Gardener's World – Is it worth it?

Youtube is good but some of the videos take 30 minutes to give you 5 mins of sensible information.

 

Another vote for any of Geoff Hamilton's books that you can get your hands on.

I stopped subscribing to Gardening Which? as well, because it got more expensive than I though it was worth. OH still gets the regular Which?, and has an online login which gives access to quite a lot of garden stuff, but I only really look at it if I'm in the market for a new mower, hedgetrimmer etc.

I'm still an RHS member so I get their magazine which usually has some interesting articles, but even that seems to be getting a bit less specialist and a bit more basic in places.

 

Thankfully Monty seems to have stopped doing it now, but for years on Gardeners World he would show you how to prune your grapes and how to protect large tree ferns from frost. The magazine ended up being just as repetitive.

 

This makes me nervous. Lurking about in my Jacque Tati trademark raincoat, I'll be accused of being a flasher.

 

I've subscribed to the GW magazine for years, though first my mother paid for it then OH did. I liked it because it made me feel less alone in my garden in France not knowing anyone else who liked growing flowers. Then GW said that since Brexit they wouldn 't send it to France anymore so I asked them to send it to OH's house in Norfolk.

OH now gives me the RHS membership and I pay for GW but it has got so expensive and is so repetetive. I won't be renewing my subscription - but the main reason is because they have got rid of the GW Forum. I really liked the Forum, I met people through it and made friends.

Since they got rid of the Forum they have developed the website and Premium but is is all full of celebrities and I learnt a lot more through the Forum. I think they treated Forum members disgracefully.

 

My son gets me GW every Christmas. It is an interesting read but very formal. My wife buys me Kitchen Garden which I find more informal and a better interesting read.

 

I had it for 3 years to find out that I had hardly read it in year 2, and couldn't find the articles between the advertisements in year 3. Was more than happy to cancel my loyalty subscription when the company stopped the GW forum.

 

Worth knowing that if you want to read Gardeners World magazine and you’re a member of your local library, it’s worth checking if they give you access to it through an ebook app. My local library lets me log in to the BorrowBox app and GW magazine is on there.

 

I still get GW but only because my SD gave me a lifetime subscription. I Admit I wouldn't buy it regularly if not. It's bound to be repetitive, as gardening is seasonal, and jobs, processes are repeated each year and they can't assume you read it last year. I pass them on to the apprentices at the college where I volunteer. I also get the RHS magazine, though I preferred it when it was the "journal of horticulture " , as with everything these days it's been dumbed down a little.