Sick of Sarah Raven.. she has no idea..literally

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What has irked you that she's said?

I like one of her cookbooks.

Her seeds never seem to grow that well for me. But I've always taken that as my own fault. Do you think there is anything specific that seems crap? Her own garden seems pretty beautiful.

Following!

Spill the beans! 😁

Ah I don’t mind her. I mean, the podcast is clearly nothing but a big advert, but I still enjoy it.

I think she’s hugely knowledgeable and was ahead really in terms of throwing lots of different colours and plants together. I do find her seeds overpriced and always buy mine at higgledy seeds (one man band but very reliable).

I like her Christmas cookbook too and follow her advice for indoor bulbs etc. but like I said I don’t buy from her.

I'm following for the gossip

Wasn't she a doctor and scandalously ran off with a Nicholson? ( Or is that someone else?)

Ooo spill the tea please dear 🤓

I like her generally, enjoy the podcast, generally good results with plants and seeds which they refund if things aren’t right.

i personally don’t think there is one way of gardening but I find it useful to have garden influencers telling us what they are doing at any given time to spur me on in my own garden. I take much advice with a pinch of salt.

Can’t believe you have left us hanging like this OP!!!

Pray tell

Yes agree, there’s many ways to skin a cat and as someone who generally makes things up as I go along it’s amazing what you can get away with.

I would probably argue that most horticultural literature is quite meaningless as it goes to great length to exclaim that nearly every general garden plant in the planet must be grown in ‘moist but well drained’. How I wish to banish this meaningless term - think of the ink!

I don’t care what it should be - I wish they would give an indication of the extremities instead - like OTD (Oak Tree Dry) to MWD (Moist well drained) or MWD to BQ (Boggy Quagmire) 😂

So I am absolutely fascinated what poor Sarah has done 😂

I find her plug plants don’t thrive reliably. I have bought stuff from her for several years. I’m always disappointed and each year, I swear I won’t be lured in again. Finally, this year I have stuck to it!

I've bought loads of plants from her and they have all thrived and look fantastic. I love the colours. I'm not bothered about her advice. I'm a pretty good Gardner.

I think she’s a bit of a sharp dealer. I saw a product in her catalogue that i liked and googled it to see if the price was broadly in line with what I’d pay elsewhere. Couldn’t find the product (solar powered light described as Hogweed style) anywhere else so went ahead and ordered. It arrived, but the box it came in said Wild Fennel. Had a peep — it was the same thing, just a different name. Googled again and found Wild Fennel available for fully 30% cheaper on two other websites. Sent it back: after all, I ordered Hogweed so I wasn’t accepting Wild Fennel! If the price difference had been under £10 or less than about a 10% difference I wouldn’t have bothered. But a third cheaper! I assume, though, that Sarah Raven inc changes the name of widely available goods and markets them as if they were exclusive products precisely so shoppers can’t check for better prices meaning they can charge over the odds.

I like her. She’s a bit over the top (I mean, who has ‘party flowers’ FFS!?) but I suppose if she’s got the income to make entertaining such a thing, good for her. Wish I did!

I haven’t bought her stuff for years (it’s very expensive) but I liked her books and general aesthetic and think the advice is good. You get loads of detailed instructions with stuff you buy from her too (or you used to). And she made a nice change from old men and their allotment and bedding plant mindset. The cut flower stuff was pretty trailblazing at the time, too.

She seems pretty in offensive. I can’t think why anyone would take against her so. Takes all sorts, though.

I found her Christmas cook book dreadful! None of the recipes worked and those that did tasted awful! Nigella's Christmas book is a thousand times better!

I have ordered a couple of products from her and everything arrived speedily and in good order, but I did so with trepidation because there are lots of reviews by disgruntled customers on the website saying their purchases hadn't arrived.

I've been a bit disappointed in her lately - seeds sent out after the BBE date; plug plants arriving very late or in very poor condition. I was really narked that some tulips she was bigging up as a being very exciting (green king, which she described as lime green, with a photo to match) turned out to be petals the exact same shade as the leaves, so they were totally underwhelming.

But is she a professional? I've never looked it up but I assumed she was self-taught, and certainly not trained in agriculture?

(I do agree with @Eeksteek that her aesthetic sense is always interesting. I like her Christmas book.)

I'm glad it's no only us that have had issues.

@Blusteryday101 The gingerbread recipe is awesome. Not overpoweringly sweet, with nuts In. We make a house every year. And the spray painted allium seed heads look lovely - they’re my favourite tree decorations.

I can’t remember if I’ve tried anything else.

That is very interesting. And flipping sneaky.

Agree! I bought some seeds from her and two years in a row, simple poppy seeds have not sprouted! They were not the difficult Artcic poppies either. Bog-standard poppies you see growing in cracks in pavement. Also had problems with other seed mixes. Might try local garden centres next time…

This year I ordered some stuff from Farmer Gracy instead. It’s all been great, much cheaper and beautifully presented, with detailed instructions. I had previously thought they only sold bulbs because that’s how they started, but they actually sell a wide range of plants.