I remember watching Geoffrey Smith when he was often a guest presenter on Gardener's World. He was someone who knew his subject and was able to convey this to the viewer with great enthusiasm. One of the real gardeners who used to appear on television, now sadly missed.
Geoffrey Smith was a superb presenter who encouraged me to start vegetable gardening in my early twenties. An easy, informative style with lots of practical 'down to earth' advice. Really miss him.
I learned how to garden from my dad and this fellow :). The memories of this series have stuck with me through the decades. EDIT: And I just reached the point where he speaks of the book :). I bought that for my dad with my money from my milk round!
Brilliant video what a wonderful presenter geoffrey was, he's so much better than the modern day presenters, loved watching this reminds me of my dad watching it when I was a kid the world was a nicer placer in those days. Thanks for posting
I watched this series as a teenager and I had forgotten how good he was at getting information across. Really enjoyed watching Geoffrey Smith again, brought a lot of good memories back.
In our first year of marriage in the 1970's we got hooked on veggie gardening all because of Geoffrey Smith. Our whole garden was full of veg. We moved and now have a bigger garden, but we're much older now and can't manage the digging anymore. I still have some veg growing though. Miss Geoffrey Smith very much.!
No need for digging. It's counterproductive, wasted hard work and disrupts the soil biology. Mulch heavily and poke plugs in. My garden is much less work than going to the shops.
@@FrankEdavidson I love picking my lettuce, peas and parsley, instead of visiting the supermarket! Unfortunately we have a lot of brambles coming through nowadays and its a pain to get rid of.
@@FrankEdavidson agreed, and thankful that we are benefitting from many years of changing methods! i garden in buckets and raised beds now because of arthritis. i never saw this guy's videos, so it is enjoyabe to be reminded how my grandparents gardened. they raised us 4 grands, so we had to help with the gardening and preserving.
As a child, I had zero interest in gardening, that was mum's love, but I couldn't help enjoying Geoffrey Smith's enthusiasm and delivery every Sunday lunchtime. I used to watch whilst eating my roast dinner! He was the best.
Brilliant, so nice to hear the unmistakable voice of Geoffrey Smith. I have such fond memories of watching him as a child. Thanks for uploading this gem.
What a lovely bloke. I came here looking for old school gardening tips similar to those my grandad would’ve given me for his back garden, and I needn’t look any further 👌
I used to watch this with my dad when i was little. My dad always used to laugh when mr smith would plunge his spade until they soil and lift out a full shovel full of stoneless soil.
What a great show, packed with practical info, no charm nonsense and no constant musical accompaniment, thank goodness. A little music here and there is OK but too often it is continuous and just dumb background sounds. Amazing to see Mr. Smith gardening while wearing a button down shirt and a tie! Thank you for posting this.
I have the exact accompanying book published in 1976 shown on this episode and always wanted to watch the series. I have used the book information for my allotment. A shame he is no longer with us and I really like his enthusiasm and practical advice.
Just chanced upon this, I would have been too young for his shows to have meant anything to me, but it's great to watch it now. I think I've learnt more in this video alone, than dozens of recent vegetable gardening RU-vid videos combined, and I haven't even got to part 2 yet.
Makes me smile- “People will judge the work you do…. you’ll be judged on how straight your rows are…” Nowadays judging is not trendy, more people become unconcerned 😢😊
Along with the likes of Clay Jones,Arthur Billit,Geoff Amos, Cyril Fletcher and Bob Price These true men of the soil helped shape my gardening life. I once wrote to Mr Smith praising his vegetable garden program he wrote back saying his job was as easy as catching fish out of a barrel. It’s not of course but that’s how modest a man he was. Tending gardens in heaven RIP
Thank you so much for uploading this bit of archive footage, I think I have this laserdisc amongst my wonderful, late father's possessions, but don't have the technical know-how to do anything with it
I loved seeing, hearing and reading Geoff back in the good old days when life was sweet. I bought his vegetable growing book over 50 years ago which has inspired me since. Would not be a BBC presenter these days, using that term "ni**ardly", now politically incorrect, but innocently used without any malice intended.
I often wonder what he would think about the non dig, raised bed method. Hopefully he would be pleased about the less intensive work, along with the same excellent taste of local own grown veg.
Why are you saying it’s nonsense? Have you not watched Charles Dowding ? I use no dig methods and get excellent results with very few weeds,, this double digging is outdated and unnecessary,, I expect you posted what you did to get a reaction
How nice to see a proper Gardner Who is not afraid to get his hands dirty With some digging unlike the fools on RU-vid today like Charles the smarmy git with all this no dig nonsense! People are going out spending a fortune on bags of compost just to put over the top of perfectly good allotment soil!!, When all they really need to do is dig in some well rotted manure every couple of years job done. And What’s with all this raised beds Nonsense! Raised beds Were introduced To help people with disabilities? Or if the soil was to Stony or contaminated Such a shame to see all these raised beds on allotments up and down the country. You can fit so much more on a traditional Laid out allotment. And they look so much more tidy. I bet if Jeffrey Smith was alive today he would have a good old chuckle to himself😀 We need a modern day Jeffrey Smith to show all these RU-vidrs how to garden🌱👀 Rant over😜
Watching this I keep thinking I can't wait to see what his allotment looks like in full bloom. Loads of unnecessary work potentially but he is straight to the point with it. I may eat my own words when I move on a few parts.
He knew what he was talking about and his gardens always looked great :0) The more you put into gardens the more they give and the greater the rewards - only wish I could put more time into my own.
very labor intensive, but enjoyable to watch! glad we have easier methods for gardening now. i am about to start some seeds using a method called winter sowing to have seedlings ready when the time comes. right now i have salad leaves growing under small hoop houses, nice not buying greens!
Interesting how concerned he is with what other people will think of your gardening skills, your rows, the neatness of your garden, etc. Who cares what they think?
Brilliant long sequences. Gardeners World and Beech grove have clips which are too short. Then they run out of material to FILL their episodes. So they dig a hole and drop in bought plants. Yawn, yawn.
