BBC Gardeners World

We have always liked Carol Klein, and I find her hints and suggestions very helpful. However, I hated that bit in the last series when she waxes lyrical about wild flowers - just how much can you say about the daffodil! Her bible on grow your own veg is like a bible in our house! We also loved Geoff Hamilton; how gentle and unorchestrated his style seems now, we have a DVD of his Paradise Gardens series and still love to watch it now and then.
Can't stand Rachel de Thame, though. I understand she was picked from a class of raw gardening beginners, and I can't believe that she is still rolled out to do "planting seeds with Army wives" or "how to plant bulbs". Reach for the "off" switch the minute she comes on!
Monty Don is a very able gardener with a warm style, but as one of you said, his garden is so huge with its "rooms" and what seem to be acres of space, it is hard to relate to our own humble plot. Have to admit to a liking for Toby Buckland and still miss Mr Titchmarsh. Some of his ideas were daft e.g. the beach look, but he really knows his stuff. Joe Swift is good, too, I love his Saturday column in "The Times".

I'd like her bank balance and her knees. It amazes me how she manages to do a piece to camera from a crouching position and then get up without a grimace. She's a year older than me. Gah!!

Hooray for Carol ! She MUST be a Gransnetter! How else would she have known what we were saying? Now which one of you is she really.........hmmm ???? Come on - fess up.

I agree that Carol Klein hit the right spot at Chelsea, a toned down effort and very nicely presented - good all round egg!!

I think all the presenters have had coaching in arm waving and emoting madly
even the young girl from Bristol who did a series on the 'edible garden' last year.

'Calm down my dears'

Who? Nellie or jing?
I think I need another drink!

I think she's in the Tardis whirling around with The Doctor. Get behind the sofa girls!

I'm too old! I can't cope with multiple Jings
If she's not a Martian she's a Confucian and that's worse!

Anyway, she's J04 now.....

Bump

No I think jo2 is a Martian in disguise with an agendum to stir up old totters grannies

j02 Do you live in Devon, look great in jeans and earn shedloads of money from writing about and presenting all things garden?

merlotgran I agree! Do you know what I think? Carol is J02

Now they've got someone on Chelsea programme of indeterminate gender, emoting madly and loudly. I'm not being horrible - no I'm not, but why can't we just have ordinary folk we can imagine being in the garden with?

Last night I watched a wonderful programme fronted by Alan Titchmarsh about basic gardening skills and landscaping - can't remember what it was called but it was so interesting and informative. he just talked to camera like an average person.

I like Carol Klein and Christine Walkden!
Ane enjoyed seeing Stephanie Cole too and her garden with its problems.

Some extraordinary gardens there though! My sister has gone off Chelsea altogether, even though we went one year...thinks it's all gone too highbrow and not ordinary peoples gardens.

As usual I have seen plants I want.....

Monty Don, I believe, is extremely attractive. He can work sit in my garden any day.

Am I the only one who thinks Carol Klein toned down her presenting style a bit at Chelsea? Maybe somebody's had a word. Apart from those funny wide trousers she wore at the beginning of the week I thought she looked and sounded great. Christine Walkden on the other hand.......

I like Carol she is very vibrant and draws you in even if you are not a gardening enthusiast.

I also like Carol Klein. She is enthusiastic because she loves her gardening and I don't find her overpowering as its her passion.

Just back from holiday and picked up your comment merlotgran Yes I agree with you that Carol Klein should have been given the top spot on GW. She is extremely knowledgeable on the gardening front and though perhaps a little older, she has no more lines than Monty Don. PS can't see why the ladies like him as I think he needs feeding up and filling out!!

I enjoyed watching Carol Klein for years and think she should have been given the top spot on GW when Monty Don had a stroke a few years ago. Her over enthusiastic style of presenting, however, is beginning to grate. I find it difficult to focus on her plant descriptions even though her knowledge is without question. I'd rather read her excellent books.
The boring, frumpy presenters of old were also extremely knowledgeable (Pippa Greenwood, Gay Search, Anne Swithinbank et al) but they didn't make me feel like rushing outdoors and grabbing a trowel. I'm sure Carol Klein inspires a lot of people but I now prefer the more gentle presenting styles of Sarah Raven, Alys Fowler and Rachel de Thame.

Nothing wrong with the music.

j02 Who criticised the music on G W then?

Yes, ok then we are grumpy oldies, but only sometimes

And to criticise the music on the programme.............

can you really fault this?

Carol Klein is, in my humble opinion, an excellent presenter. She obviously knows all there is to know about gardening. Her enthusiasm for her subject shines through. Great personality. Appealing accent. Never boring or frumpy.

She has come on in leaps and bounds from the time she did that first broadcast. Well done her.

"We're not just grumpy oldies". You sure?

Yes it is Carol Klein - I couldn't remember her name because I switch over when she comes on. The problem with these over-the-top presenters is that one stops listening to the content of their presentation, which could in fact be quite interesting. The programme therefore becomes pointless.

Do we think that this is what the programme makers want? If their only aim is to grab the attention of the soap opera/Big Brother/talent show genre of viewer, the entire ethos of the BBC - 'to inform, entertain and educate' will be lost for ever. From what I read on Gransnet and hear over discussion with contemporaries, is that in the main, our generation is utterly perplexed and frustrated by trivial and sensationalist tv programmes. We're not just grumpy oldies, we remember when we could spend a couple of hours watching interesting programmes presented by informed and naturally confident people.

Oh righty ho , have to say I did used to like her but have not seen the prog. for ages , so perhaps she has changed I was quite taken with her hair !!! not my style but seemed to go with her personality