saw Monty hosepipe in hand, scattering water over newly planted cabbage plants and saying that newly planted brasisicas do not need much water
now as I have always understood that brassicas need a good watering when first planted and have always been successful ,well pretty successful, at growing green stuff and will continue to well water them in when planting and as I got that advice from an old gardener, who had worked all his life in private gardens, does that not mean the old boy on his allotment is worth listening to rather than the t.v experts.
p.s. not against Monty, he is at least prepared to get his hands dirty
I think the problem might be that the tv producers assume that we have the attention span of a distracted gnat. They are loath to go into any depth because they are afraid that we will get bored. They think that bucolic shots of Monty pushing a wheelbarrow will keep us watching. I can see why this might be necessary with a commercial channel as they need to hold on to the viewer until the next round of adverts but the BBC has the freedom to educate as well as entertain. That's what we pay the licence fee for.
In my opinion, there needs to be two types if programme or at least two discrete parts to GW -one with (one or two maximum) factual in-depth demonstrations and one with pretty, inspirational pictures of flowers, gardens, man pushing wheelbarrow and photogenic pets - both of which I'd be happy to watch.
If enough time was given to practical advice there would be time to look at more than one method - or at least acknowledge their existence.
Very true, though it won't happen. It's all about audience figures these days. It's like the cookery programmes. They are entertainment, they don't help you to make cakes.
Quite a lot of, presumably, younger people post on here, asking for help with their new-build gardens.
But just look at what they have to work with - a tiny, cramped patch that goes with a house so small that using the garden for entertainment space, and play space if they have kids, is top of their priorities Both partners probably working long hours and commuting just to pay for said house.
Not much, time, money, energy or head space left for the necessary work, learning new skills and just looking and enjoying that being a gardener entails.
My daughter is 25. She knows a fair bit about plants, loves to come with me to the occasional show or plant fair and has quite a flair for garden design. She has helped me a lot with making changes to our home garden. She has a border here with planting she has chosen. But she lives in the inner city, works her socks off, and the prospect of any garden of her own, before her father and I pop our clogs, is virtually nil.
Yes but have you missed Jim's features over several programmes he's called "how to grow a gardener" where he has followed up on various training initiatives and apprenticeships all over Scotland.
I agree with other comments about programmes but they are mostly entertainment you would need an Open University style series for factual help it could be linked to the RHS exam. I would be up for presenting the Science & the veg growing!
Perhaps they could put it on at stupid o'clock in the morning like the old OU programmes and we could record it or watch it on iPlayer. Then it wouldn't interfere with important programmes like cookery programmes or x factor.
I think people come to gardening in their own time, often as Buttercupdays says, when they finally get a place of their own to live, but some much younger then that and some not until children have grown and gone. My Mum had a garden when we were children and she grew runner beans, a few flowers, lots of grass. But after I'd left home her garden became much more intrinsically part of her life, she joined gardening clubs and spent hours and hours out there. When you're in the midst of full on life, gardening for many is a time-luxury. For others it's essential respite exactly because life is so busy, but I don't think it can be 'encouraged' at that point. It's an innate need in most people and given a little time and not much space, most people will chose to grow something.
Having said all of that, encouraging children to learn about gardening and growing their own food is really key. They also have the time to play in the mud and should be allowed to do so at every opportunity. That way when they do get a breathing space, they are able to reach for a trowel very quickly - the knowledge is there in the hind-brain and there's less fear that they don't know what to do than in my generation, when gardening in school was strictly for the 'Special Needs' kids. It's great that schools recognise now that everyone needs a little knowledge, some familiarity with the feel of the soil, even if they don't all have the resources to do as much as they may want.
It's inevitable that most attendees at a Q and A session like the one on Beechgrove will be retirees. Younger people will have been either at work or putting the kids to bed or just never got the memo it was going on. Half an hour down the allotment is one thing, a whole evening of just talking about gardening and not doing it is possibly not the highest priority. Especially when they can pop on here at any time and ask the same questions and get more answers at a time to suit themselves.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
Maybe GW should consider items in the program that follow a project (veg bed rotation for example) through 12 or 24 months
saw Monty hosepipe in hand, scattering water over newly planted cabbage plants and saying that newly planted brasisicas do not need much water
now as I have always understood that brassicas need a good watering when first planted and have always been successful ,well pretty successful, at growing green stuff and will continue to well water them in when planting and as I got that advice from an old gardener, who had worked all his life in private gardens, does that not mean the old boy on his allotment is worth listening to rather than the t.v experts.
p.s. not against Monty, he is at least prepared to get his hands dirty
I think the problem might be that the tv producers assume that we have the attention span of a distracted gnat. They are loath to go into any depth because they are afraid that we will get bored. They think that bucolic shots of Monty pushing a wheelbarrow will keep us watching. I can see why this might be necessary with a commercial channel as they need to hold on to the viewer until the next round of adverts but the BBC has the freedom to educate as well as entertain. That's what we pay the licence fee for.
In my opinion, there needs to be two types if programme or at least two discrete parts to GW -one with (one or two maximum) factual in-depth demonstrations and one with pretty, inspirational pictures of flowers, gardens, man pushing wheelbarrow and photogenic pets - both of which I'd be happy to watch.
If enough time was given to practical advice there would be time to look at more than one method - or at least acknowledge their existence.
Very true, though it won't happen. It's all about audience figures these days. It's like the cookery programmes. They are entertainment, they don't help you to make cakes.
It would be good if someone did for gardening what Delia did for cooking - starting with the gardening equivalent of how to boil an egg
I watched Beechgrove Garden from last weekend.
They had a " question and answer" section and the average age of the audience must have been almost 70.
We need to get younger folk into gardening too.
I think it's an uphill struggle Hosta!
Quite a lot of, presumably, younger people post on here, asking for help with their new-build gardens.
But just look at what they have to work with - a tiny, cramped patch that goes with a house so small that using the garden for entertainment space, and play space if they have kids, is top of their priorities Both partners probably working long hours and commuting just to pay for said house.
Not much, time, money, energy or head space left for the necessary work, learning new skills and just looking and enjoying that being a gardener entails.
My daughter is 25. She knows a fair bit about plants, loves to come with me to the occasional show or plant fair and has quite a flair for garden design. She has helped me a lot with making changes to our home garden. She has a border here with planting she has chosen. But she lives in the inner city, works her socks off, and the prospect of any garden of her own, before her father and I pop our clogs, is virtually nil.
Yes but have you missed Jim's features over several programmes he's called "how to grow a gardener" where he has followed up on various training initiatives and apprenticeships all over Scotland.
I agree with other comments about programmes but they are mostly entertainment you would need an Open University style series for factual help it could be linked to the RHS exam. I would be up for presenting the Science & the veg growing!
That would be just the thing Iain.
Perhaps they could put it on at stupid o'clock in the morning like the old OU programmes and we could record it or watch it on iPlayer. Then it wouldn't interfere with important programmes like cookery programmes or x factor.
Or sport
I think people come to gardening in their own time, often as Buttercupdays says, when they finally get a place of their own to live, but some much younger then that and some not until children have grown and gone. My Mum had a garden when we were children and she grew runner beans, a few flowers, lots of grass. But after I'd left home her garden became much more intrinsically part of her life, she joined gardening clubs and spent hours and hours out there. When you're in the midst of full on life, gardening for many is a time-luxury. For others it's essential respite exactly because life is so busy, but I don't think it can be 'encouraged' at that point. It's an innate need in most people and given a little time and not much space, most people will chose to grow something.
Having said all of that, encouraging children to learn about gardening and growing their own food is really key. They also have the time to play in the mud and should be allowed to do so at every opportunity. That way when they do get a breathing space, they are able to reach for a trowel very quickly - the knowledge is there in the hind-brain and there's less fear that they don't know what to do than in my generation, when gardening in school was strictly for the 'Special Needs' kids. It's great that schools recognise now that everyone needs a little knowledge, some familiarity with the feel of the soil, even if they don't all have the resources to do as much as they may want.
It's inevitable that most attendees at a Q and A session like the one on Beechgrove will be retirees. Younger people will have been either at work or putting the kids to bed or just never got the memo it was going on. Half an hour down the allotment is one thing, a whole evening of just talking about gardening and not doing it is possibly not the highest priority. Especially when they can pop on here at any time and ask the same questions and get more answers at a time to suit themselves.