Gentle soul

I was wondering how many folks out there remember Jim Crockett of Crockett's Victory Garden. I remember watching the very first episode and was immediately hooked (kind of like DG). For me, he was the type of gardener I always wanted to become and a part of me died when he passed away. In my humble opinion, the show has never been the same, and, even though it has survived into these times, it pales in comparison to the original (remember the hammered dulcimer theme song?).

Interesting that I still think of him lo these several decades later. Does anyone else have someone like him in their gardening life that they still think of many years later?

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This message was edited Wednesday, Jan 23rd 8:36 PM

CB was this televised from Callaway Gardens? I know a Victory Garden was filmed there and some where up north and I'm having one of those senior days when I can picture the garden and the man with a beard but can't remember where or whom. Oh well back to the present. What was I doing? Another senior moment.

GRC, what I am talking about is many years prior to what you remember seeing. The Victory Garden that can now be seen on PBS and HGTV was originally called Crockett's Victory Garden. It started out in the mid 70's and was the brainchild of Russ Morash who also created This Old House. The "victory garden" was put in behind the WGBH studio in Boston and I remember Crockett bringing in about a gazillion bags of peat moss the first episode to try and develop some decent soil. He was the pioneer of gardening shows, like Julia Childs was the pioneer of cooking shows, and HGTV singlehandedly owes its livelihood to Jim Crockett.

The fellow you are thinking about is named Jim Wilson, who conducted segments on the Victory Garden South out of Callaway Gardens (they also had one for the North and West). He stopped by a friends house here a few months ago and we reminisced about Jim Crockett, althought I never got a chance to meet him.

FYI, Wilson has written a number of good gardening books oriented towards southern gardeners. His Bulletproof Flowers for the South is particularly good. Seeing as how you are "in the zone", you might want to check it out.

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for the book. I'm old enough to remember but wasn't into gardening then as I am now. Thanks for all the information. Callaway Garden is about 20 miles from me so I sort of keep up with it. Now that you mentioned Jim Wilson the name came to mind and that is the man I was thinking of.

My Aunt Anne would have remembered him! She's the one who turned me on to the Victory Garden. She used to watch it all the time and I'd occasionally watch it with her, but wasn't really that into it until I grew older. She passed away as well this past year.

Are there tapes of old episodes of the VG? I wonder if they're not public, if they would consider selling copies if enough people showed interest in it...

Wingnut, it's a shame, but there is no recognition of Jim Crockett's role in American gardening - this would be like completely ignoring Julia Child's influence on American cuisine and TV cooking shows.

You can find Crockett's first and only book at Amazon as a used book. Here is a review by a buyer:

"This is the best gardening book I have come across in many years. It has all the information that I have been looking for. I have spring fever so bad due to the topics and directions that Jim has given in his book."

One of the many groundbreaking aspects about this book is that he was the first (as far as I know) to outline his book according to tasks/chores/plantings to do each month (skewed to the northeastern gardener, but the concept is what is important), exactly how a gardener goes about doing his day-to-day gardening, which is similar to DG's approach to journals.

I will say again that he is the Julia Childs of gardening. For folks not to know about him in the history of gardening is to lose something of real importance. I am saddened that there is no one here in Dave's Garden so far who remembers him or his importance to gardening.

I remember him and have a book by him. He always gave such good information and I agree that the show has never been the same. Bob ? who followed him and Jim Wilson made a good team as a follow-up, but you never quite got the feeling of "starting from scratch". I hardly ever watch it anymore, as most of the time, they are visting gardens, that are so far beyond my small patch and seems more like a travelogue than a garden show. We have a local garden show that comes after it, that is more informative for me, and then there is dg's

MG, It is soooo good to hear from someone who remembers him. The fellow who helped and eventually replaced him was Bob Thompson (you were halfway there - but my memory was worse - I had to get out the book to remember his name).

I totally agree with your assesment of the Victory Garden nowadays (and for more than the last decade). It appears that Rush Morash is using the show to allow him and his wife to travel all over the world, rather than try to give basic, sound advice to everyday gardeners. It's a shame that someone hasn't tried to resurrect the original shows for folks who want simple, plain advice on gardening. But, they may have been lost to posterity.

I totally agree with you there, Marcia and Copperbaron. I do enjoy seeing a nice garden, but not at the expense of getting to see Roger Swain toddle around the garden, showing us how to force endive, transplant a holly that's in the wrong place or plant potatoes. Even if it's in a different climate than mine, I still learn something. And aren't there enough cooking shows on PBS already? They've cut the real gardening time back so much that now Roger barely gets to introduce a plant of the week and he's saying goodbye.

Check out the next month's schedule: http://www.victorygarden.org/show_desc.html Goes like this:
Saturday, January 26 ~ Adrian tours and Marion cooks
Saturday, February 2 ~ Adrian tours and Marion cooks
Saturday, February 9 ~ Adrian tours and Marion cooks
Saturday, February 16 ~ Adrian tours and Marion cooks
Saturday, February 23 ~ Adrian tours and Marion cooks
Been like that for all of January! If it was an occasional show like that, it wouldn't bother me so much, but it's been getting more and more like that lately. If they want to do a show like that, they could just branch those two off on their own. I've already got a title for it: Adrian Tours and Marion Cooks.

Off to do some cyber-sleuthing for anything I can find on Jim Crockett... :-)

Sorry, I don't remember Jim Crockett, but last year I went to a flower show and heard Jim Wilson speak. He is such a nice fellow. I bought his book which he signed - it is so practical and down to earth. Lots of pretty pictures too.

Azalea, I agree - Jim Wilson is as nice a person as they come. He is originally from Vicksburg, but left in his late teens. He used to come through town periodically on the riverboats and take the folks on the cruise to a friend of mine's house and garden for tours (we are talking serious garden here), but the riverboat company has shut its doors. I recommend his book for anyone who gardens in the south.

Wingnut, toddling about was what Jim Crockett was all about, and he always had a section at the end where he would answer gardening questions sent in by mail. They don't even do that anymore and it would be so much easier nowadays with e-mail.

Oh, that sounds like a perfect gardening show! I love toddling myself! Surely WGBH has copies of the Crockett show. I wonder how hard it would be to convince them to pull them out of the vault and atleast air them again? Victory Garden Classics with Jim Crockett ~ I'd love to see it. I mean, royalties (to Jim's widow?) and whatnot couldn't cost more than a trip to Scotland and a set of copper pans with matching cheese grater. And since something like 1 out of every 4 Americans are gardeners, they'd surely get lots of viewers. I don't get cable or dish, just broadcast channels, so Martha, VG and a lame local show are all the gardening fixes I get on TV. Besides, I've heard a lot of people complain about HGTV that it's more H than G. I'll bet they'd tune in, too. I'm going to e-mail WGBH. Anybody with me? http://www.wgbh.org/contact/

I just went to the link above (WGBH's feedback form) and posted my thoughts and wanted to let everyone know that I just posted my name and e-mail address, leaving the mailing address, ph#, etc., boxes blank. It went through fine, so that info isn't required. They also have a check box to tell them to not share your info.

Wingnut, good idea - I put my two cents worth in at WGBH also. Bye the bye, I've caught many a bass, had many a beer, and seen many a good lookin' woman while floating down the San Marcos River. As a matter of fact, it was in San Marcos where I first watched Crockett's Victory Garden.

I have a link that you have to go to:

http://www.golftexas.com/reviews/pedernales1.htm

It epitomizes what I love about Texas and Texans.

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Oooooh, toobin'! LOVE IT!! I've been looking for a tractor tire that's not TOO tall so we can wire a plywood bottom to it for coolers, kids and dogs. Did you happen to go around the Horseshoe on the Guadalupe? There's a campground not far from where you put in and the 'Shoe winds around right by your campsite. How convenient!

Oh, man! Thank you for posting that, Copperbaron. I loved that link! That's exactly the way it is around here, too ~ and not just if you play golf. We're a pretty laid-back sort, us Texans, aren't we? Are you from here originally?
BTW, I live about 10 miles from the Cut-n-Putt and used to bartend for a friend in her bar over-yonder there ~ served many a beer to the Golf Gang. The author of that piece isn't far off the mark about the rules (I "beered" a 17-member foursome at the bar once). *grin* Right around the corner from the golf course is Luck, Texas ~ the western town movie set. Some friends have period buckboards and trained horses. I go up there sometimes to watch a taping if they're in it, but haven't been in quite a while. Neat place, Luck.

hi i don't know of mr. crockett but your heading caught my eye. somehow it seems people who love nature, gardening etc are often gentle souls...a neighbour lady became my "adopted" grandma and she loved flowers and roses esp. and i think of her when i see people lovingly growing plants in funny old containers she did this before it was "trendy". my step mother used to regard this as tacky but "gramma" raised the nicest plants and got so much pleasure from reusing old cans and pots and ice cream pails. her plants were always so stunning you never noticed the rusty cofffe cans and if you did it was only because it showed her ability to make something nice out of nothing special. i'll never forget her and how she made a lonely little girl feel so special too. i think of her big soft bed with the colorful well used quilts and her collection of "little house on the prarie" books which she would read to me at night when i would stay over. she always had homemade cookies in old tins in a pantry that had a fabric curtian hiding it. she kept butterscotch hard candies in another cupboard and made the nicest brown-cinny toast. her house was filled with her little collectibles. she made button pictures that today would be considered folk art. she had a trunk filled with old fashioned clothes (some were her mothers) which she let all the neighbourhood children dress up in....she was the sweetest lady who never fussed over a little mess or noise and all children loved her. she took in stray cats, dogs and made friends with the birds and even the odd stray mouse who moved in on her. she saw goodness and beauty in everything. hers was a real cottage garden and she was the true fairy tale gramma. i'll never forget her and her loving gentle soul was a blessing to all who knew her. she died many years ago now and i know she's in heaven tending her pretty roses! maybe she has met mr.crockett and they are discussing flowers.
sorry to have run down memeory lane but your post just made me think of her....
it sounds like mr. crockett was a nice man. i'm with you guys on some of the shows aired about gardeneing...the are great but everything is so far beyond the average persons little plot it can make you feel rather intimidated.(MARTHA STEWERT!!!!)i don't get cable buti would love to see these old shows. mr.crockett, as you folks describe him sounds like a real gentleman and a super gardener.

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I, too, have just visited WGBH. Thanks, Copperbaron, for the great idea! I think getting the old shows back on the air would be lovely. I am much too young to remember them, although I know of Jim Crockett's book, and I tried watching the new Victory Garden, but so much of it seemed to be meant for someone with a much bigger, less practical garden then I have....I have to say that I have enjoyed Paul James' show on HGTV, but less for the advice than the humor.

I loved Mr. Crockett and his Victory Garden. I am 65 years of age and have been gardening since I was a little kid so I guess I remember the show better than a lot of the "youngins" around here. My Dad was an agriculture teacher and my mother was an avid flower gardener. I had the opportunity to learn from the "best". The wonderful times I guess I remember the best were when we went to visit relatives and friends and came home with the trunk of the car (and as much of the back seat as we kids could give up) loaded down with all the wonderful plants that folks shared with us. When they came to visit us we always loaded their cars down also. For that reason I feel certain, I have always loved sharing my plants with people. I refer to my garden as my memory garden as it is filled with memories of so many of the people who shared their plants with me.

Wingnut, born and raised - once a Texan, always a Texan. I did my master's thesis on Canyon Reservoir, so I'm very familiar with the Guadalupe. I also bartended at the Jersey Lilly in San Marcos. Seemed like a glamorous job at that age, but then one day it hit me that all I was dealing with were a bunch of drunks, so I quit.

Is hippy hollow still operational? Here's a place worth seeing if it's still operational - Lil Arkansas on the Blanco River outside of Wimberly. I used to take my springer spaniel there 3 or 4 times a week to swim.

Linea, based on what I've read in the forums, I have a feeling a lot of folks here at DG's would enjoy watching the show if they would bring it back. But thank Wingnut for the idea.

MummyOF4dolls and Elena, I'm glad I was able to stir your memories. I think gardening memories are what have given the impetus to so many people to begin gardening anew. I know it was for me. The flowers, foliage, and form are wonderful, the tiredness at the end of a day is oftentimes welcome, the pleasure of looking on what you have accomplished is rewarding, but I think the memories are what are best.

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I just love this web site as there is so much more to it than "just" gardening!

Well, I guess I'm one of the young'uns Elena is referring to, LOL. My encounters with PBS in the '70s was limited to Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers and The Electronic Company. (No, I'm not QUITE that young, but my brother is 7 years younger than me, and I often watched "his shows" with him.

I think HGTV owes a debt to many PBS pioneers in home improvement and gardening, including Bob Vila. And yes, I AM old enough to have been a homeowning fan of the original This Old House series :)

Amanda, one of my goals is to recreate the front porch look where my grandmother and great-grand and all of their friends performed their best masterpieces of botany. A bought pot never sullied the air, as there was no money for frivolities. Instead, there was a splendid assortment of patched kitchen vessels, gourds and automotive parts, each being home to plants that seemed to drop from the sky each spring and summer. I have tried to recall where they might have wintered, as I know they weren't inside, but that detail is lost to me. Coleus never looks right unless it's in a black iron pot. Begonias need a worn tea kettle to truly strut their stuff. Petunias are best in an old tire or
half a gas tank, and ferns belong in an old egg basket lined with hay. Small sedums should have a chipped cup as a frame, and violets are never so beautiful as in the old well bucket. But my favorite container memory is the wood fern my grandpa brought home to his wife in a hollow hickory knot. She was never one to be appreciative, so she just told him to set it on the steps, and there it sat for as long as I remember. It crawled all over that hickory knot, but never beyond, as if it thought she might step on it if she had a chance. Maybe it had some care, but I don't recall anyone ever touching it, except for me. I would pet it and talk to it and tell it I thought it was beautiful. I don't know when they moved, and I don't think they had plants at the "new" house, but I have often wished I had taken part of it for my start. Ferns from those same woods don't grow for me.

Amanda, Your memories are wonderful, reminded me a bit of mine. I visited the WGBH site and gave them the feedback. I did not tell them that the standing joke in the house about the program, is "what vegetable will Marion be killing today" lol