Friday night gardening programmes- or lack thereof.

20 years ago

I was hoping to spend a Friday evening slobbing out on the sofa with a glass of red wine and Monty Don - or even the dreaded Titchmarsh. But there seems to be a total dearth of horticulturally-based light entertainment. I know that there's no sign of Spring as yet, but I was rather assuming that BBC2 would provide the first hint of it. I am a bit miffed that the traditional 8-9pm slot is otherwise occupied, even though I enjoy a good moan about the content when they're on! Anyone know what the BBC's game plan is?

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Comments (16)

fluffygrue
20 years ago
Yup, completely agree.. I think GW is back in 2 weeks with the chilli trial etc. (Though I got impatient and sowed some a week ago.. will save some seeds to sow when I'm meant to!)

I love to heckle GW too. It bemuses the other half somewhat.. But yes.. it's meaning I'm having to go out on Friday nights, rather than stay in and watch TV..! :(

Melanie
simon_h
20 years ago
I'm glad there're not on, they're all awful. If I hear that upper class twit Monty Don, the bankrupt jeweller, going on about his blasted hedges once more I'll smother him under a pile of clippings. Except, that is, Christine's Garden which I enjoyed a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have, really, because it was whimsical tosh, but it was nicely made and nostalgic of the summer just past (a very good one, by anyone's standards).
I hope Rachel de Lame never reappears on our screens. I think they might quietly phase her out. That's my notion, anyway. Oh, and that fruit special by Sarah Raven was quite awful. She's so po-faced. Gardening should be fun! Chris Beardshaw's helicoptering gardening was exactly that, but not everyone enjoyed it, or appreciated what a horticultural god he is. But then it wasn't the right vehicle for him (geddit?!) La Don has, I think, muscled him off the scene for good, which would be a real shame.
But GW, though. I won't be watching it when it returns. I'd rather be gardening, or down the pub.
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garden_nerd
Original Author
20 years ago
Whoa, don't hold anything back, Simon H!

I agree with most of this - if I want to know anything about gardening nowadays, I ask my computer. I just happened to be at home last night and wanted something soothing, relaxing and soporific that would make me think about Spring. GW soon has my eyelids closing - just what the doctor ordered! Except it wasn't on!

I also think Chris Beardshaw is a god - possibly not for exactly the same reasons as you, though there may be a bit of overlap.
In terms of watchability and entertainment I'm afraid the Jolly Titchmarsh is hard to beat.
Carol Klein is good value - brings a welcome punky touch to the image of middle-aged lady gardeners.
Christine's Garden - what a lovely lady, salt of the earth, but anodyne in the extreme!
pjc04
20 years ago
I agree with most of the above, apart from Christine's Garden, which I had to give up on. Friday nights aren't right without some sort of gardening programme to either enjoy or get annoyed at. You would think they could at least show a few repeats of something like Hidden Gardens. I hope that when it does reappear, Gardeners World improves on last year's performance. Bring back Chris!
ornata
20 years ago
Gardener's World has become like Blue Peter, only even more patronising. One of the big problems with GW nowadays is that it concentrates on more-or-less instant gardening; a lot of the features seem to be about buying plants, usually mature ones at that, and bunging them in the ground.

Also, Berryfields itself is not at all inspiring, and not even a garden - just a lot of disjointed "mini gardens", e.g. that tiny "jungle garden" (built, in the words of Monty, because "This is what YOU (the viewer) voted for!"), where a load of expensive tree ferns etc have been shoved in the ground into a tiny space in front of what looks like a shed. And that conifer area that Monty was creating: as it happens, I like conifers, but he was just buying lots of mature (and therefore expensive) plants and dotting them around with a few pieces of driftwood. That's not gardening! Alan and his predecessors showed people how to make things, how to propagate different types of plant, how to improve their soil. Also, in previous years GW would feature a garden tour, and/or a particular plant group each week.

Carol Klein could actually be a good presenter; she has hosted gardening programmes in the past. She comes into her own when giving the opportunity to interview other gardeners/plantspeople. She is wasted in this programme - consigned to keep planting up bought-in specimens and join in the painfully insincere and unfunny banter between the presenters.

As for Christine's Garden - it was so DULL! Every week she could be relied upon to talk about her neighbour being "stone deaf, you know!" She would talk about her vast horticultural experience and then we'd be shown her own garden, which looked as dull as its owner. She clearly loved the sound of her own voice; it was funny to watch her long-suffering neighbours: invited round to her place for dinner (a Chinese take-away!) so she could talk them through her slides from her recent trip to China... they looked mummified with boredom.

Oh, for a decent gardening programme. It was nice to see Alan back on our screens for his recent show, but something not aimed exclusively at novices would be most welcome.
RobbyEm
20 years ago
If it's non-stop Gardening programmes you want (from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. the following morning) just get tuned in to UKTV Style Gardens. Repeats of Gardeners' World, Year at Kew, Flying Gardener, Hidden Gardens, Heaven's Garden, Stefan B's Road Show, Weed It & Reap, you name it you've got it!
ornata
20 years ago
Now, that would just be dangerous. I find it hard enough to get off the sofa and do some actual gardening as it is.
fluffygrue
20 years ago
Mm, I like GW. Despite its cheesiness, it's fun to watch and heckle. I'd miss it if it went away. And when's Rachel de Thame coming back? She's a good presenter. :(

Christine's Garden was cringeworthily twee.. I couldn't watch more than 2 episodes.

Melanie
FISBEY
20 years ago
For crying out loud, what is wrong with you people? Forever slagging off nigh on all the presenters. They all have their relative merits IMHO.
I would suggest that they all have much more gardening knowledge than most on here - weather you like them or not is pure opinion.

I happen to like Monty, Rachel and Alan.
garden_nerd
Original Author
20 years ago
Fisbey, the slagging off is part of the fun!

RobbyEm, is there really a prog called Weed it and Reap, or did you just make that up?

Shame I haven't got UKTV.
steveb_gardener
20 years ago
i for one, am pleased they have finished, its all just a load of upper class drivel, what with Monty and his organic this and that, Rachel the lame, she couldn't design a windowbox, and that stuffy fruit woman, carol klein is the best there.
alison_froglady
20 years ago
Well it is back on on friday. I still watch it but don't particularly like or dislike any of the presenters. I loved Alan Titchmarsh. He has just a friendly way about him. Much like Chris Beardshaw. It is about time he was back on our screens.He is enthusiastic and knowledgable. I thought he might have taken over GW when Alan left. It was not a pleasant surprize to get Monty Don,in fact it was a shock but I have got used to him over time. As to Christines Garden, I was disappointed in her own garden. I thought it would be much better looked after and planned.
Alison
shrubs_n_bulbs
20 years ago
Alison, many good gardeners have poor design skills. That's my excuse for my garden and I'm sticking to it ;)
RobbyEm
20 years ago
GN.

Yes I'm afraid there really is a Prog called Weed It and Reap.

Starts with this bloke in a suit, who never gets his hands dirty, driving up in a posh auto with the registration letters WEED IT on the front and AND REAP on the back, which must be highly illegal for a start. I kid you not! Then he gets the gang to attempt to do in one day what the Ground Force Team does in two (with vaying degrees of success). All this to make the property more sale-able.

The suit comes back at the end of the show and always announces that the wonderful work carried in the garden has added Â£3000 (or something close) to the value of the house. So a property which was on the market attracting no interest whatever @ say Â£210,000 suddenly becomes instantly highly attractive to any prospective buyer when the price increases to Â£213,000 because of one day spent tidying up the back garden.

Well that's what it's about.
garden_nerd
Original Author
20 years ago
Well, surely this is a good thing. After all, everyone on here has great garden tidying-up skills, surely??? Should be a doddle to add 3 grand to the value of or houses, then.

BTW, is that house down the road with lots of white gravel in the front the one that got done in a garden makeover programme?
RobbyEm
20 years ago
I've only just managed to sell a house in Loughborough which has been on the market for nearly 17 months. I have been keeping the garden reasonably tidy during that time but still had to reduce the price by a whopping Â£40K compared with the original asking price. So I'm a trifle dubious about some of the claims made in the aforesaid prog.

Don't know anything about any Makeovers in the area. By down the road, do you mean Queens Road?

Friday night gardening programmes- or lack thereof.

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