Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a deep dislike for Monty Don (all in the best possible taste, I really wish the man no harm)

moved from duplicate post:

Am I the only person that finds Monty Don infuriating, he is so smug and seems to relish the opportunity to tell us how wonderful his life is. I find his style of presentation patronising and unlike sir alan and god rest his soul Mr Hamilton, Monty makes gardening sound so hard the latter make gardening sound fun and something anyone can have a go at. I will add more negative content about Monty over time. I must apologise to Monty lovers I mean him no harm. I invite your discussion - please

Hi Reallybear,
That man is a total waste of space!
JB.

He doesn't like polytunnels does he.

are we talking one or two in the garden , or a hundred complete with a shanty town of caravans full of eastern europeans with no sanitation.

Hi Richard,
We in Herefordshire have many Polytunnel sites for the soft fruit producers.
One producer provided a village for it's workers but it was not a shanty town and it had modern facilities and sanitation. They were denied retrospective planning consent and made to take down the village so NOW we are going to get shanty Towns and places without sanitation.
Monty Don was the person that virtually appointed himself as the leader of the anti lobbyists and that was done to boost his own esteem and for no other purpose.
What makes me even more annoyed is that most of the anti lobbyist all went fruit picking on the continent
during their teens but didn't get the resistance from the French people.
The reason why we have an Eastern European workforce is because the normal British worker will not do the menial jobs and where the workforce are needed to work there simply are not enough people willing.
The imported workers are governed by the wages act in force in the UK at the present moment.
The anti lobbyist come out with statements like; 'how long before the whole county is covered'
The last figure that I saw was that 0.27% of the county has been covered but not for the whole year but only when necessary and that is about one third of the existing fruit growing area.
Monty Don is a television presenter and nothing else
and not a gardener. You note that for all his fame he doesn't appear on such programmes as Gardeners Question Time 'cos he simply wouldn't be able to answer even the slightest question!
JB.

as far as most of us are concerneed he is a tv presenter, he fronts a programmme, probably takes several goes to spout the guff given to him by a researcher and writer in the manner the producer requires.
so we cant comment about Monty Don as a person cos weve never met him or likely to (or bothered either way) not even really wondering why this thread got started.......

Well Richard,
He is a person that lives in my area and has now, all of a sudden, got this fabulous garden and he is represented as a gardener. He is no such thing. He is being compared, job wise, as dear old Geoff Hamilton, Alan Titchmarch, Messrs Lancaster, Sebright and Co all of whom, and were, fantastically knowledgeable on horticulture. Monty Don has even had the audacity to write, and what is even worse publish, a book on gardening! In this book there is a passage which says how nice it is to get into the tunnel on a cold winters morning! Two faced B--d!!
There are those of us who would prefer to buy British and if the difference in buying foreign takes a few (Maybe a few hundred) tunnels then I'm for tunnels.
There are too many people that have nothing to do with growing having their say as to how farming and horticulture is conducted. I do not wish to take their rights of free speech away but County Nature Trusts can prevent a farmer from doing what he needs to do to make a living and that is never right.
Thankfully Monty Don has not, as yet, enveigled his way onto our County Trust Committee yet!
JB.

I'm afraid I too can't stand him presenting anything to do with gardening. I felt really angry when he was described as a gardening expert when they were advertising the new series of gardens around the world.

I think most real gardeners have him sussed out and cringe when they show him digging a planting hole by raising his spade above shoulder height and smashing it down into the ground - probably to make him look animated. Why can't he just press it into the ground with his foot like normal people?

It isn't many years since he actually said that he didn't use herbicides in the vegetable garden but thought they were OK on paths and ornamental beds - hasn't he changed his tune.

I don't usually take much notice of celebs. in general, they are all over paid, but Mr. Don does really irritate me. I also used to like Carol Klein when she just did the gardening, but now they have got her talking in this nauseatingly gushing way about everything and simpering at the camera she also makes me reach for the off button. Perhaps they are perfectly nice people, but the programme makers think all this play-acting is what people want.

Bring back Percy Thrower!!! or even Alan Tichmarsh - at least he is a real gardener - I did hear that it was Alan who put Monty Don's name forward to present the programme. He should be ashamed.

Bring back Percy Thrower!!!

It's not easy

Do we really nead a discussion on personalities?
None of us are perfect.
There is the off button.

If i could have a wish for today, it would be, that everyone should try and see the good in each other, and not just the bad.

Hear, hear OH.

Beryl.

getting past the presenter... what did people think of round the world in 80 gardens?

I seriously want to go to Mexico and Cuba now, not places i'd ever considered before. This could undermine my resolution to limit my use of airplanes!

the small scale food production in the city in Havana was wonderful, but the fact this is the result of serious poverty was rather romantacised. The woman who dedicated her garden to plants for their spiritual value said she was unable to visit the beautiful places in her own country due to 'the economy'... rather a contrast to the global tourism we take for granted.

still as we all know there is a lot of happiness to be gained from a small plot.

Hello Di

I also enjoyed the programme especially the kitchen garden in Cuba and I liked seeing the classic American cars driving around the streets. Those cars were certainly well built.

Cuba is a country that could be great to visit but I don't think I would like to live under Cuba's oppresive communism. I hope Fidel Castro isn't lurking on the forum!

Barney

Is Fidel lurking anywhere? After all this time of his illness I assumed the public were being braced for news of his death.

i agree about communism, I'm all for equal chances and a little of wealth redistribution, but heard of someone being arrested for selling second hand clothes as it was illegal private enterprise...so alien to normal ways of living and thinking!