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Garden 'rescue'

BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
in The potting shed
I dont know why I watch it and I need to stop tbh. The young young men are good eye candy 😉, but Charlie's idea of gardening has me grinding my teeth. Placing full grown lettuces in a veg bed.. 

But last night hit a high. She decided to place a Perovskia on top of a fern/stumpery.  🤪 I know this program is for instant effect but I would like to see what it looks like after a year or two. 

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  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I've watched it, and I agree with you re seeing the gardens further down the line,  but my daughter has sometimes watched it with me, and the bits that drive her nuts are the repeated segment of Charlie with her using a greeny, turquoisey blue paint colour that she uses for all sorts of things, including plants that aren't that colour. :/
    Most of all, it's the bit at the end when they hide and pretend to be watching the people at the 'reveal. It's so obvious when they can't have the continuity, and the reveal is in full sunshine and they're standing in  the dark.  We always have a laugh at that. 
    You just have to see it as entertainment I suppose, and maybe the odd plant idea or feature that could be good in your own garden.  :)

    That bloke's dungarees drive me nuts though.... :D
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Gave up watching years ago ... like my eye candy to have a brain.  

    I like Charlie and know that she's had a grim time ... I hope she can find something more suited to her skills than this pitiful windowdressing.  :'(

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    I didn't know what happened to Charlie after ground force. They did some thing at my sons primary school, don't remember what it was though. Sorry  to hear she's had a bad time. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    She lost her mother and stepfather in the Thai tsunami on 26/12/2004 .... despite the 'upbeat' presentation of recent stuff in the press my understanding is that it hit her very hard indeed 

    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/garden/649670/Gardening-Charlie-Dimmock-returns-more-than-decade-off-TV-screens

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    That's terrible. I didn't know it or hadn't heard of that. Horrible way to lose loved ones. 
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    It's been going for a few years now, and l wish they'd go back and visit some. 
    I wonder how much advice the garden owners are given before the team leave. Some of them have spent several thousand pounds , and l have seen massive trees and shrubs installed. Even my OH commented about the watering required. 
    I remember Charlie Dimmock going back to visit some Ground Force gardens with Tommy Walsh a few years later. Some were definitely more successful than others ! 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I've always taken the view that if people have no idea what to do or where to start with a garden, and if it gives them a space that they can use, and maybe kindle more interest, it's a good thing, and relatively harmless.
    I'd have thought they give people info on the ongoing care of plants, but maybe I'm just an optimist @AnniD   ;)  
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    If the 'rescued' has made some effort to make a garden before contacting the programme, there is a chance that they will continue to look after it, but it would definitely be disheartening for them to see the unsuitable planting fail.
    The programmes where the owners have to do a lot of the work themselves are more likely to produce sustainable(original definition) gardens.

    I used to like the makeover programme where neighbours had to do up each other's house.  Some of the efforts were deliciously appalling😂. WOW!! can have so many nuances
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • rachelQrtJHBjbrachelQrtJHBjb Posts: 819
    Surely The Instant Gardener has to be the worst programme. The planting is shocking - acers given full exposure to sun and wind, Festuca glauca placed in deep shade with the guy saying it will do well there, etc., etc. I think the Garden Rescue team do spend a bit more time on site and therefore make a greater success of their creations. There is a tendency to over-plant, just as they do with Love Your Garden. A properly spaced planting just wouldn't have the "wow" factor TV demands

    I met Charlie at Hampton Court in 2007 and she is lovely and very down to earth. I had no idea she lost her mother in such tragic circumstances. 

    I would love to see the Ground Force gardens 25 years on. I managed to get to the Dehli orphanage (Palna) to look at the children's garden they created, but sadly most of it had gone, the space commandeered by the Dehli Metro expanison programme. Such a shame. 
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