I'm not familiar with the gardening show that you mention as I watch very little TV. No, cable, no direct tv etc. What little I do watch, i just tune out all the commercials that are aired.
The bits and pieces of a few garden shows I have had a glimpse of on PBS, have not impressed me at all. Could be that my gardens are far from the formal, and are "my gardens" planted as I wish in a haphazard fashion that get arranged and rearranged on whim.

What did hit home to me was this "thee is no longer a reliable standard of quality".
It reminded me so much of my grandparents words that "reliable quality is not a name brand but rather something that you like and feels comfortable and good to you. Who cares what name is stamped on it, what it looks like, or how old it is. If you like it, if it works for you, then it is reliable and quality."

Those from the words of a married couple who spent there entire summer lives farming a local summer veggie and flower farm, that my siblings and I spent our summers on.

I have no recollection of any name brand tool, hand used or machine, that was used, only the ones that they liked and most work was done by hand not with big heavy farming equipment.

One of my grandmother's favorite gardening tools was a sterling silver serving spoon that was her great grandmothers. No i don't suggest we use sterling sliver flatware to garden with, but, that spoon was the well used one that her grandmother had used back in Poland and traveled to the "new world" with her and passed down from generation to generation for the gardens. It was never supposed to be cleaned, but rather left tarnished to show that it was loved and well used.
My mother passed it on to me before she passed away 7 years ago and it has it's beloved spot being used in the gardens with me.

My grandfather's favorite tool was a rake we found abandoned one morning when we went for an early morning walk on the beach that was all but across the street from the farm.

No name on it, no manufacturer, but perfect condition except for 1 tine missing. He brought it home because he would never leave litter on the beach. He claimed it to be the best rake he ever had, and when the handle finally broke, he confiscated an old broom of grandma's and replaced the broken rake handle with it.
That rake is with me today and still well used. Yes it's had it's handle replaced and it still is missing that one tine. It's rusted and old. I was 6 years old when we found it, so that makes it 51 years in my family. Yes, it is still the best rake I've ever used. Maybe it's the sentiment attached to it and maybe it really is the best. Either way, no name, no reliable quality of standard. just a rake that still is working after 51 years.

My garden tools have no name either, at least most of them. I'm still using the cheapo ones that grandma sent me for a housewarming gift 28 years ago when we bought our home. She purchased them in the local Walgreen's in Miami Florida and paid $.30 for the 3 pieces. I laughed when I got them in the mail, and thought, "yup, that's my grandma, she found some she liked and lasted forever, so she went and bought me some from the same place." And sure enough, no name, but I use all 3 pieces all the time and they work as well as the day I started using them 28 years ago. They show their wear and tear but they work fine.
The rest of the garden tools I am still using that where bought when we first moved into our house, 28 years ago, where purchased at yard sales. Again, no name, just tools and they are still working fine. The only thing that has been replaced on them is the saw blades on the hand saws.
Same thing with the lawn mower. 18 years out of a bradlees special, self propelled, an acre of land to mow is just to much for the hand push kind, and the replacement, 10 years ago, was the local kmart special and doing just fine.

Even my garden gloves have no name on them, came from a local dollar store ad they are perfect.

The only lawn tool I own with a name on it, is my beloved Martha Stuart hand clippers. Not purchased for the name but because the work perfectly for me. Fit my small hand, child size hand without a problem and at the same time work perfectly for hubby who wears and extra large men's glove. that's a hard feat to accomplish and we found them with these several years ago at the local kmart.

My garden decorations are mostly passed down from my mother and grandmother's gardens or purchased at yard sales. They have no name but work perfectly for me.

My arbor was a markdown special at the old Brooks pharmacy. originally $10 marked down to $1.99 and i bought 3 of them, my bamboo trellis the neighbor was throwing out because it was broken. I took it and tied it together with twine and it works fine. The birdbaths where $1.99 at kmart and the broken one that is a planter now was taped with ducktape but you wouldn't know it to look at it.
The solar lights where a yard sale special brand new, never opened at cost $5. Been working now for 10 years.

The various containers and pots are either cheap purchases at Walmart or yard sales. just a tag on them, no name.

As for plant purchases at the local nurseries. Since I started WS 5 years ago, my purchases are very few and in between. A yearly rosemary, a couple of mexican heather, and if I can get it, a really way marked down tropical hibiscus plant. My motto has been over all, If i don't get it WS the seeds, or at a plant swap I have, then I can do very nicely without it.
My limited time at nurseries is spent looking at what they have, writing down names of something I like to see if I can get the seeds of it or cuttings or plants at a swap and that's it.

I guess what I'm saying with my long winded post is that maybe, just maybe we are spending far too much time thinking about and wanting the supposed quality name brand product and that is not always or usually the best product to use, the best plant or the best garden's to have.

Names stamped on a product are not necessarily the quality product and the no name will work equally as well and may even save quite a bit of money.

And the perfect garden designs really don't exist other than in display. Gardens are always a work in progress, as my grandparents used to say, and striving for perfection only discourages one from gardening and enjoying the beauty in what they have.

Fran

I really haven't been buying much for the garden this year aside from mulch and such. Times are too tight - - discretionary income for gardening is a thing of the past. I didn't buy any annuals for my pots, and in fact have neglected to fill them with perennials so far, as planned.

I also haven't purchased any new tools, but I did get a wheelbarrow from craigslist for $15. It is the old green metal kind, quite shallow but extremely sturdy and easy to navigate. It's just like the one my dad had and we used growing up. Matter of fact, while he was here yesterday he asked, in a confused way, if it was his. The neighbors all borrow it routinely because it is much better quality than their orange plastic HD wheelbarrows, despite the chipped and peeling white paint on the handle bars.

I do believe it is getting harder to buy good quality new products. I wonder if S & H went down hill when they started their line for Target.

The only plants I bought this year were from the conservation district and my annual Mother's Day gift to myself at Broken Arrow. I think the total was $300, and they were mostly trees and shrubs, so that's not too bad (as compared to years past). But I'm done buying for the season, and most of the plants I added to my garden this year were from the CT swap (thanks guys!).

I don't watch t.v. much, but I have been reading Tracy DiSabato-Aust's and Gordon Hayward's books. Both helped immensely in designing my new and ever evolving front gardens.

I work at two libraries so in my down time at work I enjoy perusing the gardening magazines. I always enjoy "Fine Gardening", "People, Places, and Plants", and "Organic Gardening". Occasionally "Better Homes and Garden", or some other publication will have a good article or photo spread. But I am never disappointed in the three mentioned above. In fact, if I ever have to actually BUY magazines, I'd probably subscribe to those three.

As to TV, no cable, but I do occasionally catch "The Victory Garden" on PBS. When we did have cable I enjoyed watching the BBCAmerica series "Ground Force", where they redo someone's garden in a few days as a surprise.

Some of the best gardens I've seen on television though, were part of a BBC series run on PBS called "Rosemary and Thyme"...it was a mystery series where two middle-aged women gardeners solved mysteries while tending some gorgeous gardens throughout England and Europe. Fun viewing. It's available now on Netflix, by the way.

I discovered "Rosemary and Thyme" just a few weeks ago and, speaking of libraries, my local library has them for free borrowing. Fun summer viewing. There were three seasons for this show.

Also no cable, satellite TV so can only comment on the PBS related gardening shows. I used to like the Victory Garden but now they have an annoying host that used to be a model who seems to know nothing about gardening. I have also watched the P. Allen Smith gardening show on PBS but it is disappointing too. I think it has been a trend that most gardening shows are now about the house or cooking with herbs or crafts or something like with only 10 mins or less devoted to gardening. I guess the way things are going.

I too am disappointed in the quality of goods in general. Not just gardening related items. I love Fran's post about the quality of old gardening tools. I too have an old rake that I use from my grandparents similar to the one she describes. We did try to buy 3 other versions and all shortly had all their tines fall out. It is hard to buy things that aren't so cheap in quality. I really do think since most things are made in China now the cheaper the price the better for the retailer versus building better products for a little more money. I don't however like to replace things each year and would gladly buy better quality if I could find it. I too have stopped shopping in the big box store we all know that has taken over the retail industry. After seeing a PBS documentary on how they force manufacturers to cheapen down the products to continue to sell their goods in this particular store. It was a real eye opener. Two examples from the documentary: Rubbermaid was forced to use less plastic in their trash barrels, tupperware etc. or else. So the products wear out faster and aren't up to their standards. Another example is how they make electronics manufacturers use cheaper grades of wiring, electronic chips, plastics etc. to make their TVs, VCRs/DVD players less expensive. The theory is that the price is lower so what if they only last 5 years? But is it less expensive if you have to buy it again so quickly?

As a kid, my Dad always used Sears Craftsman tools (shop and garden), so I followed in his foot-steps, especially
since Sears would replace any Craftsman tool that broke. . .but then, about a decade ago, I realized that a
lot of my garden tools were being replaced EVERY season -
there was one period where I went through six Sears garden
forks in a row over less than four years! - so I started
looking elsewhere. My salvation has been scouring yard
sales religiously (and occasionaly finding a good, solid
old tool) - and an outfit in Canada (with a U.S. outlet)
that stands behind every tool, a guarantee I have never had
to use in my ten years of doing business with them. (See
link below)

Garden shows? Sorry, not a fan of any I've seen. . .those
'instant garden transformations' simply horrify me with
their banality, just another decorator treatment of an
outdoor room. Sadly, I have the feeling that we who really
garden, i.e get down on our hands and knees and stick our hands in the soil for the sheer thrill of it, are a dying
breed. . .it was quite an eye-opener when I joined a local
volunteer group that is responsible for a number of major
plantings around my town and discovered that the other
'volunteer gardeners' were either folks who just liked to
'look' at pretty flowers, or those who lined their front
walks with rows of salvia and marigolds each year and called it gardening (well, in fairness, I suppose it is - but you understand my point) - and then bought a pre-planted mixed pot from HD and stuck it on their porch. . .
I'm trying really hard not to get cynical about the general decline of gardening as an earnest endeavor. . .

One last word about the 'commercialization' of gardening and all those nurseries and growers that are hell-bent on
producing dozens of NEW and THRILLING varieties each year
('Let's hear it for plant swaps, divisions and seeds!') -
give me an interesting garden of solid old standards, well
presented, any time, over a tired collection of this year's
trendiest plants combined with last year's tired novelties!

End of rant. Pax.

Carl

I honestly do not get why the quality of garden related TV shows are in such a decline. Are these programs really so expensive to put out? The increasing tendency towards product placement on TV as well as in newspapers and magazines is also very depressing. Carol Stocker from the Globe appears to have been put out to pasture so we now can view slide shows of tacky stuff we could buy for our gardens on Thursdays. I think it is really sad to see newspapers (who are under incredible pressure from the internet) take this as a signal to systematically eliminate exactly the things that make them unique. All around I think decisions are being made by people who's perspective is business school and most definitely not actual business.

Ooh, yes, LV tools has a great reputation.

I've stopped buying things from Smith and Hawken, I don't like the way they peddle trendiness or the fact that they put their logo on everything - a status symbol. (Guy Wolf pots are fine, but I really don't NEED them.)

I try to buy everything at the local hardware store, not just because my DH has an account and pays that bill without batting an eye, but also because I like having a hardware store on our town's main street. They sell lots of junk there, but there are usually good quality tools too.

Burpee seems to be doing a fine job with Heronswood stock, so I'm done complaining about that transaction. Hey, it was for sale, and they bought it - no crime in that. It's still the only place where you can purchase Beesia, as far as I know (I killed 3, and don't plan to try more!).

There are a few areas where wall street, and the pressure to increase profit every year that comes along with being a publicly-traded corporation, have no business - or should have none. One area is media and 2 others are insurance and health care.

All in all, the downturn in the quality of traditional media outlets is less discouraging than the stock market-related problems in other 2 areas. Maybe that's looking too much for the bright side?

The good news is that there are still lots of great garden books being published, although they are among an awful lot of chaff.