Topic: Monty Don - Sponsored by garden centres?

[return of the mac]

Aye nae bother. ooo look phil hundredth post

[aquilegia]

I watched the episode before last again yesterday (why? I was cooking and wanted a bit of gardening to be going on). It had stuff about herbs, tomatoes and wildlife - all things I'm passionate about. And I learnt a big fat zero. Nothing in it I didn't know already. All it taught me was I need to spend more money on my garden. Advice which I will not be taking.

(ps - I've always had a good long season of cropping off bush tomatoes ???)

[Charlotte Sometimes]

I agree with a lot of the negative comments about GW, but I don't half fancy Monty........phwoar.......  :-*

Say what you like, he knows how to scarify a lawn, manually!  He obviously works hard enough to keep a lovely, lean figure.  ;)

Yes, main thing is their annoyingly large budget.  Did you see their tropical/jungly garden... of course they forgot to wrap any of it up in fleece, so it was all brown and bitten by late frosts.  More money than sense.  Roy in Bham appears to know more about that lark than they do, get him on!

Carol Klein has a voice like a cow mooing.  Joe Swift chooses plants that I never like.  Sarah Raven - love her approach to planting, but yeah, shame about the clothes.  If she puts on some more weight, she might end up looking like Gertrude Jeckyll, but maybe thats what she wants.

I wasn't fond of AT, actually, glad to see him go. DULL DULL DULL.  I find his approach to gardening very prissy.

By far the worst thing though, no stuff on vegetable gardening really, no in-depth advice.  So yes, I've outgrown it now, and it just seems to repeat the basics.  I realised a couple of months ago that I wasn't really listening anymore..... but that was because they weren't saying anything NEW.

[Roy Bham UK]

You must remember that Gardeners World has been running for a very long time and Geoff Hamilton was a film star then ??? ::) Or was that George ??? any way I never really bothered to watch him on the box as he was dead boring :o hold on, I wasn't into gardening then, but what I do remember was he dressed just like my dad did for the lottie, flat cap rolled up shirt sleeves, old baggy trousers with bracers, could have been the husband of Carol Klein if you want to pair with dress sense, you get my drift? But no one moaned about it then, well not down the pub as internet was probs not around long then. :D

They are there to pass on their expertise from years of gardening and studying horticulture and I'll bet they don't want to spend time wasted in make-up, they don't need to, they are gardeners, as I said B4 what you see is what you get, "Gardeners"

With regard to repeats, just take a look on this board, how many times have we covered Tomatoes ??? ::) Nowt wrong with that, I'll be learning till I dig my own hole in the ground, (I may be doing that now Oops!) There are garden newbie’s turning on the TV daily. ;D

Now where shall I dig this hole? ;D ;D ;D

[Charlotte Sometimes]

I'll bet they don't want to spend time wasted in make-up, they don't need to, they are gardeners, as I said B4 what you see is what you get, "Gardeners"

Hmmm.... she said, wondering if that applies to the baby-poppin' Rachel de Thame. LOL.  Isn't she the Nigella Lawson of GW?

You musn't forget that they may be gardener's, but they are not exactly the shy, retiring or humble type - they do *want* to be on TV, don't they?!   

[Bun]

I watched Fridays episode expecting it as poor as the recent ones, but I found it more engaging than  I thought it would be. It seemed to be going down a different path than before. I even learnt a few things. By saying that I don't mean to sound like I know lots about gardening & it must be a good programme to teach me anything. I mean that I don't know much about gardening & I get bored easily. Ergo, because I learnt something it must have been a more interesting programme.  ;D

When I used to  watch Alan, every week I found that there was something he showed me how to do that I had been wondering about in the past few days. I'd not really had that experiance with the new format until last week. I hope it keeps growing that way.  :)
It seemed to me that the producers, up until now, had been making a gardening show aimed at entertaining all their "television land" pals.

I think I like Sarah Raven the best at the moment.  ;D

[return of the mac]

Well, after a hard days work i fell asleep halfway through and dreamed an alternate ending (quite good) ;D .But i must agree, I even noticed that monty acknowledged a few viewer gripes like how huge the pond was which was interesting

[campanula]

thank you phil - now i can have a good old rant about MD and GW in general. Personally, I have come to despise MD who is sanctimonious, dogmatic, oafish and tedious. Obviously has no sense of humour and is totally over-exposed in the media. I cannot bear his whining about the huge poverty he had to endure, his depression blah blah. His 'salt of the earth' act with his cords and braces...ugh! If he thought he could get away with it, i expect he would wear a flat cap. In truth, it is easy to have a great garden with an unlimited kitty (and I expect Don's garden to be bursting at the seams with the latest plants despite his claims to buy only from little greengrocers and local markets). I hate the obscene amounts of cash being spent on having the biggest, most expensive everything and, as far as I can see, GW is mainly a shopping programme. This week, go and buy......... whatever plants are in flower. whatever gadgets are available. The quality of gardening is poor - all these little areas are so inappropriate for the majority of people who have to make spaces which look good all year round and cannot fill their garden with a gazillion plants in bloom for that week/month. Moreoever, I think MD is just a fame-sleeper - he is happy to sign up for some reality TV type thingy with troubled youths (as long as it is not in his village) but queasily burbles on about social ills and helping in the community - pah , just another fat pay cheque and yet more media exposure for Saint Monty. Glad it will not be aired as I would be unable to stomach yet another priviledged middle class person getting 'down with the kids' and congratulating themselves on their complacent goodness. I think he is arrogant and bullying (I note Chris Beardshaw made good his escape) and frankly Sarah Raven is of the same smug mould. Again, another one happy to rake in the cash by putting her name to another pile of rubbish artefacts for our 'lifestyle aspirations'........Has anyone seen some of the ludicrous products from 'Sarah Raven's Cutting Garden' - blue pine cones, to throw in your log fire and give off lovely blues and greens - only £7.99 for 12 or so. Still, presumably there are plenty of peaople happy to be so blatantly ripped off. In truth, it seems impossible to have a gardening show without all the focus being on the presenters....but how welcome would one be.
Phew, sorry folks, I am not really this vicious cynic with a bad attitude. cheers, Suzy

[aquilegia]

Suzy - you've made my day. I love a well articulated rant!

Only watched the first half of last week's. got bored and had a soak in the bath instead. Learnt far more about gardening, I'm sure!

[derbex]

had a soak in the bath instead. Learnt far more about gardening, I'm sure!

Not sure whether that says more about the programme or the state of your bath.  ;D

I think Percy Thrower is interred in ours!

Jeremy

[moonbells]

I think a lot of the gardening programmes are stuck between fact and entertainment.  I'm not sure how much of it's the presenters' faults and how much the producers'. I recall the incredible flak there was flying about when AT was at the helm, with funny camera angles, fuzzy shots of the plants and sharp presenters... but at that point, it was being made by an outside agency with a remit to entertain. I think AT got fed up of this in the end.  If only it had been in-house BBC production when he was about! I was really glad when they said it was going back to the beeb with MD.
Unfortunately there are now signs that the current lot are going the same way. But at least they are no longer picking presenters because they're pretty! And with gardening, you can't really expect one person to present 100% of the time, can you? Then again, the rest of us have our day jobs to do 100% of the time except when on holiday (usually summer, when GW has a hiatus anyway).

I wish it was just Monty presenting, that they gave full exposure to how much work is done by the full-time gardener at Berryfields (who was widely advertised for on a salary of 26K or thereabouts - not exactly the biggest earner in town!)  and that they would concentrate on gardening *there* rather than doing a guest garden slot. But at least with the move to an hour (about time) they can get pro rata more actual stuff in.


moonbells

[philcooper]

had a soak in the bath instead. Learnt far more about gardening, I'm sure!

......I think Percy Thrower is interred in ours!

Jeremy

I should have mentioned earlier - Percy Thrower was my second cousin once removed!

I saw the programme on the American woman lifestyle guru who has just been released from jail - there were elements of her motherhood and apple pie "advice" that seems to be creeping in to GW - I hadn't spotted the blue pine cones - they sound a bargain - b ut I think I'll wait until Lidl stock them

Phil