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davidstevens's blog

Gardening on TV
9:06 AM on 31 May 2009
Filed under: Gardening on TV
Not sure if this is agist or not! - but is TV Gardenening dumbing down, I fear it is.

To be honest real gardeners and garden owners don't particularly want to see a gardening version of Grand Designs, nor do real gardeners fall for the dreaded makeovers that simply use decking, gravel and a few plants - usually Phormiums, Choisya sundance and anything big and cheap they can get down the local garden centre!

Gardeners World is a shadow of it's former self, shallow and self congratulatory. It also lacks a real garden that belongs to the main presenter and in the process lacks personality. We can't bring back Geoff Hamiltom, bless 'im - but he was in my opinion, the best of the best. Down to earth, knowlegable and a great organic gardener. He didn't need ex models floating around, he had the likes of Clay Jones, Geoffrey Smith (another sad loss) and many other solid gardeners who really knew their onions from their crocosmias.

I picked up one of my old tapes of Gardens by Design the other day and I was surprised how good it still looked. We actually got down to the real basics of planning and planting gardens, we told it the way it was, with things like budgets and the correct use of materials.

I'm firmly of the opinion that Gardeners world needs to go into retirement, it's not sacrosanct and it would be great to start over, with a new programme, new presenters and a down to earth approach. In fact why don't we call it 'Down to Earth'?

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Comments (10)
Barhi - 12:32 PM on 31 August 2009  [ message ]
So glad to know that it is not just me.

There was a time when 8:30 on a Friday night was sacrosanct. A bottle of wine was opened and I sat back waiting to hear those beautiful relaxing guitar strands start up. The weekend was here and Geoff could take me to explore the beautiful world of gardening. Was it repetitive then? I’m not sure, but I was starting to learn about gardening and hung on his every word.

Certainly the BBC seem to have been working hard to make its programmes appeal to a wider audience, and that by its very definition means that programmes will appeal less to those already knowledgeable in a particular field.

Many purists complained bitterly as the BBC worked to broaden the mass appeal of Crufts. But when the BBC pulled out last year, our show case was gone. An opportunity was lost to put dogs in the mind of the general public for four days of the year. It will be interesting to see what happens next year when Crufts is sponsored by DFS and available on one of the lesser ITV channels. Will the format appeal more to the purists or will it continue to pander to entertainment?

Is there anyone left who thinks Top Gear is a motoring programme? It is an entertainment show that has cars in the background. It works because it has three overgrown schoolboys doing what lots of people aspire to do, but know they will never be able to.

So, what are we looking for? I want to inspire people, to get them thinking in different ways to realise that, say, they don’t need grass in a garden, that there are much better ways of using their limited space. My particular passion is to help people to understand that they can have a stunning garden that they share with their dogs. I’m sure many of you have your own particular passions that you want to share. But does that translate into a gardening television show and if not how do we reach people?

In my view, Mark hits the issue on the head – we need proper gardens for real people. Whilst the huge gardens that the programme visits may give plenty of space for the cameras how many people have that much space to play with? My garden is small, so small that I laughed out loud when I was filling in the NGS form when it asked me how many acres it was, so small that I have just had to turn down a visit from a coach party of 50 as they just wouldn’t fit in my garden, but our country organiser says that it is her favourite small garden. We need to show that gardens take time, patience and care to develop. To bring back the pleasure of looking forward to seasons, to inspire people again.

I watched the programmes on the NGS garden openings with interest (well I was almost in one of them). Yes, they were too formulaic (which one will make it and which one won’t?), but they did show real gardens all over the country. Maybe something along those lines would work? They showed gardens in winter and summer. They showed issues being resolved, sometimes design, sometimes planting. They followed the gardens as they moved toward the focus of a date in the calendar when the gardens had to look at their best. Covering just two gardens in a 30 minute show meant that you got to know each garden and understand a bit about it. They could feature design projects and more established gardens. The variety of gardens suggested by Mark could easily be covered. But we need the detail. The last thing we need is another “Flying Gardener”.
davidstevens - 7:07 AM on 12 August 2009  [ message ]
Hi David,

Yes, the jumpers were quite something, and sponsored too (that was about as much as you could ask for in those days!) - Many thanks for the comments, greatly appreciated and we thought, and I still do, that we got it about right. It really was the first series on garden design and we did get some stick for it as well. Many viewers were horrified that we spent a very realistic budget of 14K on the garden we featured throughout the series - but we told it the way it was and underlined the point that you do need to think about budgets sensibly! But we really got into the subject of Garden Design and had some excellent contributors too.
This is something they still don't do, Ground Force never did and they cut corners all over the place, it was great TV but poor landscaping.
I think the fly on the wall idea would be great, as would a documentary on putting the garden together at Tatton Park, together with the forward planning etc!
DavidBeasleyHU106SN - 6:53 AM on 12 August 2009  [ message ]
Hi David

Over the last twenty or so years that I have been involved in the landscape industry, there are only 2 tv gardening programmes that I have thought, " this is what we want"!

The fist was "Gardens by Design" presented by yourself which was on tv at the same time I was studying for my HND Landscape & Horticultural Technology at Askham Bryan College (1990-1993). My father (who is an avid SKY+ user and converted Garden Design fan!), recently recorded me an episode as he thought the content of the show was very relevant (even now, nearly 20 years later). The episode in question had you walking around a 'well designed' public landscape (lots of blue engineering brick raised planters), a section on very embrionic 3D cad and the client's who's garden you designed had very nice Jumpers!

The second show was 'Gardens By Appointment' presented by Richard Sneesby who is now involved at teaching garden design at Falmouth College and says the following of tv gardening shows on their website:

"this innivative design course goes much deeper than just the garden styling and makeovers that we see every day on TV, although Richard is the first to admit the importance of the media in the growing popularity of garden design. “Fifteen years ago gardening on television was serious, all Gardener’s World and Percy Thrower, but then the lifestyle thing kicked in and it became more interesting – the sort of thing that engaged 18-year-olds, to the extent that now I think 50% of our students on the garden design course are coming to us as a result of it.”

I think a 'fly-on-the-wall' tv progamme based on a real life Landscape Design & Build company would make excellant viewing and raise the pofile of the industry with the public at large.
markengland - 4:08 PM on 2 June 2009  [ message ]
Is it just me, or is GW not only dumbing down but repeating itself? I'm getting a bit bored of being shown how to take cuttings and split herbaceous perennials. Gardening and in particular grow-you-own has become very popular and trendy (not the same thing!) in recession-hit times, it's been suggested as a result of the need for nurturing and old-fashioned values in a suddenly-insecure society, and of course I accept that there are a lot of newbies out there who do need somewhere to find out this kind of thing. But surely any idiot knows how to plant a bean - it's written on the packet, for goodness' sake. I want Gardeners' World to stop spending the entire hour telling us how to plant spuds and visiting cottage gardens and think about proper gardens for real people that don't have a rich husband and forty hours a week to spend deadheading roses on their seventeenth century arbour, or Carol chucking a big bunch of cuttings at some newbies to randomly plant without any apparent idea of an overall scheme. We need to see how good design and experienced gardening are working together in the widest variety of gardens possible - courtyards, suburban semis, narrow terraces, newbuild postage stamps, the lot. I am biased toward design, of course I am, but it seems to me that the BBC is following the RHS's lead and promoting plants and horticulture ahead of design. Surely gardens are for people, not just plants?

I was very frustrated that they are starting from scratch with a new garden and have just got Toby Buckland to knock up a sketch design for it. I know that the garden has all sorts of conflicting demands on it due to the diversity of the content that they are going to try and cover within it and the restrictions of filming and so on, but any experienced and/or qualified garden designer could have worked round that brief. Joe Swift is a talented designer - maybe I'm doing Toby a disservice but I haven't heard of him as a designer before he landed the GW gig; I've realised that I've got one or two of his books and they're ok, but they're not on design.

All this being said, I quite like a couple of the features in the new garden - specifically the 45-degree angle greenhouse and the brick walls beside it. Clever idea and aesthetically not bad. Hate the radiating spoke beds around it though - it seems to be a common solution and all it creates is awkward shaped beds and too many paths not going anywhere. And don't talk to me about the contrived shed thing! Awful, shameful, hideous rip off of Top Gear. BBC formulaic department at its absolute nadir. Shouldn't spaces like that evolve over time? You can't create a characterful shed-cum-common room by buying a new one and ripping holes in the walls for reclaim sash windows, and filling it with new-pretending-to-be-old furniture and knick-knacks. It's worse than the tackiest Irish theme pub.

Jumping off soap box now. Incoming!

I also have to admit to a bit of a soft spot for Alys Fowler, bless her. I understand that she has come to the telly simply by being the gardener in the previous garden, and I think that she's making a reasonable fist of it.
davidstevens - 2:02 PM on 2 June 2009  [ message ]
Seems to me there is a ground swell here and that people are not altogether with the present gardening output.
With 8000 TGN members there is a huge pool of talent and knowledge so why doesn't it lobby for a new show, using members. Up to now programmes have always had experts and of course they are important, but why not also include those who are less knowledgeable too and have them quite literally 'grow' their expertise as the programmes unfold? - could be a neat format!!
Prunella - 9:49 AM on 2 June 2009  [ message ]
I must admit I haven't really seen many episodes of Gardeners' World, but I've always liked Alan Titchmarsh, mostly for the way he explains everything in a friendly manner which even the most novice gardeners (i.e. me!) can understand. But as for gardening on TV in general, I was very disappointed to see UK TV Gardens vanish completely, with one or two of the programmes turning up on a channel alongside ones about homes and antiques. I loved watching the gardening channel, and very often with the bad weather and a two year old in tow, watching programmes was about as close as I could get to being 'out there'! Now I have less choice on what to watch and when to watch it, and often cannot watch anything at all once the other kids get home...I realise I'm having a good old moan here, but other 'groups' get their own channels, like those interested in health, cars, food and so on...why can't we?
Silverleaf - 9:21 AM on 1 June 2009  [ message ]
I used to really enjoy ground force in the early series, before the presenters became the focal point! & David I'm happy to present a Cornish supplement to your 'Down to Earth' programme
canalturndesigner - 2:38 PM on 31 May 2009  [ message ]
I tend to agree with you David. Geoff Hamilton was great and when Alan Titchmarsh took over I liked him nearly as much. His gardening on a sloping site was interesting and he has a great personality. I looked forward each year to a new series of Gardeners World - if I didn't watch anything else on a Friday night I always tuned into GW. After he handed over to Monty Don my interest waned and now unfortunately I just do not make an effort to tune into GW. I totally agree with your last paragraph - now's the time for change!
bob1947 - 12:40 PM on 31 May 2009  [ message ]
David's view of Gardeners World is one that is gaining traction. One only has to read Garden News for the increase in letters on the same subject especially since Toby Buckland took over. I think the public are beginning to become anti 'Celeb Gardener' of the current group of presenters as whilst they are qualified, there is a perception that the likes of Hamilton, Smith and Titchmarsh had been proper gardeners and actually got their hands dirty.
On top of that there are a number of other excellent programs about especially on cable TV adding oto the competition and the Gardeners World presenteres are seen on these so here to the perception might be they are more presenter than gardener.
TimMatcham - 9:55 AM on 31 May 2009  [ message ]
Very interesting viewpoint here David - it will be interesting to gauge others reactions to this. Gardeners World has become a mainstay of gardening tv over the years - I don't know whether they are trying to broaden their appeal with their current approach?


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