Another thought occured to me (I know, I should stop) this morning whilst looking wistfully out of the office window at the sunny day, knowing full well it's pretty darned cold out.

I don't remember seeing any photos of our gardening gurus being photographed in a pish miserable day, with rain lashing down, up to their knees in mud. I can appreciate that our very own Paul is probably often out on the plot in all weathers, but the photos are always on fairly decent days. I understand that there are logistical issues regarding photography in the rain, but do you think it would be nice to have the odd "real life" photo every now and then?

Or have these photos been used, and I've just seen them with rose tinted specs on?

Just thought, that for those of us who need a little reassurance every now and then that things can look cr@p even for professionals, it might be nice to see some physical evidence.

I would imagine a blooper reel of GW would have the same effect.

I've been lookingthrough my gardening mags over the past few weeks - French and English - and agree that they yend to give a rosy view of gardening. Pests and diseases are always sort of, well, if you're unlucky, you never know etc etc., and as with all mags trying to promote anything, they're all pictured perfectly.

I often get the feeling that the fora also sort of perpetuate that rosy glow feeling, difficult to describe really - but when somebody asks whether they're too late setting their seeds when this is the time that you're supposed to be setting them unless you're bringing them on early in artificial conditions - grow lights and the like - trying to get nature working for you rather than sort of being in harmony with seasons.

I know what you mean Haywayne and agree, just explaining how I see it badly.

yes garden mags never seem to show the reality - like a nasty shot of someone trying to extricate bindweed and horsetail that grew overnight on their onion bed!

"Do gardening mags rose tint gardening? "

Well, you NEVER see them posing on their immaculate patches in the pouring rain, shivering, do you? There's no swearing, either. In reality, there is a lot of that going on in my garden, lol!

maybe we should all send in our 'real life' gardening pictures for them to use

I would love to know how they get those rows and rows of perfect brassicas with never a yellow or lacy leaf in sight - THE HONEST TRUTH of how it is done would be great!

No you folk's are not seeing the full picture the gardener's go out in the rain it is the nancy boy photographer's that do not go out in the rain....jacob

Originally Posted by HeyWayne

Just thought, that for those of us who need a little reassurance every now and then that things can look cr@p even for professionals, it might be nice to see some physical evidence.

If you want to count me as a professional, trust me, I swear and shiver, and shout and fall on my face in the mud, same as most folk (though I probably swear more than most ).
I do have some rows of perfect crops but others are just like everybody elses - some good specimens and some bad - and some seriously rotten - but whenever you see photos of rows of perfect crops in a mag or a paper, you'd be on even money to say that they had been uploaded from a stock photo library.

No one wants to be told that it can be a bloomin hard slog,freezing cold, wet and makes all your bones creak!! I think being positive about growing veg is definitely the way to go so it encourages more people to try it, i certainly viewed it with rose tinted specs until i was presented with my new half plot with nettles taller than me!! Didn't run away though, got stuck in so i could make it look like those luverly pictures, they acted as inspiration.

Originally Posted by shirlthegirl43

I would love to know how they get those rows and rows of perfect brassicas with never a yellow or lacy leaf in sight - THE HONEST TRUTH of how it is done would be great!

its called adobe photoshop...

and those photos in the catalogues for things like plastic raised beds (plastic raised beds ..??? mine are made of found wood) with perfectly formed lettuces etc - i always reckon that they've bought them in the supermarket and just put them there for the photo..