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First thoughts

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Toby Buckland | 13:37 UK time, Friday, 12 September 2008

Hello! I've only been here a week but it's clear to me there are two main problems I think that we have at Gardeners' World. The first is how on earth in 26 shows a year can we possibly squeeze in everything there is to say about gardening? What do you leave out, when there are so many good ideas, beautiful plants and new things to try?

I might have to get back to you on this one, but the second problem is, how can we stop the camera crew damaging the lawns at Berryfields? In my own garden at home, I have a tiny bit of lawn and even though it's well-trodden by children - and me when I get the swingball out - it never has to take a bruising like the green runway between the long borders. The driving rain didn't help but I should imagine the fields at Glastonbury don't look much worse than after we'd finished our day's filming. You could see all our footprints almost fossilised in the mud and track marks from the camera, like cat-scratches down a leather sofa. All round us were visible bare patches and a thick layer of mud over the sward.

At dispiriting times like this I always draw on the wise words of Christopher Lloyd who when asked what to do when your lawn gets bare, said 'Look at something else.' But you can't do that forever, and even if I look away you can be sure that millions of viewers won't. So, after filming we pricked over the grass with a garden fork, pushing the tines in at a depth of just a couple of inches to allow air back into the compacted roots. Then - and I know this sounds mad - we used the old landscapers' trick of fighting water with water and hosed the mud from the sward. With a gentle rake it all comes away and you don't run the risk of the mud drying on the grass and killing patches of lawn. Do you know what? This has the making of a brilliant item. But where we'd fit it in the schedule I've no idea!

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