Tuesday 5 May 2009

Please, tell me you saw it!

Tuesday evening 8.30pm BBC 2 - 'How Britain Got the Gardening Bug'.

Utterly fabulous! With many of our favourite gardeners and 'celebs' helping the story along. Covering all things from the 'Dig for Victory' programmes on radio with the dear Mr Middleton, to Percy Thrower (and the controversy over his ICI endorsements, oops) ; Allotments!; to the 60 and 70's with their patios, crazy paving and 'fantastic' topiary. My my we had Hosepipe police in the drought periods, with moustaches that demanded authority! and the introduction of the BBQ. It's had to believe that nurseries are so young and pre-mixed compost is but a baby to the horticultural world. For a change my soon-to-be brush with 30, makes me feel young!

With the 80's, there was much disposable money (where have those days gone???), Geoff Hamilton and our men folk's terrible obsession with their lawns. Then we came to my period - the 90's, when I HATED GARDENING, because I was forced to do crappy clean up jobs and would rather have been doing anything else. Now, of course I feel I have missed out on so much, lots of Mr Titchmarsh for one BUT there were so/too many gardening awful make-over shows (though I had a secret lust for 'Home Front')!

And now in the naughties (god, I hate that phrase), it's all going back to the beginning. We may not be at World War but growing our own food (though this time without the chemicals) is not only fun, therapeutic and good sense, but it's also fashionable.

I do hope you can see this programme, if you didn't enjoy it with me tonight, on repeat or, let's be more futuristic ~ on the BBC i player. Again I say 'Allotmenteering Rocks'. Plus, I felt better (after my blip) just watching it, except when they mentioned 'water features' and 'decking'!! Aaaahhhhh!

******

Warning - Highlights:

Good God, James A-S shocked me by telling me Pampas grasses were a sign of a home of swingers (P.S. I think I love you James)!!! And Germaine Greer frequently pee-d on the garden's lemon tree in her youth (she thought it would appreciate it, huummm).

4 comments:

  1. Thank heavens for I-player! I will make a point of watching it!

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  2. I'd better work out how I-player works then!

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  3. It was great - I saw it a few weeks ago. It shows that gardening TV can be good again - hurrah!

    And JAS mentions Chippenham of all places! :)

    There's also a brief glimpse of a front garden with a steam engine it it which will get featured over at my place at some point as it's not far from where I live.

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  4. My lovely fiance sky +'d for me! Cant wait to watch it!!

    Linzi x x

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