On Sat, 13 Apr 2013 19:40:03 +0100, Sacha wrote:



I think we must be also be aware that MD doesn't direct the programmes,
the camera angles, or the scripting. I can find some things to
complain about but to be absolutely fair, the structure of a programme
is NOT his responsibility. On Twitter, just today, I have asked him to
see if he can persuade directors to put the names of plants onscreen
because I found it very frustrating not to see that last night. His
replies are courteous and indicate this is not within his power! Like
all of all those who front programmes that exasperate us at times, he
isn't actually the backstop but equally, like all those others, the
face on the screen gets a hard time of it.

This does add weight to the suggestions that Toby Buckland et al were
the scapegoats for the failed revamp of GW prior to Monty's return.

Conversely I suspect that MD has a bit more influence over things than
Sacha's post suggests. Take, for example, his clear statement in the
last series that squishing lily beetle was the ONLY way to dispose of
them. His adherence to the tenets of the Soil Association means that
an opportunity to educate about the proper use of pesticides has been
lost. (FWIW Provado Ultimate Bug Killer, which is a "chemical"
response to lily beetle, uses a "new generation" neonicotinoid which
is not on the EU's hit list and has not been withdrawn from sale by
the main chains, but is nevertheless lethal to bees if not used
properly.) To say that squishing is the only way was, de facto, a lie.
He sustained that approach in print and it must therefore follow that
his arguments - which were not truthful - prevailed over an editorial
team responsible for a supposedly factual TV programme.

Hence I no longer watch GW and will not until someone announces that
MD is no longer presenting it and we no longer have to endure little
more than a tweak round the edges at his place and only then in the
way that he gardens.

Geoff Hamilton introduced me to coir instead of peat years ago by
explaining. MD simply put me off organic gardening by pontificating. I
will be eternally grateful that my formative gardening years were
not, in any way, influenced by MD!

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East end of Swansea Bay where the
showers of April have arrived!