My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at? Not
the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike

--
.................................................. ..............

"'Mike'" wrote
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at?
Not the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.


We have discussed this a couple of times already, I certainly have no idea
who it's aimed at, as you say, certainly not the experienced gardener, and I
worry what"new" gardeners might learn from it.
Didn't bother to watch or even record this evenings show, went out for a
curry.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

'Mike' wrote:
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at? Not
the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike


I have to completely agree with you: especially about the gnome
sanctuary! I recorded tonight's program, but I don't think I will bother
anymore....

Philippe

On Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:59:25 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:


"'Mike'" wrote
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at?
Not the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.


We have discussed this a couple of times already, I certainly have no idea
who it's aimed at, as you say, certainly not the experienced gardener, and I
worry what"new" gardeners might learn from it.
Didn't bother to watch or even record this evenings show, went out for a
curry.

It's very disappointing what the programme has descended to. Poor old
Geoff Hamilton must be turning in his compost heap.

In message , 'Mike'
writes
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at? Not
the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike

I lost interest as I watched the demonstration of drilling, plugging and
screwing 'ooks into a wall.
Nice people, not exactly sure what they are supposed to be doing?

I switched to an old repeat of Top Gear in desperation.
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

"Fuschia" wrote ...
, "Bob Hobden" wrote:
"'Mike'" wrote
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back
to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did
other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at?
Not the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.


We have discussed this a couple of times already, I certainly have no idea
who it's aimed at, as you say, certainly not the experienced gardener, and
I
worry what"new" gardeners might learn from it.
Didn't bother to watch or even record this evenings show, went out for a
curry.

It's very disappointing what the programme has descended to. Poor old
Geoff Hamilton must be turning in his compost heap.

Thinking about it perhaps they could repeat Percy Thrower's programs, they
repeat all the crap so why not a gardening program that teaches you
properly.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
just W. of London

Bob Hobden writes


Thinking about it perhaps they could repeat Percy Thrower's programs, they
repeat all the crap so why not a gardening program that teaches you
properly.

Isn't he from the era where they didn't realise the value of what they
had and also storage costs were relatively high compared with today, so
they re-recorded over old tapes?
--
Kay

Hi Mike
I have watched Toby over the years and thought he was a good choice but maybe the programme is to big for him and that silly banter he has with Alice is so anoying,watching last night when he was planting the climers nothing about how deep or level with the pot
At the end he looked like a gnome watering the garden.
Its the directors fault its turned into a magazine show.
Luckily Beechgrove from Scotland is back next week and I can pick it up on SKY its aproper down to earth Gardenig show
The only saving grace is Carol.
They need a veg expert the spud planting last week oohhh.
And Joe well what can you say.
Maybe that it looks like it wiil be staying there, as it looks that way maybe it will improve ??
Iam glad I was not the only one thinking that.
Spruce

On 18 Apr, 16:26, Martin wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:45:00 +0100, Gordon H





wrote:
In message , 'Mike'
writes
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at? Not
the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike

I lost interest as I watched the demonstration of drilling, plugging and
screwing 'ooks into a wall.
Nice people, not exactly sure what they are supposed to be doing?

I switched to an old repeat of Top Gear in desperation.

If you think GW is bad, you should see the RTBF Belgian equivalent. The man used
a spade as a trowel and then used the trowel when he should have used the spade.
He was very good at sawing up bits of wood to perfect size without making any
measurements and then using a power to tool to screw the bits of wood together.
--

Martin- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can remember when they used to set up a "Garden" on the roof of
Broadcasting House to do the Prog.
The memorable prog was when Percy Thrower was showing how to use a
hollow tine fork on your lawn, he pushed it in then as he tried to
pull it out the turf stuck to it so he had to put his foot at the
side of the fork to hold the turf down as he pulled the fork out.
The Greenhouse which was something like 10 x 6ft was just a frame so
they could film what was happening inside.
Ah! Those were the days.

Martin wrote:
On Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:56:09 -0700 (PDT), Dave Hill
wrote:

On 18 Apr, 16:26, Martin wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:45:00 +0100, Gordon H





wrote:
In message , 'Mike'
writes
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's
World back to Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way
through and did other things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove
her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the
programme at? Not the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike

I lost interest as I watched the demonstration of drilling,
plugging and screwing 'ooks into a wall.
Nice people, not exactly sure what they are supposed to be doing?

I switched to an old repeat of Top Gear in desperation.

If you think GW is bad, you should see the RTBF Belgian equivalent.
The man used a spade as a trowel and then used the trowel when he
should have used the spade. He was very good at sawing up bits of
wood to perfect size without making any measurements and then using
a power to tool to screw the bits of wood together.

I can remember when they used to set up a "Garden" on the roof of
Broadcasting House to do the Prog.
The memorable prog was when Percy Thrower was showing how to use a
hollow tine fork on your lawn, he pushed it in then as he tried to
pull it out the turf stuck to it so he had to put his foot at the
side of the fork to hold the turf down as he pulled the fork out.
The Greenhouse which was something like 10 x 6ft was just a frame so
they could film what was happening inside.
Ah! Those were the days.

This guy started off by planting a row of small leylandii plants less
than six inches apart, a foot from the end wall and across the full
width of the garden.

I can't remember the name of it but there used to be a gardening programme
on tv based in Aberdeen. I am sure somene here will remember. I visited
the site and had a lovely day. The presenters were available for chatting
and the site was good.

They were very good on the programme too.

Ophelia wrote:
I can't remember the name of it but there used to be a gardening
programme on tv based in Aberdeen. I am sure somene here will
remember. I visited the site and had a lovely day. The presenters
were available for chatting and the site was good.

They were very good on the programme too.

I remember it was Beechgrove Garden

'Mike' ] said:
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at? Not
the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike



I am a complete novice and found some of the show very useful. I've only
been watching the Gardener's World for 3 years (as long as I have had a
garden) and, for what it is worth, have found these last couple of
programmes of greater relevance to my needs that most of the previous
ones - which have been more about gardens than gardening in my view.

Later in this thread someone complains about the eyes and wire for
climbers article, well, that was a complete revelation for me. Yes,
really. But then that's because I haven't much of a clue apart from what
I read in books, on the internet and see on the TV and can buy in shops,
as I do not have anyone to learn from. I've been using wooden trellis up
until now but will be having a go with wires!

I didn't however like the gnome article.

On Sun, 19 Apr 2009 00:56:09 -0700 (PDT), Dave Hill
wrote:

On 18 Apr, 16:26, Martin wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 13:45:00 +0100, Gordon H

wrote:
In message , 'Mike'
writes
My wife is an avid Gardener and has been a fan of Gardener's World back to
Percy Thrower. This week she lost interest half way through and did other
things. The Gnome's Sanctuary finally drove her out!!!

What are other people's views as to who BBC are aiming the programme at? Not
the 'Grown up' gardener for sure.

Mike

I lost interest as I watched the demonstration of drilling, plugging and
screwing 'ooks into a wall.
Nice people, not exactly sure what they are supposed to be doing?

I switched to an old repeat of Top Gear in desperation.

If you think GW is bad, you should see the RTBF Belgian equivalent. The man used
a spade as a trowel and then used the trowel when he should have used the spade.
He was very good at sawing up bits of wood to perfect size without making any
measurements and then using a power to tool to screw the bits of wood together.
--

Martin- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I can remember when they used to set up a "Garden" on the roof of
Broadcasting House to do the Prog.
The memorable prog was when Percy Thrower was showing how to use a
hollow tine fork on your lawn, he pushed it in then as he tried to
pull it out the turf stuck to it so he had to put his foot at the
side of the fork to hold the turf down as he pulled the fork out.
The Greenhouse which was something like 10 x 6ft was just a frame so
they could film what was happening inside.
Ah! Those were the days.

Talking of Percy Thrower's foot, I remember a programme from The
Magnolias, when Percy planted a shrub and was firming it in with his
foot. His phrase "Don't do a war dance round it" (i.e. be firm but
not too firm!) has stuck in our family and is used when anything is
being planted.
I've watched other presenters plant similar things and wished they
would use his phrase!

Pam in Bristol

I see that Stefan Buczacki has waded in to publicly denounce the
current incarnation of Gardener's World. First printed in the
Manchester Evening News, word has spread and it is being widely noted
with a fair degree of agreement. The article is here for those who
haven't read it:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co....ardeners_world

I have a feeling that there's a touch of the whinge about his attack,
maybe because he's been overlooked by the 'mejia' in recent years.
Nevertheless, he makes some valid points amid mentions of when he was
part of the team and I wholeheartedly agree with his pragmatic swipe
regarding winter pansies. I had my doubts when I heard that Buckland
had been selected to front the programme, because having seen him
present 'lesser' gardening programmes I've always felt there to be a
hint of superficiality about the lad. No doubt this has found favour
with the idiots producing GW and the result is almost an insult to the
intelligence of those looking in. I rarely watch it because there is
absolutely nothing of interest to me, but I did manage (with some
considerable difficulty) to view for nearly 5 minutes last week and
was shocked by its utterly banal nature.

Getting back to something far saner, it's good to see dear old Percy
being favourably mentioned. I was lucky enough to get to know him a
few years before he died and occasionally took part in a few of his
charity 'Gardener's Question Times' along with Arthur Billet, Bob
Price and a few others. Fabulous people, full of genuine friendship,
generous hearted and sincere to a fault ... oh and I can't forget Riet
(Arthur's wife) who almost mothered me to death whenever she got a
chance. It was a time when real gardeners showed interested gardeners
how they did it. No prissiness, pomposity or airs and graces, just
straightforward, dirt under the nails stuff and a million miles away
from the rubbish fobbed off onto the viewers nowadays.

Whether we'll ever see truly decent, mainstream gardening programmes
again remains to be seen, but I'm full of doubt whilst 'mejia' types
continue to mould something about which they know absolutely nothing
into something that they think is gardening and which we do not
recognise.