It's quite a challenge to make a tiny square garden interesting but the main feature is the enthusiasm of the owners. They are clearly - and I think, rightly - proud of what they have achieved.
There's so much snobbery in gardening and so little generosity. Obviously, if you have been gardening for donkey's years or you happily manage several acres, those patches look rather modest. And not even any rare plants to note down! How tedious.
Time to rethink? Didn't most of us start small and modest and maybe make lots of mistakes? I did. I was thrilled to bits when my common plants thrived - still am, actually.
I think it's vital to get new and young and off-put people into gardening. So many people feel that it's some kind of magic process or you have to have to be born with some kind of natural talent. Hopefully showing so many normal people loving their little gardens will encourage regular, hesistant people to have a go and it will put paid to the guff and rubbish about it being some kind of special gift - the need for "green thumbs".
In my garden group there are many people that are convinced they "can't do cuttings" and that if they touch some plants the plants die, as if labouring under some kind of mystical curse. People are afraid to try.
If GW is primarily educational, encouraging and generous, that works for me.
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Monty is instructed to make a comment on each segue as the programme host.
What amuses me is that he pauses for several seconds carrying on wheeling a barrow down the path or whatever before he says anything. Or maybe he doesn’t any more; I’ve not watched the programme for a couple of months.
I would say Monty's comments are friendly and courteous. Like me and a lot of people, he enjoys seeing other gardeners' enthusiasm and the happiness they get from making a garden, regardless of its size. If Gardeners World didn't have this sort of relaxed and friendly approach I for one would not watch. 'How to' is well covered online now, as it is in books. The pleasure that gardening can give comes over well on Gardeners World in my opinion, but much depends on why the viewer wants to watch a programme about gardens. We're all different, and some folk must like the instagarden approach with its emphasis on 'design', (if that's the word ) and in your face presentation, judging by some of the other garden programmes. I'm happy to skip sections about houseplants, veg I don't wish to grow, but watch things like dry gardens, jungle gardens etc. that I'll never have, but like to see the owner's enthusiasm for what they've done. I doubt there'll ever be a programme covering such a huge subject that will satisfy everyone.
@Fire, I do understand what you are saying but, some people just do seem more or less adept at certain things. I know they talk about the Motzart effect (several thousand hours of practice before the age of 12) ie anyone can be that good with enough hours practice. I can't draw to save my life, and as for handwriting it's an insult to spiders crawling across the page. 🤣 An example with my 3 grandchildren, the one who was most keen to try and listened to what I said would have had the least success with seed sowing, germination and growing on if it were not for her unscrupulous granddad, doing a bit of label swaping , or resowing so her pots were as good as her sisters. "I don't know what happened to mine, look how well yours have done" I would say.
@Fire, I do understand what you are saying but, some people just do seem more or less adept at certain things.... An example with my 3 grandchildren, the one who was most keen to try and listened to what I said would have had the least success with seed sowing, germination and growing on if it were not for her unscrupulous granddad, doing a bit of label swaping , or resowing so her pots were as good as her sisters. "I don't know what happened to mine, look how well yours have done" I would say.
I don't agree at all with gardening. It's just practice, learning, experiment, paying attention - it's science and biology and physics. Yes, garden design is a more amorphus skills set, but getting plants to grow is not some god-given talent.
If someone has failed in their plant project (me, you or anyone else) it's because the didn't know or they weren't paying attention.
Sneaky things, slugs. I wonder if they have a sense of smell? I had them crossing quite a large expanse of concrete to reach my broccoli seedlings this year.
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Standing against a tree eyes closed, picturing your height against the trees? Rubbing your face with moss? Not something I do on a regular basis.
I must admit that I do such crazy things and everything else that takes me out of daily life in front of a computer and helping customers to get software working.
Apart from that, what "annoys" me a bit is the typical beginning of a clip by the GW team which always starts with "and now we go to XY who has a YZ collection." Followed by "AB plants have that and that and there is a huge variety of species. My name is John Public, and I'm the head gardener of CD". Why don't they start with the name first?
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There's so much snobbery in gardening and so little generosity. Obviously, if you have been gardening for donkey's years or you happily manage several acres, those patches look rather modest. And not even any rare plants to note down! How tedious.
Time to rethink? Didn't most of us start small and modest and maybe make lots of mistakes? I did. I was thrilled to bits when my common plants thrived - still am, actually.
If Gardeners World didn't have this sort of relaxed and friendly approach I for one would not watch.
'How to' is well covered online now, as it is in books. The pleasure that gardening can give comes over well on Gardeners World in my opinion, but much depends on why the viewer wants to watch a programme about gardens.
We're all different, and some folk must like the instagarden approach with its emphasis on 'design', (if that's the word ) and in your face presentation, judging by some of the other garden programmes.
I'm happy to skip sections about houseplants, veg I don't wish to grow, but watch things like dry gardens, jungle gardens etc. that I'll never have, but like to see the owner's enthusiasm for what they've done.
I doubt there'll ever be a programme covering such a huge subject that will satisfy everyone.
But I'm a fan! 🙂
I can't draw to save my life, and as for handwriting it's an insult to spiders crawling across the page. 🤣
An example with my 3 grandchildren, the one who was most keen to try and listened to what I said would have had the least success with seed sowing, germination and growing on if it were not for her unscrupulous granddad, doing a bit of label swaping , or resowing so her pots were as good as her sisters. "I don't know what happened to mine, look how well yours have done" I would say.
Apart from that, what "annoys" me a bit is the typical beginning of a clip by the GW team which always starts with "and now we go to XY who has a YZ collection." Followed by "AB plants have that and that and there is a huge variety of species. My name is John Public, and I'm the head gardener of CD".
Why don't they start with the name first?
I ♥ my garden.