Poor judgment, BBC
 

As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On Tue, 13 May 2014 18:38:41 +0100,
Sacha wrote:


[ Leafnode: ]
[ Message 1030 of uk.rec.gardening ]
[ has been marked for download. ]


--
GnuPG/OpenPGP 4096R/3216CF02 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]
sub 4096R/2751C550 2013-11-15 [expires: 2015-11-15]

Poor judgment, BBC
 

"Martin" wrote

The number of viewers of the Big Allotment programme has fallen to 1.7
million.
We told them so!



Talking with the lady on the next allotment to ours on Sunday morning she
asked if I'd watched it, I said I watched 10 mins of the first episode,
could not believe my eyes, and turned it off. She said she did exactly the
same and she is one that pickles, freezes, and preserves everything, does
not waste a thing. She continued whilst on her knees weeding," what has a
pristine plot ready to work got to do with any allotment you take over, and
who has a greenhouse on their plot with glass left in it, and what on earth
were those two ladies wearing besides the full makeup".
We both agreed the program has absolutely nothing to do with allotments in
real life. I do hope we do not get a crop of new plot holders on the
strength of it, they will be asking when the plot will be cleared and dug
and when the greenhouse will be delivered.
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK

Poor judgment, BBC
 

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

FrankB wrote:

I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.

Now that we can watch Beechgrove, I have to agree with all those
who have posted here about it being a far better programme.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 14/05/2014 03:06, FrankB wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.



Watching Susanna Reid frowning, squinting, and looking thoroughly out of
sorts, makes you wonder whether these media companies think at all.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-13 20:47:13 +0000, Martin said:

On Tue, 13 May 2014 18:38:41 +0100, Sacha wrote:

As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!

I assume you read the Daily Telegraph's report too.

OTOH Alan said he wouldn't mention Monty's lack of training. :-)

It's bit more complicated than just the BBC pushing Alan out of the job. Alan
refused the job, but doesn't say why.

The number of viewers of the Big Allotment programme has fallen to 1.7 million.
We told them so!

He says in another report that he couldn't accept being asked to play
second fiddle to Monty Don after years of being THE anchor for RHS
Chelsea for the BBC. He didn't use those exact words but that is the
gist of it. It was a humiliation too far, would seem to be the case.
As it is, it's freed him up to enter a Show Garden of his own!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-14 02:06:38 +0000, FrankB said:

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

The matter of which presenter one prefers is very much up to the
individual but this isn't really about that. It's about the BBC's
handling of the situation. They've recently made a big blunder over a
Radio Devon presenter of 32 years' standing and this sort of treatment
of respected figures does the Beeb no favours at all.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-14 07:46:51 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 03:06:38 +0100, "FrankB" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good

It was good if you like to see Monty's face in the foreground of every shot.

Several programmes have visited Villa d'Este. All of them did a better job than
Monty.

and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

Sad that you see the presence of a female presenter like that.

In recent years there have always been female presenters too and why not?

I have no problem with female presenters but I do wish that whoever
they choose, of whichever gender, they'd get people who know something
about the subject. The comment that Sophie Raworth's parents have a
large garden they open to the public made us just roar with laughter.
I'm sure she's a delightful person but does she know *anything* about
the billion pound producing world of horticulture? No. When Carol
Klein interviews nurserymen, she does so on an equal footing and it
shows. Someone asking what is that pretty pink thing? "It's a rose,
dear", really isn't going to do it for most of us. (Yes, I exaggerate
a little. I hope) Some years ago this garden was on local television
and instead of asking Ray to talk about plants, propagation or even the
garden, the director was most interested in getting him to think of the
longest Latin plant name he could. Serious stuff, eh? We've entered a
phase - and I pray it's a passing one - where gardening is treated as
some little pastime for genteel folk of a certain age. These people
have absolutely no idea what depth of interest there is and also what
serious money is spent.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-14 10:35:05 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 11:16:04 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-05-13 20:47:13 +0000, Martin said:

On Tue, 13 May 2014 18:38:41 +0100, Sacha wrote:

As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!

I assume you read the Daily Telegraph's report too.

OTOH Alan said he wouldn't mention Monty's lack of training. :-)

It's bit more complicated than just the BBC pushing Alan out of the job. Alan
refused the job, but doesn't say why.

The number of viewers of the Big Allotment programme has fallen to 1.7 million.
We told them so!

He says in another report that he couldn't accept being asked to play
second fiddle to Monty Don after years of being THE anchor for RHS
Chelsea for the BBC.

As usual my wife guessed right.

He didn't use those exact words but that is the
gist of it. It was a humiliation too far, would seem to be the case.
As it is, it's freed him up to enter a Show Garden of his own!

and be interviewed by Monty! LOL

Against whom he will not hold his lack of horticultural training. I
thought that was a very neat comment, politely chastising the Beeb for
its churlish behaviour!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-14 10:33:33 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 11:24:48 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 2014-05-14 07:46:51 +0000, Martin said:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 03:06:38 +0100, "FrankB" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good

It was good if you like to see Monty's face in the foreground of every shot.

Several programmes have visited Villa d'Este. All of them did a better job than
Monty.

and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

Sad that you see the presence of a female presenter like that.

In recent years there have always been female presenters too and why not?

I have no problem with female presenters but I do wish that whoever
they choose, of whichever gender, they'd get people who know something
about the subject.

I think the BBC's idea is to have somebody, who represents the man/woman in the
street and "experts".

That may be their idea but why can't 'the man in the street' also be a
horticultural expert? AT does have that gift of talking as if chatting
to a neighbour over the fence. But at the same time, he really knowss
his subject. If I wanted to watch an informative programme on
open-heart surgery, I don't want it 'explained' to me by a tv presenter
but by an expert on the matter. They don't get e.g. Sophie Raworth to
take over from David Attenborough. They let him - the real expert - do
his own talking and presenting.

I think it would make a good gardening series if they went round the
country to e.g. a dozen of the NGS properties open every year BUT with
a knowledgeable designer and/or horticulturist talking to the garden
owners and some of the visitors. Perhaps then the BBC would realise
the passionate interest so many people have in plants and gardens and
how much they like to learn about them.

It's good to have somebody who isn't overawed by the names of garden designers.
There's a lot of Emperor's New Clothes at Chelsea.

The comment that Sophie Raworth's parents have a
large garden they open to the public made us just roar with laughter.
I'm sure she's a delightful person but does she know *anything* about
the billion pound producing world of horticulture? No. When Carol
Klein interviews nurserymen, she does so on an equal footing and it
shows. Someone asking what is that pretty pink thing? "It's a rose,
dear", really isn't going to do it for most of us. (Yes, I exaggerate
a little. I hope) Some years ago this garden was on local television
and instead of asking Ray to talk about plants, propagation or even the
garden, the director was most interested in getting him to think of the
longest Latin plant name he could. Serious stuff, eh? We've entered a
phase - and I pray it's a passing one - where gardening is treated as
some little pastime for genteel folk of a certain age. These people
have absolutely no idea what depth of interest there is and also what
serious money is spent.

Better get your children to change their Christian names to things like Rose,
Blossom, Rambler ... if you want them to become presenters.

Rambler...good name for a labrador! I think not for the children! ;-)


--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

Martin wrote:

Better get your children to change their Christian names to things like Rose,
Blossom, Rambler ... if you want them to become presenters.

We'd better prepare for
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0917320/
then. ;-)

BTW what are Nicki Chapman's horticultural credentials, apart
from being inflicted upon us annually?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
FrankB wrote:

I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's
fault.

Now that we can watch Beechgrove, I have to agree with all those
who have posted here about it being a far better programme.

Not watched that yet but I'll catch up with it sometime soon.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

Martin wrote:

On Wed, 14 May 2014 15:11:51 +0100, "FrankB" wrote:

"Chris J Dixon" wrote

Now that we can watch Beechgrove, I have to agree with all those
who have posted here about it being a far better programme.

Not watched that yet but I'll catch up with it sometime soon.

Thursday evenings on BBC2 Scotland or Sunday mornings at 8am on BBC2

The Sunday times vary a bit, but it is usually 9:30, just after
the GW repeat.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

Martin wrote:

On Thu, 15 May 2014 07:56:29 +0100, Chris J Dixon wrote:

The Sunday times vary a bit, but it is usually 9:30, just after
the GW repeat.

You are right! AFAIR it was 8am when I looked a few weeks ago.

Sporting coverage and other events often cause a shuffle, so I
have to check the PVR setting every week.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 14/05/2014 11:18, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-05-14 02:06:38 +0000, FrankB said:

"Sacha" wrote in message
...
As for the treatment of Alan Titchmarsh, words just fail me. I'm at a
loss to understand how the BBC would - effectively - ditch a man who
has spent his entire life in horticulture and worked hard and well for
the BBC and humiliate him as they have. It beggars belief and I suspect
the really knowledgeable in horticulture will feel the same. I cannot
count the number of people we know who have stopped watching Gardener's
World and who may well give up on the BBC presentation of Chelsea for
all the same reasons. What a mess! On top of that, Monty Don's
'sidekick' knows little about gardening but her parents have a garden
they open to the public. That being the case, I'm putting forward the
names of all 3 of my children for next year's coverage. They know
bugger all about gardening but not only do their olds have a garden,
one of them owns a Nursery and this garden is open to the public every
day 50 weeks of the year! They'd be a shoo-in on that basis!
--

To be frank (I am) I've never been a fan of AT. I've always found him
patronising and corny. I much prefer Monty Don as a tv gardening
presenter
even though I no longer enjoy GW.but that's more the format tham MD's
fault.
I believe he's probably just as knowledgeable about gardening as AT, even
though he's not a qualified horticulturist. The series he did a few years
ago on Italian gardens was good and I doubt AT could have pulled it off
without driving me mad.

The idea of having a woman presenter is obviously to 'sex up' the
image of
the Chelsea presentation and appeal more to the younger viewer. Sad, but
that's what tv media is much about nowadays.

The matter of which presenter one prefers is very much up to the
individual but this isn't really about that. It's about the BBC's
handling of the situation. They've recently made a big blunder over a
Radio Devon presenter of 32 years' standing and this sort of treatment
of respected figures does the Beeb no favours at all.


No one seems to have taken into account AT having sold his image to B&Q,
and after having him plastered over everything in their stores I'm not
surprised that "Auntie has dropped him.
Whilst Chelsea is a feast of flowers it's also the first event in the
London "Season" so is the place to be seen by many who go there. They
are more interested in knowing if the cameras caught them at the show
than in a bunch of plants and a load of "Hicks from the sticks" who are
crowding up the place.
I speak as one who has been to Chelsea over 25 times and who has also
exhibited there in the days when it was a show for nurserymen to display
their skills rather than big business to employ "names" to design and
build them a garden at almost any cost.
The BBC would show 3 programmes from the show and no one cared who
presented it as long as they got to see the plants.
How about there being a competition each year where say 10 contestants a
week present a 5 minute presentation on a garden of their choice, the
viewers vote and the top 2 from each week go on to a series of semi
finals then to a final where the winner gets to present Chelsea show on
the Beeb.
David@ a very sunny side of Swansea bay for 2 days now.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

Martin wrote:

My Humax PVR finds them even when they are rescheduled, as long as the
rescheduling appears on the EPD.

Sadly, Humax cannot do both padding and Accurate Recording. Since
AR data is not always available, I opt for padding.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Poor judgment, BBC
 

"Martin" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 15 May 2014 13:04:51 +0100, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Martin wrote:

On Thu, 15 May 2014 07:56:29 +0100, Chris J Dixon wrote:

The Sunday times vary a bit, but it is usually 9:30, just after
the GW repeat.

You are right! AFAIR it was 8am when I looked a few weeks ago.

Sporting coverage and other events often cause a shuffle, so I
have to check the PVR setting every week.

My Humax PVR finds them even when they are rescheduled, as long as the
rescheduling appears on the EPD.

Don't understand PVR and EPD, is it foreignspeak? As far as I know, Humax
make soil sterilisers. Does this make it on topic?

Ardmhor

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-15 21:25:41 +0000, David Hill said:
snip

No one seems to have taken into account AT having sold his image to
B&Q, and after having him plastered over everything in their stores I'm
not surprised that "Auntie has dropped him.

But they didn't drop him, David. If they had the B&Q 'excuse' might
have been more understandable. What they asked him to do was play
second fiddle when he had been first fiddle for years! It was a gross
humiliation and a dreadful way to treat a popular and professional
anchor man for a garden programme.

Whilst Chelsea is a feast of flowers it's also the first event in the
London "Season" so is the place to be seen by many who go there. They
are more interested in knowing if the cameras caught them at the show
than in a bunch of plants and a load of "Hicks from the sticks" who are
crowding up the place.
I speak as one who has been to Chelsea over 25 times and who has also
exhibited there in the days when it was a show for nurserymen to
display their skills rather than big business to employ "names" to
design and build them a garden at almost any cost.

I wish it would go back to the days when it was about the plants and
with less emphasis on the designer gardens. The first time I went to
Chelsea was about 40 years ago and it was an absolute revelation to see
all those wonderful plants exhibited in the old marquee. Now, all the
fuss seems to be about gardens with rusting metal pillars, slabs of
concrete and gardens you need a lift to get into. Entertaining,
perhaps but little to do with the gardening most people aspire to. In
that respect, it's a bit like haute couture fashion. Little seen on the
catwalk is ever likely to be seen on the pavement but it shows the
skill and imagination of the designer.

The BBC would show 3 programmes from the show and no one cared who
presented it as long as they got to see the plants.
How about there being a competition each year where say 10 contestants
a week present a 5 minute presentation on a garden of their choice, the
viewers vote and the top 2 from each week go on to a series of semi
finals then to a final where the winner gets to present Chelsea show on
the Beeb.
David@ a very sunny side of Swansea bay for 2 days now.

How about a tv series where a variety of NGS gardens is visited by a
knowledgeable plantsman and horticulturist each week, who talks to the
owners and to some of the visitors to the garden? Hundreds and
hundreds of gardens open every year and yet this is entirely overlooked
as one of the mainstays of interest in gardening at a level anyone can
hope to reach. Huge gardens, middling gardens, tiny gardens all open
for the NGS and it's a sort of distillation of British gardening.
Someone is missing a trick not making an annual series out of that!
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 16/05/2014 10:55, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-05-15 21:25:41 +0000, David Hill said:
snip

No one seems to have taken into account AT having sold his image to
B&Q, and after having him plastered over everything in their stores
I'm not surprised that "Auntie has dropped him.

But they didn't drop him, David. If they had the B&Q 'excuse' might have
been more understandable. What they asked him to do was play second
fiddle when he had been first fiddle for years! It was a gross
humiliation and a dreadful way to treat a popular and professional
anchor man for a garden programme.

Whilst Chelsea is a feast of flowers it's also the first event in the
London "Season" so is the place to be seen by many who go there. They
are more interested in knowing if the cameras caught them at the show
than in a bunch of plants and a load of "Hicks from the sticks" who
are crowding up the place.
I speak as one who has been to Chelsea over 25 times and who has also
exhibited there in the days when it was a show for nurserymen to
display their skills rather than big business to employ "names" to
design and build them a garden at almost any cost.

I wish it would go back to the days when it was about the plants and
with less emphasis on the designer gardens. The first time I went to
Chelsea was about 40 years ago and it was an absolute revelation to see
all those wonderful plants exhibited in the old marquee. Now, all the
fuss seems to be about gardens with rusting metal pillars, slabs of
concrete and gardens you need a lift to get into. Entertaining, perhaps
but little to do with the gardening most people aspire to. In that
respect, it's a bit like haute couture fashion. Little seen on the
catwalk is ever likely to be seen on the pavement but it shows the skill
and imagination of the designer.

The BBC would show 3 programmes from the show and no one cared who
presented it as long as they got to see the plants.
How about there being a competition each year where say 10 contestants
a week present a 5 minute presentation on a garden of their choice,
the viewers vote and the top 2 from each week go on to a series of
semi finals then to a final where the winner gets to present Chelsea
show on the Beeb.
David@ a very sunny side of Swansea bay for 2 days now.

How about a tv series where a variety of NGS gardens is visited by a
knowledgeable plantsman and horticulturist each week, who talks to the
owners and to some of the visitors to the garden? Hundreds and hundreds
of gardens open every year and yet this is entirely overlooked as one of
the mainstays of interest in gardening at a level anyone can hope to
reach. Huge gardens, middling gardens, tiny gardens all open for the NGS
and it's a sort of distillation of British gardening. Someone is missing
a trick not making an annual series out of that!

I seem to remember a series that ran for a few years where it featured
gardens wishing to open under the NGS and the presenter helped the
owners prepare the garden and you saw the assessment and then if
accepted the open day as well, an interesting series.
I believe it was called Open Gardens

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 2014-05-16 16:53:55 +0000, Martin said:

On Fri, 16 May 2014 13:05:01 +0100, David Hill
wrote:

I seem to remember a series that ran for a few years where it featured
gardens wishing to open under the NGS and the presenter helped the
owners prepare the garden and you saw the assessment and then if
accepted the open day as well, an interesting series.
I believe it was called Open Gardens

I have vague recollections of that too.

The BBC have to move away from making every programme a competition.

I was thinking of a format in which the presenter merely presented -
not that awful fakery thing of them 'helping' to mow a hay meadow or
calve a cow or plant a tree. ;-)
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 16/05/2014 17:53, Martin wrote:
On Fri, 16 May 2014 13:05:01 +0100, David Hill
wrote:

I seem to remember a series that ran for a few years where it featured
gardens wishing to open under the NGS and the presenter helped the
owners prepare the garden and you saw the assessment and then if
accepted the open day as well, an interesting series.
I believe it was called Open Gardens

I have vague recollections of that too.

Wasn't that presented by Carol Klein? Yes, I enjoyed that series too. It
was interesting to see how the various NGS officials (a rather
formidable bunch) assessed the various gardens.

The BBC have to move away from making every programme a competition.

Hear, hear, to that part. Yes, exactly what we keep saying, chez nous.

Don't agree with previous comments up-thread about Monty on GW and the
Chelsea programmes though. Some of us enjoy his style of presenting the
programme and have no beef about whether or not he's got paper
qualifications or had recognized training in horticulture. Neither do
lots of other very experienced, well known gardeners and growers but
they've learned by years of experience and hands-on growing and so has he.

I for one don't particularly like Alan Titchmarsh as a presenter and am
glad he's not fronting Chelsea coverage this time. He may well have
loads of impeccable gardening credentials but for me he comes across as
far too smarmy and self satisfied with all that name-dropping,
pretentious literary quoting and general air of smugness.

But another vote here for Beechgrove which I like to record for later
watching. It's a completely different style and format from GW which is
all to the good and it's been even better since Chris Beardshaw joined.
The more coverage gardens and gardening gets on the old box, the better
I like it.

--
Sue

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 16/05/2014 18:10, sacha wrote:

not
that awful fakery thing of them 'helping' to mow a hay meadow or calve a
cow or plant a tree. ;-)

Very impressive when they use a chainsaw for the calving though:)

--
regards andy

Poor judgment, BBC
 

On 19/05/2014 08:26, News wrote:
On 16/05/2014 18:10, sacha wrote:

not
that awful fakery thing of them 'helping' to mow a hay meadow or calve a
cow or plant a tree. ;-)

Very impressive when they use a chainsaw for the calving though:)

--
regards andy

That must be a modern version of a calving knife

Poor judgment, BBC
 

"David Hill" wrote in message ...

On 19/05/2014 08:26, News wrote:
On 16/05/2014 18:10, sacha wrote:

not
that awful fakery thing of them 'helping' to mow a hay meadow or calve a
cow or plant a tree. ;-)

Very impressive when they use a chainsaw for the calving though:)

--
regards andy

That must be a modern version of a calving knife
=============================================

For Roast Beef?


Mike
---------------------------------------------------------------
www.friendsofshanklintheatre.co.uk

Poor judgment, BBC
 

News wrote:

On 16/05/2014 18:10, sacha wrote:

not
that awful fakery thing of them 'helping' to mow a hay meadow or calve a
cow or plant a tree. ;-)

Very impressive when they use a chainsaw for the calving though:)

Been watching Damien Hirst?

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.