On 2009-06-06 17:25:44 +0100, "Bob Hobden" said:


"michael" wrote...
I cant avoid watching Gardeners World,since it seems part of our
Friday evening ritual.However,last night the programme was
awful.Making raised beds using a curved design,and requiring
individual timber pieces was just ridiculous.Also the silly 30 min
tasks got sillier this week with trying to make roof gardens over
sheds and guinea pig hutchs.In the spice bed plants were thrown in at
random,with few described.The only interesting thing was the sowing of
green seed for the propagating of primroses,but since primroses seed
themselves naturally,even this was hardly worth it.
The content now is awful,and I am afraid to say that I think the
series should be pulled.

It's all about viewing figures. If they drop to a certain low level then it
will be pulled just like "Richard and Judy".

In the week of the 11th May GW was 6th in the ratings for BBC2 with 2.4
million viewers, so no chance of it being pulled.
http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyT...ammesOverview?

Looking at the most popular programmes gives one some idea of the average
viewer, it says it all!

I think part of the problem was the blizzard (it seemed, at times) of
'instant makeover' programmes for both house and garden. The newcomer
to gardening so often thinks that it's both desirable and easy to
simply plant something 15' tall and sit back and admire it. Very
occasionally, we've had a couple of younger people wanting a 'mature
tree' and have had to explain that if they really mean that, it would
cost them hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds, they'd risk it dying
anyway and that few nurseries actually sell genuinely mature trees.
Usually, one does have to wait for them to grow.
Maybe the other problem is that people move around more often now -
they don't buy a house and live in it for 30 years, so they want a
garden with plants that they can enjoy at full size now and too many
think that can be achieved by a quick trip to the local gc or nursery,
so they're frustrated or disappointed? Do new, young gardeners grasp
the concept of planting trees for future generations? And if not, is
it either because they do want the benefit of their planting
themselves, or because they don't expect to remain in their house
forever and pass it on to their descendants?

--
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Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Shrubs & perennials. Tender & exotics.
South Devon