I have gradually fallen out of love with GW, and especially since MD took over. Beechgrove by contrast was a delight...ordinary gardeners doing ordinary gardening things. I thought Fred Loads and Aurthur Billett were going to turn up at any minute.
The programme was informative and perfectly pitched.. let's hope the producers of GW were watching, although for them to change they would need an operation to remove the BBC's arrogance implant they all seem to have when they join up.
Even CB slotted in unobtrusively.
Please don't vote for independence...we have so much in common...even the snow these days.
Another good programme with loads in it but no hurry. I won't ever be trying to grow or propagate begonias or giant veg but some people do and the advice on getting long root veg by giving them a tube of soft compost to grow in could just as easily apply to anyone just trying to get a crop on ground that is otherwise too heavy.
On Saturday morning, Beechgrove and GW will be repeated back to back on Beeb 2. I think GW will be found wanting in such close comparison and needs to up its game.
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)."
I could just see you growing some giant leeks and going round all the county shows!!
I thought you were describing me for a moment there...slow,leisurely...
The comments are very interesting now that people have a comparison between the 2 programmes. Perhaps it's highlighting the fact that G's W needs to look a bit further afield if it's to retain it's slot as the main gardening show-more regional items. After all, we don't all live in the south of England!
WW -Independence ain't happenin'! Just watched Dickie Bird on BBC news. He's great-hard to believe he's 80!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
verdun - People grow giant veggies for competitions as a hobby, like some people grow prize daffs or roses or sweet peas. It's all about plant husbandry and is a harmless way of having fun unless you're into sabotaging the competition's leeks.
I'd rather grow interesting and tasty veg I can't easily get in the shops but I'm not going to knock gardeners who like the big ones.
Fairy Girl - GW does indeed need to look at its focus and get a plan for being more relevant to ordinary gardeners or esle hold up its hand to being just an entertainment gardening show and not intended to inform, educate and advise would be gardeners or gardeners with limited experience and/or resources. The size of Monty's composting area is bigger than a lot of people's entire garden.
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)."
I agree Obelixx. Many people live in towns and cities where space is at a premium- they'd struggle to find room for a small compost bin let alone anything else. I've lived in houses of all sizes and therefore wildly differing gardens and I know personally they vary enormously in terms of requirements. Perhaps having Beechgrove as 'competition' will force the powers that be might to make some changes and that can only be a good thing for everyone. I like G'sW and always have, but listening to comments here it seems a lot of people are unhappy with the way it's heading.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I like GW too but increasingly find that Monty's style of gardening with all those rooms and hedges and devoted pond/compost/fruit/grass/herb/veg/greenhouse and coldframe areas is increasingly irrelevant to most gardens and gardeners who have to juggle space and time and budgets to fit all of those in to a relatively small garden space with neighbours and boundaries and different soils and climates to consider.
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)."
I hate to mention it yet again but GW started to lose the plot (groan) when the great Geoff H passed away. He had a diverse range of gardens at Barnsdale but with the focus on an urban back garden scale and always with budget in mind. Monty's "pond" is about as big as my local swimming pool. It's lovely, but irrelevant to my garden. GH built one from a cut down plastic dustbin, I copied it, cost about £9.99. I've now got frogs in the garden, and a very small scale bog garden surrounding it, looks great. I can enjoy GW like I would an upmarket garden magazine, lovely to look at but not really relevant to me. Beechdale (along with the GH DVDs) is what I need to get me out in the mud and rain getting soil under my fingernails!
well i really enjoyed beechgrove but looks cold up in scotland, and as for gardeners world i could watch it every night people need to understand montys garden is big and alot bigger than most people gardens but it needs to be so we can relate to at least one bit in our gardens. Theres always a mixture of things on GW and always tips we can pick up along the way.
anything to do with gardening on tv always makes me smile
Posts
I have gradually fallen out of love with GW, and especially since MD took over. Beechgrove by contrast was a delight...ordinary gardeners doing ordinary gardening things. I thought Fred Loads and Aurthur Billett were going to turn up at any minute.
The programme was informative and perfectly pitched.. let's hope the producers of GW were watching, although for them to change they would need an operation to remove the BBC's arrogance implant they all seem to have when they join up.
Even CB slotted in unobtrusively.
Please don't vote for independence...we have so much in common...even the snow these days.
Another good programme with loads in it but no hurry. I won't ever be trying to grow or propagate begonias or giant veg but some people do and the advice on getting long root veg by giving them a tube of soft compost to grow in could just as easily apply to anyone just trying to get a crop on ground that is otherwise too heavy.
On Saturday morning, Beechgrove and GW will be repeated back to back on Beeb 2. I think GW will be found wanting in such close comparison and needs to up its game.
Now Now Verd..
I could just see you growing some giant leeks and going round all the county shows!!
I thought you were describing me for a moment there...slow,leisurely...
The comments are very interesting now that people have a comparison between the 2 programmes. Perhaps it's highlighting the fact that G's W needs to look a bit further afield if it's to retain it's slot as the main gardening show-more regional items. After all, we don't all live in the south of England!
WW -Independence ain't happenin'! Just watched Dickie Bird on BBC news. He's great-hard to believe he's 80!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
verdun - People grow giant veggies for competitions as a hobby, like some people grow prize daffs or roses or sweet peas. It's all about plant husbandry and is a harmless way of having fun unless you're into sabotaging the competition's leeks.
I'd rather grow interesting and tasty veg I can't easily get in the shops but I'm not going to knock gardeners who like the big ones.
Fairy Girl - GW does indeed need to look at its focus and get a plan for being more relevant to ordinary gardeners or esle hold up its hand to being just an entertainment gardening show and not intended to inform, educate and advise would be gardeners or gardeners with limited experience and/or resources. The size of Monty's composting area is bigger than a lot of people's entire garden.
I agree Obelixx. Many people live in towns and cities where space is at a premium- they'd struggle to find room for a small compost bin let alone anything else. I've lived in houses of all sizes and therefore wildly differing gardens and I know personally they vary enormously in terms of requirements. Perhaps having Beechgrove as 'competition' will force the powers that be might to make some changes and that can only be a good thing for everyone. I like G'sW and always have, but listening to comments here it seems a lot of people are unhappy with the way it's heading.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I like GW too but increasingly find that Monty's style of gardening with all those rooms and hedges and devoted pond/compost/fruit/grass/herb/veg/greenhouse and coldframe areas is increasingly irrelevant to most gardens and gardeners who have to juggle space and time and budgets to fit all of those in to a relatively small garden space with neighbours and boundaries and different soils and climates to consider.
thanks blackest
I hate to mention it yet again but GW started to lose the plot (groan) when the great Geoff H passed away. He had a diverse range of gardens at Barnsdale but with the focus on an urban back garden scale and always with budget in mind. Monty's "pond" is about as big as my local swimming pool. It's lovely, but irrelevant to my garden. GH built one from a cut down plastic dustbin, I copied it, cost about £9.99. I've now got frogs in the garden, and a very small scale bog garden surrounding it, looks great. I can enjoy GW like I would an upmarket garden magazine, lovely to look at but not really relevant to me. Beechdale (along with the GH DVDs) is what I need to get me out in the mud and rain getting soil under my fingernails!
well i really enjoyed beechgrove but looks cold up in scotland, and as for gardeners world i could watch it every night people need to understand montys garden is big and alot bigger than most people gardens but it needs to be so we can relate to at least one bit in our gardens. Theres always a mixture of things on GW and always tips we can pick up along the way.
anything to do with gardening on tv always makes me smile
