Gardeners World

[Houseplanter]

Is it me or is this way past its best.

I want to know how to DO things.. what to plant, where, when. How to propagate.

Monty we don't have gardens big enough to leave to go wild and mow a path through..

I don't want to see endless videos of other peoples gardens either.

@GertrudeJekyllAndHyde yes I think Geoff was the first GW host who was organic (and peat free).

@SpeedwellBlue I don’t remember most of those (I don't know how I could forget a German guy in a smock!) I do love Rekha though, I think she arrived on the show the same way as bee man.

We have grown elephant garlic for several years, after seeing Monty recommend it.

Quite possibly. I get a Kent vibe when I think about it.

When I first joined RHS, they gave you two tickets for Chelsea, which originated as one for you to go yourself on Members’ Day, the other to give your gardener so he could go on one of the other days and put in an order for the plants that had taken your fancy. It is much more accepting now of pocket handkerchief gardens and limited budget.

The other big difference I notice is back in the 60s it was all about cleanliness and sterilisation. There were organic “nutcases” who considered the soil was full of living organisms critical to healthy soil, but this was pooh-poohed on Gardeners’ Question Time. Now we understand the importance of the web of fungi and creatures in the soil, and, rather than orchids being unique in their relationship to fungi, we recognise 95% of plant families have a symbiotic relationship with fungi

Here he is. The clip is unavailable though https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0d1wm6y

@SpeedwellBlue thank you - I really have never seen him before, I would remember! I must have missed all/part of that episode.

I love Monty's presenting on GW and love looking at various bits of his garden - especially the cottage garden as this is what I have made. He writes wonderfully too so if you have never read any of his books then try and do so. In particular The Ivington Diaries is just blissful reading - an entry for every day of the year just about. He is a lovely speaker too.

I cannot STAND the bloody viewer's gardens section though - most of them are really dull and not inspirational in any way. And I got pissed off at the stupid drag queen section last year - why? It's the BBC though so expected

I like Adam very much and if anyone takes over from Monty then it should be him.

Yes I agree.

Monty used to write a weekly gardening column in the Observer and I remember him writing about the troubles he had with his garden in the earlier years - it regularly flooded in winter. He really did work incredibly hard on it.

Loving this week’s episode. Francis in a lovely sunflower shirt, gardening with her friend.

Francis in a lovely sunflower shirt

What does her clothing have to do with gardening?

Not a thing, obviously. I just enjoyed the episode. I like Monty’s scarves, too. I admire Carol’s floral brights at the flower shows although they are not for me. Rachel de Thame always looks lovely and I like Joe’s hats. Is that a problem?

ha, you've just reminded me that over on Style and beauty they once had a long thread on 'if Monty Don was a woman, what would he wear?'

I was kind of wondering this myself as I find (being blessed on the nork department) that I spill out of most bras when gardening as I spend a lot of time bending over, so my question is more specific

If Monty Don was a woman, what bra would he wear?

It was Lionel Rothschild. 'No garden, no matter how small, should have less than two acres of woodland.'

Joe needs to wear a bigger sized hat! They always look like they are perching on top of his head. He needs to go to a proper hat shop!

Ha! I remember the S&B thread about Monty’s style and I freely confess that, as I watch the Chelsea coverage, I often wonder where Rachel and Arit get their frocks. Do we need an S&B/gardening crossover thread?!

I love the way Advolly dresses - the woman who does the garden history segments. We haven't seen her for a while, she always looks great.

Frances is a really good presenter but I am not sure why they haven't centred her in her own garden this series. It felt a bit odd seeing her digging stuff up in a stately home.

Also great to see Rekha again.

I like Frances' no nonsense, back to basics approach. They seem to be reshowing more garden visits from last year rather than recent recordings.

Frances said on IG that her garden was too small to make the logistics of filming work. Would love them to do a segment on it though.

The opening scenes of Gardener's World this week - Frances and her dog getting in a camper van and tootling off to help a friend in her garden - were fabulous.

I love Monty, but the Friday's episode was so fresh, interesting, entertaining and enjoyable that it made me realise how stayed and stiff the usual format has become.

Monty never goes anywhere. Just his garden and the gardening year on a loop.
How he's not bored to tears by it is beyond me. I wish he'd realise he has something new in him and move on to let new faces take over.

what I wish they would do is show a sequence over a few months
here we are planting runner beans
now we are hardening them off
now we are planting them out (here are some different ways of supporting them
now we are watering them etc
now they are ready to harvest (maybe, this is how we process them0
end of the season...time to take the vines down

that sort of thing
not so much with runner beans, but they often show Monty planting stuff and then I never get to see how it turns out

That is where Beechgrove has the advantage , they do sow crops and show the progress, comparing different methods.

@Churchview I think Monty is bored with it - he must be after all this time! That's probably why they are varying it with other presenters now.

But I guess the producers are quite keen on him staying as he has a great garden to film in, and as@Macramepotholder said above, Frances doesn't, so it's unlikely she will ever be the main host. The obvious option is Adam, which would be fine with me but I am not sure he'd want to be tied down to doing that every week.

Re the sequence over a few months, Monty did start something off earlier this year - I can't remember what, potatoes? He was growing the same thing in several different ways and was going to report back on the differences. It all feels a bit choppy and disjointed though because of the different presenters, and weeks at Chelsea, Malvern etc.

On tonight at 8pm

I'm shocked they featured sex on Gardeners World. Is nothing sacred?

I missed the sex, must have been going to get wine!
I liked seeing Nick's garden, and Mr Skip Man.
Was amazed at Monty's allegedly 10 year old crab apple - mine is tiny in comparison.