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Gardening

Love Your Garden - Alan Titchmarsh

(28 Posts)
Teetime Thu 16-Jul-15 09:49:33

Now I love Mr T and all his works but I am wondering about the current series and the huge amounts of money spent even though I realise these are donated or sponsored items. This week though I also wondered about the recipient. He was a very brave man who had pulled his neighbour from his burning house and I think was also active in his community. However, the house next door was completely burnt out and the man who he rescued lost his wife in the fire. I thought perhaps it should have been his garden that was rebuilt. Perhaps its just me - you'll be soon to tell me I expect.

shysal Thu 16-Jul-15 10:19:59

I agree with you, Teetime, I felt the same, but he had moved into a care home. There was scaffolding at the rear of the burnt house, so perhaps it has been sold and is undergoing renovation.
I thought the garden this week was way too themed and over the top, although I loved the seating area.

merlotgran Thu 16-Jul-15 10:41:46

I've always doubted the timescale with this programme. They're supposed to do the make-over in a few days but the burnt out house next door showed that it takes much longer than that.

In the first shots the house is covered in scaffolding because the roof and entire first floor have been removed. As the work in the garden progresses you notice (over the fence) the floors and walls have been rebuilt, the roof replaced and tiled and window spaces are ready for glazing......all in a few days? hmm

I think I only watch this programme to moan about over landscaping, silly gimmicks, ridiculously expensive features and unrealistic, high maintenace planting plans. Don't even, get me started on the ghastly colour schemes!

At least it's ITV and we're not paying for it.

Teetime Thu 16-Jul-15 12:47:54

Oh I'm glad its not me. I must have missed the part about the neighbour going into a care home - well I hope its a jolly nice one.

I wondered how those succulents would survive living in tubing - wouldn't the soil fall to the bottom if it got dry?

J52 Thu 16-Jul-15 12:57:25

I'm really enjoying The Autistic Gardener. More realistic and entertaining.

X

rubylady Fri 17-Jul-15 02:31:31

I know J52 they are all great but the really enthusiastic lad makes me smile from start to finish. "What should we do then, ... rob a bank?" grin

Coolgran65 Fri 17-Jul-15 08:33:37

Were the tubes filled with sand or pebbles to keep the soil at the top?
I wondered what it would look like in a few years when the elements took their toll. Too much going on for me.

Teetime Fri 17-Jul-15 09:06:20

It certainly looked high maintenance.

Nelliemoser Fri 17-Jul-15 16:34:34

I was not impressed by the way they appeared to be shoving the potted plants they had bought straight into the ground without loosening the roots coiled around the bottom of the pot. That is no way to plant up and Mr T should have commented on it. IMO it would require a lot of high maintenance and it was very gimmicky.
They are not really gardening programs at all are they.

merlotgran Fri 17-Jul-15 18:01:56

I agree, Nelliemoser, They're just vehicles for the presenters. The original 'Love Your Garden' showed AT looking round stunning gardens big and small that were in anybody's neighbourhood. You still had to have the 'project' of course just so AT could stick his oar in but mostly it showcased some real gardening talent.

But no......the programme had to evolve to become yet another -bloody-- makeover programme featuring a sob story and unrealistic goals.

Call me hard hearted but in most cases if the people featured had wanted a nice garden they'd have either got on with it or paid someone else to do it and if they're not interested, what's the point in giving them something they won't be able to cope with??

Rant over.

durhamjen Fri 17-Jul-15 18:03:30

I enjoyed the Autistic Gardener, too, J52.
My grandson says he wants to be a gardener in the afternoon, after he's been a postman in the morning. However, he's terrified of bees. We have to cross over to the other side of the road when he sees them. So he might have a problem.

J52 Fri 17-Jul-15 18:13:28

I really like the honesty of the programme ( autistic gardener) . They admit to help with landscaping, they buy plants to the budget, but above all they all seem to use their individual strengths to get the job done and enjoy it!

x

aggie Fri 17-Jul-15 18:19:28

AT has descended into a maudlin Agony Aunt . The garden this week was awful , how could anyone maintain it ? I felt sorry for the poor succulents

loopylou Fri 17-Jul-15 18:25:23

AT's another 'celebrity' who seems to be desperately popping up all over the place. I don't think this programme does him, or gardening, any favours at all.
I agree merlot! Just how many more makeover programmes with probably very short lived outcomes can there be?

durhamjen Fri 17-Jul-15 18:28:27

I'd quite like them to come and do my garden for £1200, J52.
The couple had a nerve complaining all the way through, considering the state of the garden in the first place. I am pleased they liked it in the end, and that they showed it in the dark.

Lina1st Fri 07-Aug-15 13:10:59

Message deleted by Gransnet for breaking our forum guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Nelliemoser Fri 07-Aug-15 13:49:52

Reported.

Nelliemoser Fri 07-Aug-15 14:03:09

I would just like to get someone to actually come and look at my garden to discuss what help I need.
I have rung a couple of local garden organisers . They say they will ring back and you don't ever hear from again! I wouldn't mind if they rang to say "we are booked up until whenever".

I said I could wait until later in the year to get the work done but please could you come to look and give me an idea of the costs etc.

I am p****d off with workman who do this.

Nelliemoser Fri 07-Aug-15 14:06:19

What has Lina1st's Post advertising carpet cleaning go to do with gardening?

If you are going to spam at least spam on an appropriate thread.

Charleygirl Fri 07-Aug-15 14:33:48

I only watched the first programme and gave up because of the high maintenance required and much would not have been cheap.

rosesarered Fri 07-Aug-15 22:13:07

Djen, my grandson is frightened of bees too, wonder if it's an autistic thing.
He says he will have two jobs also,an author and an artist.His writing skills are poor and he can't really draw anything recognisable ,but seems supremely confident all the same,of his future.It's sad.

rosesarered Fri 07-Aug-15 22:16:01

iPad again, I meant to say it's an enjoyable programme( Autustic Gardener) and I agree with Coolgran who says that the other TV show has too much going on in the made over garden.

rubylady Tue 18-Aug-15 21:39:35

What did anyone think of tonight's wild garden done on Alan's programme?

I wasn't too keen on the driftwood spiking up like it did seeing that it was for children and they didn't make a point of making the pond safe for children too with the grid they put over it, did they?

I like wildlife gardens and am making one myself but to make one so full of insects and buzzing bees when children and adults using it will be really poorly might be another thing. Most garden would probably be uplifting for ill people who can tolerate shorts bursts outside. Maybe some gentle piped music or sounds might have been a good idea. Maybe some areas to sit inside to touch soft furnishings, have heaters so that it could be used all day long and in colder months too and have soft lighting. It did seem they planned it more for the wildlife than for the people who were going to be using it, maybe a good idea for a youth project but for life limiting people, I'd have thought twice about this plan.

shysal Wed 19-Aug-15 09:04:03

We don't usually see how the gardens look over the following months. I though this one looked rather scruffy when they went back. I wonder if a gardener was employed for the upkeep. A wildlife garden still needs maintenance! I would also have liked to see a sensory element to the planning of it.

glassortwo Wed 19-Aug-15 09:18:48

I have been watching to get some tips. hmm I have never been that interested in gardening in the past DH managed it. But with the huge battle of the wild garden we have in the house we are renovating, its been farm land and never been cultivated. Its full of stone and when I planted daffs a few years ago I had to use a pick axe, I need all the help I can get. I don't really know where to start.

I spent the last week and a half clearing a small area in between labouring for DH, cant even be 5 x 4 to make a start. I am not sure if I am going about it the right way but chose a bank of the stream which runs up to a stone wall which I could break down into sections. I thought I could just move onto the next section and possible take cutting from the 1st area to reduce the costs of buying new plants. Cant imagine how long this is going to take over 2 acre's.
I could do with AT or someone to just tell where to go next.