But on the other hand if they only show people how to do the really basic stuff then the people with all the kit get bored. It's a fine line they have to tread
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
It's the old debate about information versus entertainment: GW is easy on the eye, glossy and attractive. You wouldn't watch Top Gear or Mary Berry for advice about changing a tyre or feeding a fussy family on a tight budget and you don't get a lot of practical advice from GW. I would dearly like to see some more practical programmes but I know the companies must all compete for viewing figures, now, or people will start moaning about the licence fee.
Fair enough @Nollie I'm 41 and OK Adam is not as old as I thought. Did enjoy his programme the other week but didn't seem too different from Monty's pace, which is what I was trying to articulate in my original comment. Maybe what I'm advocating is a format change to add variety, but can understand long term viewers like to have a permanent garden and see it change over the years. Also I agree with @B3 on not showing a bit more on the practical aspects of planting...rarely any of us will have that ideal soil that is waiting ready to receive our plants
It's the old debate about information versus entertainment: GW is easy on the eye, glossy and attractive. You wouldn't watch Top Gear or Mary Berry for advice about changing a tyre or feeding a fussy family on a tight budget and you don't get a lot of practical advice from GW. I would dearly like to see some more practical programmes but I know the companies must all compete for viewing figures, now, or people will start moaning about the licence fee.
I've only started watching it in earnest this series, and so far it has been useful, but it's a difficult line to tread. Trying to make a gardening programme with as wide an appeal as possible is tough. On the other hand, the whole point of the lavish licence fee is to offer the BBC a cushion of funding to not have to compete for viewing figures and it also has a remit to be educational alongside the entertainment aspect. But again how the BBC uses that money has been debated since its foundation.
Wonder if one solution is to use their web presence in more interesting ways, it contains lots of plant information but could be used in more cohesive ways to make a garden diary that we could all use.
Said it before on these pages but I often feel that watching Monty Don in his garden is just like watching a repeat from any of his programmes from previous seasons since 2011. He repeats the same things year in and year out. I guess that happens because his garden is only so big and unless he was going to rip out a section (his blessed bloody 'Jewel Garden', I wish!) then it's just going to be more of the same for future years. I am old enough to remember the days of Geoff Hamilton and I remember him doing a complete new garden from scratch on more than one occasion and using a lot of recycled materials to keep the cost down for the ordinary man in the street. Not for Monty Don. As for plants - Monty Don doesn't just one or two and then split it up to maximise the number he can get (like what Carol often does), he'll have trays and trays of new plants and every so often makes a passing gesture to some he's grown himself in one of his several greenhouses. Was it only a couple of weeks ago he and Rachael De Thame had trays and trays of grasses to plant up. That lot must have cost a fortune. And who is paying for that for somebody else garden once the film crew and cameras eventually have gone? I know people who have given up on GW simply because it is more an entertainment programme rather than something informational like the Beechgrove Garden which just seems to go from strength to strength with the various trials it does. Monty Don tell us he does things as an experiment and then that's the last you hear of it and never hear the output.
Personally, I'd like to see Monty Don retired off because he's just boring. I know he seems to be the housewives choice but in my opinion, he's nothing more than a very clever amateur and it was nice to have something refreshing with Adam Frost, even though he does sound like a bit of an East End barrow boy! I'm sure he speaks very highly of me too. :D:D
I'm a housewife. Also a graduate, professional, and a citizen of a complex modern western country. My choice is as good and as bad as anyone else but I take exception to outdated sexist sneering, Tim.
He grew those grasses himself, from seed, @Tim Burr. You are letting your prejudices get in the way of the facts. Monty is equally popular with house husbands, who also have degrees and a professional working life behind them
If you don’t enjoy it, don’t watch it, but don’t resort to sexist slurs to justify unsubstantiated opinions. Good grief, what century are we in? I suggest you check your calendar.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
He grew those grasses himself, from seed, @Tim Burr. You are letting your prejudices get in the way of the facts. Monty is equally popular with house husbands, who also have degrees and a professional working life behind them
If you don’t enjoy it, don’t watch it, but don’t resort to sexist slurs to justify unsubstantiated opinions. Good grief, what century are we in? I suggest you check your calendar.
I'm a house husband and don't find Monty boring at all in fact he's charming and if more men were like him the world would be a better place, hope that's not "sexist".
I'm a house husband and don't find Monty boring at all in fact he's charming and if more men were like him the world would be a better place, hope that's not "sexist".
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Wonder if one solution is to use their web presence in more interesting ways, it contains lots of plant information but could be used in more cohesive ways to make a garden diary that we could all use.
Personally, I'd like to see Monty Don retired off because he's just boring. I know he seems to be the housewives choice but in my opinion, he's nothing more than a very clever amateur and it was nice to have something refreshing with Adam Frost, even though he does sound like a bit of an East End barrow boy! I'm sure he speaks very highly of me too.
If you don’t enjoy it, don’t watch it, but don’t resort to sexist slurs to justify unsubstantiated opinions. Good grief, what century are we in? I suggest you check your calendar.