Blog one
It's been an amazing few weeks. Filming at Berryfields on high definition cameras seemed the same as any other day until we all saw the results on a high definition television when the first programme went out on April 4th. It reminded me of the wonder I had as a child when our old black and white television was replaced with glorious technicolour. Every line on Monty's hand; every seed to hit the soil - it all sprang out at me - larger than life. The magic of TV - almost on a par with the magic of gardening......but maybe not quite.
If there's one thing I love more than savouring my own modest little garden than it's savouring the beauty of other people's, so I've been mesmerised by the brilliant photos posted on the of all your gardens at dawn and dusk. I do hope we can show some in the programme at certain points throughout the year. Shelley and Dave I love your artichokes at sunset. And the green gladiolus posted by Claire Openshaw is stunning. It makes me wish my own garden was not so shade loving. I've tried gladioli; I've tried lupins, I've tried delphiniums but all eventually assign themselves to a shadowy grave. This year I've got higher hopes for my Acanthus...if I can just get tall spires I'll be happy.
Monty's own tip about sowing carrots on April 11th got me thinking too. I'm in my second year as an allotment holder and it's time to branch out so I've copied Monty and not sown in rows. Now I just need to wait for a programme on thinning them out as I didn't get that right last year either.....
Planes, trains and garden mowers! It can be a funny old chestnut gardening on camera when every line our presenters' deliver ends up competing with the general background noises we all take for granted. This week Carol had a challenge and a half. She tried to talk about cacti only to be drowned out by a nearby garden strimmer; she tired to dig up hardy geraniums only to be stopped by the quaking of our local ducks and she tried to plant lily bulbs over the drone of a circling aircraft. If she firmed those bulbs in once she firmed a dozen times. Luckily, no one firms like Carol Klein. Those bulbs couldn't have got a better start.
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