging by the rest of tv i dont think a mere presenter can be blamed

i still prefer to chit me taters tho! ;D

[telboy]

Deeds,

He really was on the edge at one point, but he got off his arse and did something about his situation!

He may have got the plot wrong on Chittin' but we all have opinions about how we grow things?
Monty Don is an organic enthusiast, we should applaud that - shouldn't we?

Give the bloke his due.

[Merry Tiller]

This is just getting silly now

[kitty]

no its not! ;D ya gotta stand up and be counted-he's not here to do it for himself so someone has to!
as merlins mum said-he was right behind them with their allotment fight-andf hes an organics fan too- ;)