BenDover.. so true. I love Monty but some of the features are purely aspirational for me, and I imagine for most people. I’m imagining Monty’s exotic ginger surrounded by french marigolds in my black plastic ‘barrels’. Hmmm.
I suspect the ones in the auction shed are more likely to be the ones he uses for potting on and his table displays. We have found some good, plain terracotta pots in local flea markets for silly money and these I clean and coat with clear varnish but my really big pots are either ceramic glazed jobs - OK for cold, wet Belgian winters - or plastic for ease of heaving about when they need to go into shelter for winter.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Also have a look on Ebay - the items for "collection only". Put in your postcode and the radius you want from your home. I see garden stuff come up on that which makes me want to weep, but because don't have a car, I can't go and nab. People are often doing house, garage clearance and just want rid. You might not find the ideal terreacotta pot but you might get a fabulous trough going cheap or something to upcycle. Just be sure that 'terracotta' means clay. It's often used frauduently to refer to plastic or the colour.
The patina on Monty’s big pots suggests to me he has had them for some time and so I doubt they are freebies but, who knows? For somebody as successful as him, I expect he can easily afford his own pots and my guess is that he does. I would not be in the least surprised, though, if the fancy hand tools are sent to him by the manufacturers.
On the post referenced above, I recommended pots from Italian Terrace. We have six and though they’re certainly not cheap, I think they add a lot of class to the garden. My view is that in the house I could make do with an upturned apple crate for a side table, polyester rugs for floor coverings etc. But I don’t and I think of expenditure in the garden in a similar way. The three very big pots were the outcome of a serendipitous £1000 discount on a summerhouse we were already buying and the two most recent pots were the product of the ‘corona virus dividend’. Not going to the hairdressers, the dentists, the community college class, the local restaurants etc has allowed us to splash out on a couple more pots.
I dont think Monty short of money possibly a millionaire, I am sure he can find a few hundred or few thousand for some pots . I'd love some myself but very tempting for thieves I reckon, I could fix them to the ground but I wouldn't be surprised if they got smashed out of spite . I did see some mid/ large terracotta in the garden centre around 50 cm by 50cm for about £70 which I thought were quite reasonable.
I see them in the manner of garden furniture. If I would shell out for a pergola or a dining area, I think it's fine to shell out for large pots, as long as they will last for years. Mine have last five years and they are brilliant and add feature to the garden. But then I have a small garden and a few large-ish pots are enough.
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On the post referenced above, I recommended pots from Italian Terrace. We have six and though they’re certainly not cheap, I think they add a lot of class to the garden. My view is that in the house I could make do with an upturned apple crate for a side table, polyester rugs for floor coverings etc. But I don’t and I think of expenditure in the garden in a similar way. The three very big pots were the outcome of a serendipitous £1000 discount on a summerhouse we were already buying and the two most recent pots were the product of the ‘corona virus dividend’. Not going to the hairdressers, the dentists, the community college class, the local restaurants etc has allowed us to splash out on a couple more pots.