Topic: Has Gardener's World got it wrong?

[lancelotment]

I'm not quite sure where GW is going at the moment.  I missed (well if I'm honest I fell asleep!) a chunk of last weeks episode and wasn't too disapointed.  At times it almost feels like painting by numbers and can be a bit predictable.  It has certainly lost some of the DIY / allotmenteering feel that the prog used to have with Geoff Hamilton at the helm. 
      With computer software, we 've always tried to live by 're-use before build, build before buy'.  Not sure I can always say the same about GW.  Lance

[busy_lizzie]

I do agree with you Lance.  They seem to be struggling and not reaching the ordinary gardener. They seem to be spending money on lots of different projects but it would be nice if they could address the day to day managing of a garden which involves making things youself. Also encouraging new gardeners with step by step guidance about growing things.  Carole Klein's programme was visually very nice, but something a bit more "down to earth" would have been better. busy_lizzie

[cambourne7]

bring back tichmarch

enough of buying things and more about growing and building!!

[sutton girl]

Would sooner have had someone  like Geoff Hamilton when he used to make thing ect.

[okra]

they seem to have jumped on the "you can have" an instant garden overnight bandwagon.

[cambourne7]

yep but alan had a better mix of make do, make it and buy it....

[emmy1978]

bring back tichmarch

enough of buying things and more about growing and building!!

Hear hear!  ;D

[Meg]

i kind a like Monty actually but yes some times I think that his heart is not really in it and I think that many articles written about the programme have said that. Geoff filmed in his own garden and I think Alan did too that ownership is what is all about. Perhaps we couod just have pictures of Monty and forget the rest of the team ;)

[Blue Bird]

I just think they are trying too hard to keep the producer happy and not the gardeners

like to watch the old programmes as they are much more informative !!!

[theothermarg]

just discovered the ideal way to watch GW you vidio it then you can fastforward through the bits you don,t like ie how to replant !!  i managed to watch the prog in 7mins !! ;D
marg

[Blue Bird]

Nice one Marg  ;D  :D

[grawrc]

I liked it when it was "a gardener" tlaking about their plot with a bit of input from other folks. Now it is all these pseudo experts who only seem to know how to buy a lot of expensive stuff at the garden centre and turn a garden into a house extension where plants and plantsmanship are the least of their considerations. ;D

Wow! That feels better! ;D ;) :P

[simon404]

Mm, I seem to be in a minority, I actually quite like GW at the moment, I found it interesting what Monty is doing with the long borders. I think the point about ownership is right though, we see lots of shots of Berryfields (the house) but no-one ever seems to mention who owns it - is it private, does it belong to the BBC or what? Gardening is about a sense of place and not knowing gives the programme a disjointed feel (or perhaps I've just missed the explanation!)

[Marymary]

I like Monty too but I agree the programme does seem to be floundering a bit at the moment.  That 40 year garden seems a really silly idea - who on earth is going to want to emulate that?  Also I don't like all the tiddly little 'rooms' there is no connection between them - more like a flower show.  In the previous series the gardens have been admittedly very large but one could identify with them or parts of them. I think they should change the director or producer and concentrate on real gardening - mainly vegetables but that's just a personal thing.  :)

[sand]

The name 'Monty' and the phrase 'rearranging his perennial borders' just send me into a swoon.

sigh.................. :-*

But that big pond thing is a bit OTT for me.  Joe Swift just doesn't fit into GW, more of a Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen type.

As opposed to Monty in his braces.................. ;)

[Pesky Wabbit]

From   The Shed / Re: christines garden

Gardeners World is dull dull dull.

I've lost all interest in GW these days - its just far too remote. Who has long borders? who has a whopping great pond/lake? Can you buy Berryfields no. 2 @ B&Q ? Who builds a show garden?

CG is about everyday garderners doing everyday jobs.

Can't agree more ! GW should be for the average punter with the average garden.

[louise stella]

I read "the Jewel Garden" recently and it gave me a whole new view of Mont's!!!  ....still think GW has lost the plot a bit though!

He is passioante about gardening - just wish it could be a bit more "real".

Louise
X

[markfield rover]

Turned GW off and watched "Victorian Kitchen Garden" instead
umm that's better!

[Deb P]

I'm interested to read the comments about Berryfields and the sense of 'ownership' that is missing from the programme, I think that is something I had felt but struggled to put a label on.

It does give the impression of an altogether more commercial enterprise, mentioning 'Berryfields No. 2 compost' for example as Monty did the other day when sowing tomatoes, you get the feeling of a Berryfields 'brand'. I guess Alan Titchmarsh is probably a bit guilty of starting this trend by developing his own range of gardening equipment etc when he presented the programme.

It does come across now much more as a 'show' with 'guest presenters', rather than in years gone by where presenters showed their own gardens, sign of the times I suppose. I don't watch many GW programmes now as I used to, now I have the facility to access various BBC programmes 'on demand' I just skim through (like theothermarg)  to the veggy bits and watch those! I did like the gooseberry competition feature a few weeks ago though.

[sweet-pea]

I went to a talk given by Chris Beardshaw a month or so ago, and someone in the audience asked why they play 'all that awful music in GW now'.  He answered saying that GW is now produced/made by a different company to the one that used to do it when he and AT were presenters.  The new company seem to more keen on giving it a more 'arty' kind of feel etc than the actual gardening content.  It was interesting to hear that.  I happen to like Monty, but I have to agree that GW has gone downhill, but it might not be entirely the presenters fault, but rather the people producing it.  I got the feeling from Chris that maybe the presenters don't have much control on what is presented etc.