Gardeners World - What a shame

[Chumpfriend]

Am I being unreasonable to think that Gardener’s World has jumped the shark?

It’s honestly a travesty of what went before and in no way makes anyone with a modest garden feel capable of creating a garden or delivers any meaningful advice.

There are BBC tropes and messaging rammed down your throat and literally nothing that relates to any ordinary gardener at this time of year.

The Beechwood Garden is a shadow reference to the old GW but I’m so disappointed at such a lost opportunity to make people feel like they can have a go at growing stuff.

Geoff Hamilton may be turning in his grave.

I've been watching Gardeners World since the Geoff Hamilton years and still enjoy it.

I don't understand why anyone who loves the outdoors would object to the environmental/wildlife aspect of the show. Private gardens account for about a million hectares of Britain so what we do outside our back doors can really help wildlife that is generally in dire straits.

Every week Monty trots out how to plant veg, how to grow from seed, it's like a manual of the year for beginners and keen gardeners alike.
Then there are inspirational gardens - Lady Many Acres and her parterre or Daisy Haddock and her flower cutting allotment. You don't need their garden to be inspired by bits of it.

There are still lovely viewer's gardens. They're my favourite bit. Last week a young family had made a wildlife garden and had hedgehog visitors. If there's a better garden story than that at Chelsea this year I'd be most surprised.

GW can't please everyone, but I do think it tries.

The garden designs are all very similar and there’s not much variety. All the same plants.

I remember Sir Grayson Perry on the Chelsea flower show once talking about working class garden designs and how beautiful they are.
I thought to myself yes! You only see cottage garden style gardens or prairie garden styles etc. Lots of people who have normal, small gardens…where there was once a tradition of growing some cut flowers like Dianthus and growing a few veg. Taking care/pride in your lawn ….which Monty seems to have utter distain for. Also the tradition of Victorian/Edwardian style bedding plants arranged in formal rows and shapes. Fushcia in hanging baskets etc.

I want to see different types of gardens!

I absolutely don’t object to anything about the wildlife/environmental aspect - see my previous post about ‘Coir Geoff’ and hence why we are peat free and organic - before I even knew what that meant.
But if you watch the first part of tonight’s show, I’m genuinely not sure how that would engage or inspire anyone - let alone someone new to gardening.
It’s over produced and under researched.

Hmm, it’s hard to please people. My garden bears no relation whatsoever to Long Meadow, it’s tiny and tropical and warm and sunny, and I’m constantly pushing the boundaries of hardiness. But I’ve learned a huge amount from Monty, be it how to grow things from seed, how to care for outdoor pots, what plants might work where. He makes no secret of the fact he doesn’t like tropical gardens in the UK - that’s fine by me, we’re allowed to have different tastes. Equally I don’t grow vegetables, so I fast forward the veg growing bits. It’s a show with a broad appeal, some people want to see stately homes, some want to see wildlife gardens, etc. Personally I feel like I’ve learned a lot from it, starting from the fact that it’s okay to try something and fail - you will have learned something about your growing conditions. And I think Monty Don is excellent as a presenter, he is calm and informative and just funny enough. GW brings a smile on my face every week, even when they have people obsessed with Delphiniums or rockeries or what have you. You don’t have to watch every bit of it - that’s what the remote is for. But overall I think it’s a very good show trying to appeal to a wide demographic.

I've always loved the theme tune.
Years ago the opening credits were fab. Lots of people gardening and then the GW theme tune kicked in. Camera panned around the gardens again and people had just left their spade in the soil, their secateurs on a bench, tea left half drunk.
It made me feel like I was one of a nation of gardeners who came in with mud under their nails to watch get their half hour fix.

I think there's a poster here who's been on GW a couple of times (think she works at a garden) - apparently the directors/crew can vary a bit in their horticulture knowledge.

@Nonameeo re there’s two types of plants. Ones which want to live and ones which don’t.

I am also very much a 'you fight or you die' gardener. If it can't survive the winter and some sporadic watering now and then, it's not welcome in my garden!

Yes YABU.

99% of the population have a small garden like 10 m x 4 m max show us some gardens that side or how to convert a tiny garden on a modern housing estate into something ok and decent.
Then how you can garden in a flat! Please…..

Not someone with 10 acres and endless budget for rewilding, fencing, bit of sheep etc

I use to love Bob Flowerdrew. Wish Gardeners question time was filmed.

Just watched it. I thought it was really seasonal, lots of gardeners me included will have been moving plants and self seeders around this last week or so it reflected that. A bit of botany, bit of wildlife, lovely scenery and a dog in the garden. I'm old but I reckon Frances probably does inspire younger people new to gardening and knows what interests them better than I do.

I'm a gardener by trade so can't comment on production, but I found it entertaining. A feast for the eyes with a glass of wine after a long week in the garden.

Apologies if I misunderstood about the environmental issue. When you said about 'tropes' I thought you meant you'd rather not hear about it.

I loved watching Percy thrower pot his plants in his greenhouse 🪴

I’m a totally self taught gardener - largely by watching GW on a Friday (and reading the associated books) - and I’m not sure that if my kids watched it today, they’d find it as inspiring.

Not because they don’t want to garden, but because You Tube has more informative videos and Instagram or whatever has better inspiration.

GW feels removed from most people’s gardening. It should be part practical, part aspirational and just a little bit educational. At the moment the balance feels off.

I can't watch it anymore. Montys potting shed is almost the size of my garden.

I'd forgotten how lovely the lockdown episodes were.

I can’t watch it. Monty makes my teeth itch and it’s all so Instagram-worthy.

Geoff was the best. Yes Alan Titchmarsh was a gardener but I couldn’t watch him either without wanting stick him head first in a compost heap.

I suppose that's right. GW like any TV show has its set time to deliver all things to all people. You can search You Tube for something specific to your needs/style.

To me GW still is part practical, part aspirational and just a little bit educational. A magazine you can dip in and out of.

Well I still love it. I think I must watch a different show to those moaning on here.

I don't know why people are saying it doesn't show basic techniques when almost every week at this time of year Monty is showing how to sow seeds, prick them out etc. He advises on pruning and planting, has advised on pruning roses, hydrangeas, buddleias, yew, recently.

He shows how to grow various veg, in fact the show is stuffed with advice. He shows how to divide and move plants. There are always segments with people who have small gardens, balconies etc. The other week there was a man who grows everything in pots.

I think it's great to see huge gardens. They give ideas and inspiration for all gardens. Also they are beautiful to look at. Do none of you visit the gardens of stately homes and take ideas home? I certainly do.

I can see that it is difficult trying to appeal to novice gardeners as well as people who have been gardening for years.

As someone more on the novice side of that scale, after wstching GW I usually feel like I need to go out spend hundreds more pounds on different tools, trays, soil types, perlite,vermiculite, different plant foods etc. I don't have the money yo fonthag so I feel a bit disenchanted!

Would be lovely to see more beautiful but ordinary family gardens which have some pretty, small scale flower beds, a productive veg patch with good use of space as well as a bit of lawn in the middle for football and a few children's toys. That's the garden I'm aiming for anyway.

@Eggyleggy If you get inspired to try something you see on GW but think it will need a load of money and tools post the idea up on the Gardening forum here on MN. Lots of really helpful and experienced gardeners on there will tell you how to do it on the cheap using just the kit you've got or that you can buy/get cheaply from HomeBargains or Lidl.

You've hit on a good idea. I hope GW writers are reading your post.

I was inspired to post specifically by tonight’s show. Monty wasn’t on - although I do find him a bit preachy and dispassionate (as someone said, clearly has a team of gardeners) but tonight was especially disconnected from the real world I felt.

I know it’s escapism and that’s why I still watch, but I’m just a little sad for the program it used to be. I don’t feel it’s in any way the same.

I love gardening but I never watch it now. Im never going to make my own speciality compost or gave a green house full of exotic fruit. Id like a relevant programme.

Monty is presenting Have I Got News For You this week.

There’s a massive shift in industry atm to promote natives only.

So that’s where you are getting all this coming from. And there was a big argument about rewilding and apex predators and all sorts. It’s been pretty wild of late 🤪

I listen to GQT instead on R4, much better and realistic, plus on BBC sounds you can skip the irrelevant stuff when they walk around a "proper" garden should you wish.

This is my way. I kill many plants. I do love it. Healthiest form of gambling 😂