I was so pleased to see the old, best of 'Canadian Gardening' with David Tarrant being shown on CBC this afternoon. There just aren't any good gardening shows anymore. I've seen it a few times now. I think it's called 'For Love of Gardening' or something close. If your TV guide is as easy to read as mine......I would never have seen it, but for looking for something else on CBC. I get it at 1:30 PM it think, but with starchoice I've watched it in other time zones too. Well it's something.
It is too bad isn't it! A couple of years ago I wrote to Home and Garden TV about the lack of decent gardening programs at decent times. I am undoubtedly odd but frankly I prefer my gardening programs in the winter cause in the summer I am in the garden not watching TV! Oh they had the programs all right but out here they were on at 3 and 4 and 5 am! Got an interesting letter back which - when I posted it on the Hort. society chat line turned out to be the exact letter a couple of other ladies got the year before! Makes you wonder if anybody reads the letters or if somebody just automatically pushes a button and sends everybody the same response. I think I will write them again and suggest it is time they changed the name of their network and took out the word garden. Interesting to see if I get the same letter in response!
So right you are. I don't even get the package with HGTV in it anymore. My way of saying it's not good enough. The new shows they bring out have less and less to do with growing plants.
I notice one or two that I used to watch are still on - at 5AM. Bit early for me in the winter.
When we lived in a tiny fishing village north of here, the garden shows were all that kept me sane in monsoon season - now I can't find one!
Dontcha just love form letters? I've had some really funny ones over the years - found a piece of rope in a tin of cashews, sent off a blistering commentary to the manufacturer, and got back a letter that thanked me for my "nice letter."
When he read the reply, my DH said - "You're losing your touch, dear!"
Check your local CBC station schedule for Thursday afternoons. Of course we will lose it during the winter Olympics, but you must be getting this one too.
Thanks, echoes!
Yes, I miss all the gardening shows too. On HGTV they have them on at such ungodly hours.
And I'm with fancyvan in that I'd love to see some gardening shows in the wintertime! I suppose all those shows about 'prettying up the house for pennies' are so popular that they're squeezing out the gardening shows. I like some of those house fix-up shows but a balance would be nice. I guess you either have to be a housenetwork or a gardening network. It's too hard to do both well.
Sandy
I too have given up on HGTV for the same reasons, and think they could (have thought for a long time) remove the garden aspect of their name. Garden shows in the winter,,,,,,,, WHAT BETTER TIME?
Ken
I'd like to see some of those before and after shows about a garden, as well as a house - here's what you can do for this much $$ - I'd watch that slavishly!
LOLOL.......I'm betting we'd all be glued to the T.V. for that.
I wrote in also.............whatever happened to gardening??? Really, they've gone overboard with the competition bit??? and decorating.........gardening is an all time no one past time????? E
It should be renamed Home and Renovate TV. How they can leave the gardening in there with what they offer is beyond me. Even during the growing months anything they do show is a rerun from the 90's and beyond. What ever happened to Calling all Gardeners and the like?
Sunkeeper
Supposedly, gardening as a pastime in Canada and the US is having an all-time high in popularity - we're all just too polite, need to kick and scream more and write firm letters to program directors... if everyone who belongs to DG wrote in, just think how cool that would be!!
Today is Thursday, so will watch it. Yippee .. Thanks for pointing this out to us, Echoes.
'Home and Renovate'
Right on SK. I read somewhere that they can get more companys to sponser home renos, etc. than they can for gardening. I don't really understand that because there's lots of companies that put out gardening products. Whatever the reason you can bet your sweet patootie that there's $$$$ behind it.
I used to watch the home renos but not anymore. Enuf is enuf!!
Joan
Well I'm sure I could use a home reno too, but I crave more gardening exposure, especially during these winter months. David Tarrant's last show was full of colour and beautiful plants. Took me away for half an hour. Didn't matter that I'dd probably seen it twice before, it was still garden.
Ground Force is still on the BBC Canada station. Not my favourite, but a bit of fun. DH gets a kick out of the girl in the T shirt.
Yes, if they were after the right advertisers, we'd get more gardening shows. HGTV must be doing it backazwards.
I'd be happy to see re-runs of Kathy Reynwald's shows. New shows would be over the top.
I have a stack of taped 'Flower Power' shows I watch from time to time to get a good garden fix. They focus on a specific plant, such as lupins or sweet peas or dahlias, and do the whole history, breeding, cultivation... really a great show.
And I have to agree, there are almost no gardening shows on at a time of year when we REALLY NEED them. Obviously TV programmers are not gardeners.
