Watched on Friday night and really enjoyed it. It did inspire me to order a pretty mature ensete banana that hopefully I can get through the winter. It certainly sets me up for a weekend of gardening.
I look forward to GW every week. Feel it's a little bit of time just for me and those alike. After being disappointed every week I've concluded that Monty and the beeb are trying to convert everyone to cultivate a mild interest in outdoor stuff before ticking that box and moving on. It bores me. I now keep it on for the cats but only half watch.
The only time I engage with it now is when Adam is presenting as it's not repetitive. Sorry Monty, but your a presenter first is right. The home videos are an addition I was hoping would be reduced as we came out of lock down. I like Montys presenting style but feel it suits historical garden programs and covering flower shows more than knowledgeable techniques of gardening. Frances Tophill segments I enjoy as she is Sent to meet real gardeners on their allotments or specialist nurseries, She has genuine interest and enthusiasm. I think the BBC needs to be less lazy in its programming if its going to keep the original viewers it had especially with the wonderful Carol on channel 5!
I really want to like the programme but, like WW, it usually leaves me feeling a bit underwhelmed.
Two things caught my eye this week: a viewer’s video (the strawberry grower, obviously, not the house plants) that featured a garden actually worth seeing. That’s a rare occurrence.
Secondly I got confirmation that I still have no desire to grow sub tropical exotic plants like bananas and palms. I think they look completely out of place in UK gardens, need a lot of cosseting, and are always marred by leaves that are brown from the cold or shredded by the wind.
Two things caught my eye this week: a viewer’s video (the strawberry grower, obviously, not the house plants) that featured a garden actually worth seeing. That’s a rare occurrence.
I thought the houseplant segment was the highlight of the show. The strawberries in plastic bottles fella was 5 minutes I'll never get back...horses for courses. The clematis couple I thought were amusing too. The herb container and dahlia repotting was so dull even Monty looked completely disinterested. Same with the olive and fig tree pruning..3 minutes of "padding".
What I would love to see in a gardening programme is a visit to a well established garden with an in depth look at a borders, naming all the plants with an insert somehow of one of two of the plants in detail. I'd also like to see a visit to a nursery each week, showing their passion for the plants they grow and specialise in, with snippets of the different varieties of one of the plants that are available for us to grow/buy. I admire the BBC for keeping GW going during lockdown, with all of the restrictions that has brought, but rather than looking at viewers' gardens we could have had a focus on a particular plant each week. Maybe even an A-Z of plants. This programme should be for gardeners - they have Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock for general garden entertainment programmes.
I thought Monty put far too many herbs in that planter. Early this spring I bought a small pot of parsley seedlings and a small pot of chives. I divided up the plants into about 5 clumps each and planted a 35cm diameter pot with the parsley and a 40cm pot with chives. Both pots now look really full.
I am getting fed up with Monty's banana plants. He brings them out and puts them back twice a year every year. I couldn't lift one. Why grow exotic tender plants in an unsuitable climate? He must have to heat his greenhouses, then he goes on about climate change and peat free compost. I agree with Beth Chatto, plant every plant in the right place, suited to it.
Monty praises coir, but forests are cut down to plant the more profitable coconuts, then there are the travelling expenses and ecological effects of transportation. People have used peat for centuries to provide heat in winter. Would it have been better to let the elderly die from cold? I've seen peat bogs in Ireland, no wildlife, no flowers or trees. Nearby was lush greenness and woodland. Our guide told us that it was from reclaimed peat bogs. Look at the Norfolk Broads, teeming with wildlife and beauty, they were peat bogs. I think there is a happy medium.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
@Busy-Lizzie whilst you are free to hold any views you wish on Monty, some of the issues you raise are to say the least controversial.
Beth Chatto whilst indeed saying right plant right place, grew many tropicals herself in an unsuitable climate, using a heated g/h to over winter them.
Just because you don't appreciate the wild life of a peat bog, does not mean it isn't there.
Peat bogs store more carbon, pound for pound than tropical rain forests, if we do not preserve them, the planet will cease to be able to support humans.
There is a world of difference between small scale extraction for heating homes and the extraction of millions of tons for domestic garden use.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
Posts
It bores me. I now keep it on for the cats but only half watch.
The only time I engage with it now is when Adam is presenting as it's not repetitive.
Sorry Monty, but your a presenter first is right. The home videos are an addition I was hoping would be reduced as we came out of lock down.
I like Montys presenting style but feel it suits historical garden programs and covering flower shows more than knowledgeable techniques of gardening.
Frances Tophill segments I enjoy as she is Sent to meet real gardeners on their allotments or specialist nurseries, She has genuine interest and enthusiasm.
I think the BBC needs to be less lazy in its programming if its going to keep the original viewers it had especially with the wonderful Carol on channel 5!
Two things caught my eye this week: a viewer’s video (the strawberry grower, obviously, not the house plants) that featured a garden actually worth seeing. That’s a rare occurrence.
Secondly I got confirmation that I still have no desire to grow sub tropical exotic plants like bananas and palms. I think they look completely out of place in UK gardens, need a lot of cosseting, and are always marred by leaves that are brown from the cold or shredded by the wind.
The clematis couple I thought were amusing too.
The herb container and dahlia repotting was so dull even Monty looked completely disinterested. Same with the olive and fig tree pruning..3 minutes of "padding".
I admire the BBC for keeping GW going during lockdown, with all of the restrictions that has brought, but rather than looking at viewers' gardens we could have had a focus on a particular plant each week. Maybe even an A-Z of plants. This programme should be for gardeners - they have Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock for general garden entertainment programmes.
I am getting fed up with Monty's banana plants. He brings them out and puts them back twice a year every year. I couldn't lift one. Why grow exotic tender plants in an unsuitable climate? He must have to heat his greenhouses, then he goes on about climate change and peat free compost. I agree with Beth Chatto, plant every plant in the right place, suited to it.
Monty praises coir, but forests are cut down to plant the more profitable coconuts, then there are the travelling expenses and ecological effects of transportation. People have used peat for centuries to provide heat in winter. Would it have been better to let the elderly die from cold? I've seen peat bogs in Ireland, no wildlife, no flowers or trees. Nearby was lush greenness and woodland. Our guide told us that it was from reclaimed peat bogs. Look at the Norfolk Broads, teeming with wildlife and beauty, they were peat bogs. I think there is a happy medium.
Beth Chatto whilst indeed saying right plant right place, grew many tropicals herself in an unsuitable climate, using a heated g/h to over winter them.
Just because you don't appreciate the wild life of a peat bog, does not mean it isn't there.
Peat bogs store more carbon, pound for pound than tropical rain forests, if we do not preserve them, the planet will cease to be able to support humans.
There is a world of difference between small scale extraction for heating homes and the extraction of millions of tons for domestic garden use.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border