Gardening TV programmes starting in January 2015.

[Knight of Albion]

Is anyone watching the allotment challenge tonight?

It's on now. Early days yet, but ... MILES better than last year!!!!!

[cariann88]

I do not want to say to much for people who are not watching it now.

[Taterhead]

Just watched it, I didn't realise that to have an allotment means that you also have to be a good cook and a talented flower arranger...

[cariann88]

I'd be rubbish at flower arranging, and I don't like to cook under pressure with people watching me ha

[Noosner]

Well, it is marginally better than last year IMHO. This time, there is some actual gardening advice - about early potatoes and zinnias, which was quite useful, I thought.

But it lacks the pzazz of Bake-Off or Sewing Bee.

Fern Britton is lame as a presenter, putting on obviously fake jollity and interest. What's strong in the other programmes is that the presenters are witty and funny (Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins on Bake-Off and Claudia Winkelmann on Sewing Bee) and make a point of taking the mickey out of the judges slightly, so puncturing any pomposity.

Allotment Challenge would be all the better for a good presenter. It isn't a proper gardening programme, so I think it needs to be more entertaining.

[Martin H]

I quite enjoyed the Allotment Challenge ep 1, a big improvement on last series. I've got a few nitpicks, of course...

New potatoes are usually planted at the end of April? Really?
Allowing plug plants as well as seeds doesn't seem fair.
Where did all those other flowers and greenery in the arrangements come from? If they indeed came from the plots I'd like to have seen a little bit more of them in the ground. Maybe we can see more of them in later episodes.
As last year, the "eat" section disappoints. Maybe it's just me, but sauces, chutneys and condiments aren't really what I grow stuff for. I'd have preferred to see the different ways the contestants cooked their new potatoes!

Anyway, I'll keep watching.

[Noosner]

Allowing plug plants as well as seeds doesn't seem fair.

I agree, Martin.

Another thing: when the gardening guy said 'if you can't grow new potatoes you might as well go home now' I thought I'd better get my coat as I've never been all that successful at spuds. But I can grow other things, honest!

[KevinM67]

Great summary Noosner - I thought it was the judges I couldn't take to, however a presenter with a bit of humour would improve the show.

I also agree with MartinH - although, I'm proud of my red-onion chutney - I would prefer to see them making a 'proper' meal with the veg. The chutneys, cordials , relishes, section is a bit too 'Women's Institute' like for me.

Anyway, this show is not really for me - I prefer my gardening programme to get 'down and dirty', rather than this frothy nonsense.

[Martin H]

I just watched the first episode of "Show Me Your Garden" on the Sky catch-up site.

I quite enjoyed it. It's just three couples showing the others around their gardens, who then score it out of 100 so that there can be a winner.

The tone of the programme is very Suburban Middle Class and it had a retro feel to it too; it could almost have been made in the 1970s. But the three gardens were all very different and all delightful in their own way. The only thing they had in common was, there was not a vegetable or a fruit bush in sight anywhere! Impossible to choose a winner but they did anyway.

A nice programme if you want to pick up some suburban garden design or planting ideas. I'll probably watch the rest of the series.

[Guest]

Where did all those other flowers and greenery in the arrangements come from? If they indeed came from the plots I'd like to have seen a little bit more of them in the ground. Maybe we can see more of them in later episodes.

You missed......
Where did the mustard come from? I think it was Matt had a massive jar of powdered mustard. You would need to grow several allotments to get all that

I don't mind the program, but not sure they will ever get the garden balance right. I was put of at the start by how you grow spuds, as though the way he said was the only way or right way.

[Bill HH]

I watched the allotment challenge last year with increasing disapointment. So this year I hoped they had taken in a lot of feedback but sadly no.
If its about allotments then flowers and flower arranging need to take up maybe 5% of the program.
The cooking section should not be in it because we are overloaded with cooking programs already.
It was full of inconsistencies such as allowing ingedients to be brought in yet stamping on a guy for buying a few mushrooms.

A better series would be to have contestants on bare earth allotments (or even weed covered ones) in their own areas and follow each ones progress over a year or even two, to work within a budget, to include sheds, green houses raised beds, pest control, water saving schemes, compost making etc. With a final produce show in late autumn. then a final judging covering all aspects.

Was Jo Jo laughing or crying when the judge was lambasting that poor guy for his poor sauces?

Why would the geek not have planted his flower seeds on time and why didnt he buy some plugs to catch up?

[Knight of Albion]

Yes, but it's not a series intended for the purist. It's 'sugar coated' gardening for the masses. Light entertainment!
It skipped most the donkey work necessary in between (!) but it came across as fun and something worthwhile doing, and perhaps most importantly something that anyone could have a go at and get at least some result from. So I remain philosophical. If it gets people interested in growing their own, attuning with nature and eating healthier, in my book that can only be a good thing.
It's a good way of making friends too.

[Alison]

but it came across as fun and something worthwhile doing, and perhaps most importantly something that anyone could have a go at and get at least some result from.

I think I said this last time but I think totally the opposite. If I had been thinking of applying for an allotment this would really put me off as I'd feel that it was very competitive and that the misshapen stuff I was producing was failure.

[Kristen]

If I had been thinking of applying for an allotment this would really put me off as I'd feel that it was very competitive and that the misshapen stuff I was producing was failure.

I think you'd get a shock when you turned on on day one and it wasn't a pristine plot, but rather brambles 8' tall!!

[Alison]

I think you'd get a shock when you turned on on day one and it wasn't a pristine plot, but rather brambles 8' tall!!

Very true, you'd think they'd at least mention that