The Big Allotment Challenge

image from www.clker.com/

Gardening programmes on TV can all too often be a bit dull. Much as I used to enjoy Monty Don (I used to love Real Gardens on Channel4) I now find that Gardeners World is very repetitive and must be watched with the remote control ready to fast forward. I was pleased to discover The Beechgrove Garden last year, a more magazine based style that keeps moving. It shows a traditional style of working that isn't really for me but I do enjoy the show and I'm glad that it is no longer just shown on BBC2 Scotland.


The latest of 'gardening' programmes to hit the screen is 'The Big Allotment Challenge'. I wasn't too sure how they were going to pull this off but was intrigued non the less. And I enjoyed it! It is a very fluffy show, I suspect that there is very little here for the serious gardener but that doesn't bother me. I like a bit of shallowness sometimes, I used to love the old garden makeover programmes too! It is all very prettily set up with everybody having an allotment in a lovely walled garden, they've all had time to grow the required fruit, veg and flowers for the challenges to come. Not a style of gardening I wish to do but entertaining, I do enjoy these gentle programmes.

So that's traditional and fluffy ticked off. Are we ever going to see a more ecological style of gardening on tv? Is there anything already out there? I'd like to think so but it is difficult to see how this could be done to appeal to a larger audience.