Is The Beechgrove Garden really better than Gardeners' World?

Something definitely ails a TV programme if you're irritated before it even begins. Even more so, something is right when you eagerly anticipate a forthcoming episode.

Together, that's a fair summary of how I've been approaching the BBC's Gardeners' World and BBC Scotland's The Beechgrove Garden. So much so that I haven't watched GW for some time. Was I, I asked myself recently, being fair?

Well, both programmes are shown as repeats on Sunday morning, so a couple of weeks ago I recorded them to see what, if any, was the difference. Let's start with a rundown of the subjects covered in both programmes:

Beechgrove Garden	Item presented by	Gardeners’ World	Item presented by
Thugs Corner: Look at how bed of garden thugs is fighting it out Mention of new addition Himalayan Lilac Mulching in summer/winter	Jim McColl, Chris Beardshaw	Plants in pots fading, adding potash to keep going	Monty Don
Introduction to Dunlop, where community garden is being created	George Anderson	Intro – preview with pics and clips of what’s to come
Comparison of Jim McColl’s melons, grown in cold frame, and Chris Beardshaw’s, grown on a hotbed	Jim and Chris, separately	August is a time of ecstasy. Don’t forget to sit down and enjoy your garden Look at accidental grouping of canna, weeping pear and clematis. Wow.	Monty Don
Visit to the community garden in Dunlop: What people are doing Tips on rejuvenating apple trees Gooseberry sawfly Bug hotels Pallet gardens	Carole Baxter	Start to plan for next year Vita Sackville-West’s tip on cutting a flower and carrying round garden to find best site for it.	Monty Don
Visit to the veg garden Chard bolting and possibly why Cauliflower Onions Peas – comparison of growth with added rhizobium and without. And of different supports.	Jim McColl	Visit to Coleton Fishacre History of garden and d’Oyly Carte family Chat with head gardener	Rachel de Thame
Look at how trained fruit doing in the mini-orchard Feeding a sickly peach	Chris Beardshaw	Creating micro-climate with hedges Hedge trimming fresh growth now , winter trim the old wood Creating window in hedge for vista	Monty Don
Another look at the community garden: Bog garden. Different areas of garden. Adding thyme to cracks in crazy paving Advice on dividing hostas/herbaceous plants in October	Carole Baxter	Carol Klein returns to a garden she designed Look at wallflowers Taking cuttings – demo Difference between annual and perennial weeds Compost bin needs to be on soil	Carol Klein
Seasonal advice: Water camellias and rhodos to keep buds Water compost bins in dry weather Water sweetcorn, aid pollination	Jim McColl and Chris Beardshaw	Jobs this weekend Potting on Nipping out tomato tops August lettuce, keep watered Keep cutting courgettes	Monty Don
Goodbye from community garden	Carole + crowd

I was surprised that both shows have approximately the same number of items. But there the resemblance stops.

First impressions? Beechgrove is an extensive garden with a team of people presenting, including the lovely, long-serving Jim McColl.  Gardeners' World is, let's face it, the Monty Don show.

No harm in that, necessarily, but a team produces more opinions and will have diverse interests. A glance of their website reveals that Beechgrove also has a team of gardeners working on the three-acre site, which probably accounts for how they manage to cover such a variety of subjects.  Every week, they introduce or revisit an experiment or three - solutions for cut flowers; the success of different dahlia varieties; different wildflower mixes; the effect of different composts.You name it...

 

Map of Beechgrove Gardens

The BBC insisted that two full-time gardeners be employed at Long Meadow, but the general impression is of having a look at whatever Monty happens to be doing on his two acres this week. 

Beechgrove presentation is snappy, each item is packed with info, tips are brief and to the point, and when they visit a garden they widen it into an opportunity to present something of relevance to viewers. Rachel de Thame's visit to Coleton Fishacre merely smugly described how easy it was to grow tender plants there and gave no explanation of how the cacti manage in the West Country wetness.

Gardeners' World did have a few things that Beechgrove didn't:

• Interludes of close-ups of unnamed flowers, backed by plinky music
• Long shots of Monty, appearing round corners or up alleys
• Preview clips that appeared again later in the show

All of which contribute to the - shall we say? - gentle pace of the programme.

And Husband, with his usual perspicacity, put his finger firmly on a major difference. "Gardeners' World," he said, "is focussed on design." And he's right - if you look at the list of items above, they nearly all have a design element, including that rather patronising period devoted to telling us to enjoy our garden.

I was left wondering who exactly Gardeners' World is for. Beechgrove bristles with interest for the hands-on gardener, covering practicalities, problems, choices gardeners might face. Gardeners' World seems constantly to be addressing the most basic novice and people with only a passing interest in getting dirt beneath their fingernails.

A simple indication of the approaches of the two programmes is that Beechgrove provides a weekly factsheet for viewers. Gardeners' World doesn't - and there really wouldn't be much to put on it.

How much of this is down to Monty's presentation? I wonder. This time last year Professor Lisa Jardine criticised the BBC for being run by humanities graduates with no understanding of science, who assumed the viewers were as ignorant as they were.

The idea presenters must "mash up the difficult stuff, and particularly science, because people are not able to understand, is a complete fallacy".

Is Gardeners' World suffering from management by non-gardeners who just don't get it? 

Of course, GW has far more viewers than Beechgrove, but, after quizzing a few fellow gardeners at Mr Fothergill's Trials Day recently, I realised that an awful lot of gardeners haven't ever watched the latter. If you're one of them, I urge you to give it a go.

Record Gardeners' World and Beechgrove on a Sunday morning and then watch Beechgrove first. I guarantee that GW's languid progress will make you wilt on the sofa and you'll be reminding yourself to set the timer for next week's Scottish instalment.

Comments

[VP]

Over lunch I was pondering why I tune into Countryfile and not GW. Broadcast timing is partly to blame, but I do wish we had a gardening programme like Countryfile (though of course some items on there would be perfectly happy on any gardening programme). I like its focus on one particular area of the country per week and not being afraid to tackle thorny issues for discussion on a regular basis. I feel intelligent when I watch it and I learn something. Those are 2 things which haven't happened with GW for me in ages. I'm not sure Beechgrove would do it for me either in that respect, though I do applaud its wider breadth based on your above analysis, so I'll give it a go.

[Helene]

I have never seen Beechgrove so I can’t comment on your analysis, I do however watch Gardeners’ World every week and have done so for the last 15 years – and miss it when it’s not on. I have learned so much from this program over the years and I really like their style. I have just programmed my recorder for tomorrow’s Beechgrove, we shall see if I become addicted to that too :-)

[Helen]

I must admit that I've never watched Countryfile, but I think that's exactly what you do want - to feel you've learned something (feeling more intelligent would be a bonus for me :) ) . Let us know what you think of Beechgrove!

Helene, I'm glad to hear that you like GW (I've got a soft spot for Monty, personally) but you've got such a lovely garden and seem so experienced that I wonder how much you learn from it nowadays? I'd love to hear what you think of Beechgrove. Of course, this would be a week when they do their own version of flowers and music in the garden visit!

[Helene]

Sorry I missed your reply to me here, I don’t know how to keep track on your replies as there is no box to tick to follow by email or just follow. I don’t use ‘Feed’ so I am not sure what to do – how do your visitors keep track of your replies? Without having to go back and look if you have written anything yet.

As for Gardeners’ World, there is always something to learn, I learn new things about gardening every week – online or via TV or by trial and error in my own garden :-)
Beechgrove is a bit different and seems to be targeting allotment owners and vegetable growers heavily at the moment, I am neither, I hope this is just the season we are in, but I have set my recorder on ‘series setting’ so I will get it every Sunday from now on. Another program to look forward to when I have 30 minutes available :-)

[Patricia Scott]

I am becoming a big fan of the Beechbrove Garden and less and less of Gardeners World which I record and usually fast forward over large sections of the programme. I totally agree with your views on the two shows.

[Helen]

Hi, Patricia. Thank you for commenting. I couldn't agree more. I also tend to record GW and fast forward through much of it.

[Tom]

Hi Helen
If it is relevant I find Countryfile even more irritating than GW.. Blue Peter in adult time...and the same semi-didactic tone overlain with smugness.
Beechgrove is nearly always interesting and informative without being preachy or condescending. All the presenters know their stuff and respect each other. I would say that they are professional and Monty is essentially amateur and a lot like the boring old uncle pottering in his garden.
I also find that if you watch a Beechgrove episode twice you get quite lot out of it the second time too

Anyway there is plenty of room for both.

Tom
PS I found your site today and it looks v interesting...

[Helen]

Thank you, Tom. Actually, I rather agree on Countryfile. I heard one person say she couldn't stand watching it because the farmers were all portrayed as saints and doing nothing like the sort of farming that was carried out in her area. There's never been any proper debate or confrontation of the issues at the heart of farming in the couple of programmes I've watched. It's pretty much confined to smallholding, it seems to me. And you're right - semi-didactic - drives me potty. Monty is dangerously similar, now you've come to point it out.

[Connie]

Have almost never watched GW since Alan Titchmarsh left it.
Toby Whatsisname was OK, but I find Monty irritating and smug.
If Carol Klein was in charge, I would watch it again.

Beechgrove is more relevant to the ordinary gardener like me, who doesn't have acres in a mild southern climate. It manages to be simultaneously interesting and educational.

[Helen]

Thank you for commenting, Connie. Carol generally smiles too much for me, and keeps saying how everything's fabulous - although I think she has toned down the excess smiling recently. It's been a thoroughly interesting Beechgrove series again this summer - only two more to go, sadly.