Kitchen Garden Forum

Stephan Buczacki's been slagging off Gardeners' World in the press recently. It may be sour grapes because he hasn't been on the programme for a few years, but he may have a point. For my part, I agree with much of what he says. It is actually now a bit embarrassing to watch. Its demise is not down to Toby and his chums, it was already going wrong under Mumbling Monty and his hedges (every week, always hedges). But, that's only my view.

Not surprised. The beeb seem to have lost the plot. According to the TV guide, next week's programme features a bunch of arty types designing clothes for the team. And the relevance to gardening is what ??

It's so they don't end up like this lot

Heavens above - hope I don't find any of that lot growing in my vegetable patch. If Gardeners World gets any worse it will be totally unwatchable. That's what happens when you let graduates with Media Studies degrees who think salads come in bags from the supermarket loose in charge of being programme producers. I can hardly bear to imagine what sort of poncy scarf or headgear Alys will be forced to wear in the next episode.

Anne Swithinbank-----
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I get sick and tired of programs where you don't know if it's supposed to be gardening or DIY/Building.

Hi everyone. I used to like the late Geoff Hamilton. He was a "proper" gardener. Cheers.

What we need is Terry Walton's allotment slot on R2 to be televised, sadly he gets five mins at about 1.55 on Jeremy Vine every friday lunch time. It feels like he is grounded in the real world, a welshman to boot!!

CoMpO

My gardening passion is veg. GW has been 'high brow' for years but that is my personal opinion. I thank the lord for sky+. I can then zoom past the latin terms and Capability Brown gardens to find the latest chilli trial results. Problem is that I end up with 5 minutes viewing - 10 if I'm lucky.
Geoff Hamilton is the main man for me. Gardening to me was a good lawn until I inherited a greenhouse and started watching GW in the early 90s. I think Monty is the best since Geoff. I suspect he saw the writing on the wall when he left. Don't blame him. We do need more programes like The Big Dig though. Inspirational.

Go on, indulge in a bit of Percy Thrower nostalgia

Did you watch 'How Britain Got the Gardening Bug' last night?
A bit of liscence with the more recent trends but good for the
historical bit. I never knew Alan Titmarsh had such bad hair
days! Can't say I agreed with the view of all the commentors
but it was interesting seeing the botched up 'makeovers'.
Obvious bias to Geoff Hamilton I thought but rightly so and the
current Gardener's World gang didn't get a mention - rightly so
Maybe - Time will Tell!

Westi

I wish they would show 'Beechgrove Gardens' - my daughter in Scotland says it's a proper gardening programme.

Compo wrote:What we need is Terry Walton's allotment slot on R2 to be televised, sadly he gets five mins at about 1.55 on Jeremy Vine every friday lunch time. It feels like he is grounded in the real world, a welshman to boot!!

CoMpO

Sorry, CoMpO, but the biggest cabbage on Terry's plot is Terry himself. I remember him doing a bit about growing pak choi a few years ago. For one thing, he couldn't be bothered to even learn the name of it properly, and then professed to know nothing about it. Nevertheless he went ahead and told us how to grow it anyway. Which was all very well, but he got it all wrong. I don't often have a shouting at the radio moment, but that was one of them. I steer well clear of the Jeremy Vine Show anyway, these days, in fear of my health — Vine gets my dander up sufficiently on his own without any help from Terry.

Larkshall wrote:I get sick and tired of programs where you don't know if it's supposed to be gardening or DIY/Building.

That's proabbly because they're now made with the digital (and profit making) chanels in mind and if they have an element of building then they can be shown on the gardening and the building channels. If they add a bit of cookery too it aswell then..........

It was the same with Salsify, but it turned out that he didn't usually grow the stuff and had only agreed to do so because the producers of the Jeremy Vine show specifically asked him to grow it. I suspect the same went for the Pak Choi.

Terry is a very good allotment gardener in the main and very good to watch on TV too. Try and catch him in "The Big Dig" which is regularly shown on UK Gardens.