Ah yes, the revamped Gardeners’ World (BBC2), that has had a few people below the line and on Twitter in a bit of a tizzy. With a producer brought in from Bake Off to inject some va va voom, and hopefully a few more va va viewers. The Great British Rake Off? Actually that’s been done, it was called The Big Allotment Challenge. It didn’t really work; gardening doesn’t suit the formula – things take way too long to happen.
Anyway, here goes. So Monty is talking about the fragile September light, then wading into the pond to pull up some aquatic yellow irises. No Mel and Sue so far, just Nigel and Nellie to steal some of their master’s fragile limelight. Nigel is on Twitter, incidentally, with more than half the number of followers Monty has.
Carol is in Devon exploring plant family groups, starting with the buttercup. So far, so old Gardeners’ World.
Wait though, because here’s a new face, Flo Headlam. Flo is in Toxteth in Liverpool, injecting colour and vitality into grey urban spaces, and perhaps injecting colour and vitality into grey presenting teams. She’s planting containers, simple and quick … and I think it might have some old-school die-hard GWers muttering in their potting sheds. Because this is the sort of gardening I might do. It’s not for the expert; if it were baking it would be flapjacks. There’s even a makeover element to the programme: the couple whose front garden it is have been hiding behind the curtains inside. Now they come out for the reveal.
That’s about it for controversy. Nick Macer looks at some interesting tropical plants that can be grown in our climate. Adam Frost is planning his new garden in Lincolnshire. Monty is at Kew (minus Nigel and Nellie, they’re not allowed in) to see some very big herbaceous borders. There is nothing to upset RHS types here. Perhaps the BBC will introduce change slowly, ruffling feathers one at a time so no one really notices. We are promised “extreme gardening”, whatever that is. Probably just Monty, Nigel and Nellie pottering off to the outer reaches of Longmeadow.
For now, the most noticeable difference is that Gardeners’ World has been extended to an hour. That should keep the proper gardeners happy.
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