| Product: |
Gardeners World Magazine |
| Date: |
01/07/01 (93 review reads) |
| Rating: |
 |
Advantages: Easy to read, short, interesting articles, lovely photos
Disadvantages: Not enough time or money to implement the ideas
BBC Gardeners' World magazine is perfect toilet reading....short, interesting articles, lots of pictures and easy to read. Makes a good aternative to Cosmopolitan.
Anyway, back to reviewing the magazine. When I was young I though I would rather die than want to read this magazine, or watch the programme for that matter. Middle age has worked its miracle on me now and Gardeners' World seems like a good idea. It is also Britain's best selling gardening magazine.
The magazine costs £2.50 per issue and is released monthly. However you can subscribe using a form in the magazine, which either gives you a discount (12 for the price of 10) or a free gift, e.g. weeding fork and trowel in the June issue.
I think this magazine is for both the experienced and inexperienced gardener (count me in on the latter). Some articles are very technical or full of unpronounceable Latin names where as others are for simple souls like me. There are articles about everything you can imagine – garden design, different types of plants, garden equipment, vegetables, indoor plants, history of plants, questions and answers, colour schemes, pond plants etc. etc.
There are always readers’ offers and competitions, for example competitions to win a holiday of a lifetime or ticket offers for gardening shows. The magazine is full of adverts, which can get a bit annoying, but on the other hand I have ordered a few innovative things – great for present ideas. It features most of the well known ‘characters’ from the BBC Gardening shows, not just Gardeners’ World. The men will be happy with lovely Rachael de Thame, whilst some women (not me) will be happy with Tommy Walsh (can anyone explain his appeal to me?)
To give you an idea of a typical issue, I will give some details of articles in the June 2001 edition:
+ Garden News – guide to the latest news in gardening
+ Your letters R
11; letters and photos about readers’ gardens.
+ Tomorrow’s World – future gardening developments
+ Houseplants – feature on different houseplants each month
+ Q&A – questions and answers on all gardening matters
+ Gardening on the Web – guide to the best gardening websites
+ Readers' Offers – hose reels to be won, discount card, plant offers
+ Home and Dry – article on succulents
+Tommy’s Ground Force Diary – Tommy Walsh on a Ground Force makeover
+ How to grow Summer Salad Leaves – growing your own salad couldn’t be simpler
+ Controlling Greenfly – effective ways to control these pests
+ The Recycled Garden – how to create a garden from unwanted items
+ Water Lilies – turn your pond into a master piece
+ What’s your favourite flower? – vote on the nation’s favourite
+ Big ideas for Small Gardens – how to make the most of a small space
+ Tales from Titchmarsh – Alan reveals his future aspirations
+ Jargon Made Easy – guide to garden feature terminology
This is only about three quarters of the articles in June’s issue, so as you can see there is a wide range of articles, none too long or taxing. The magazine is usually around 200 colourful pages long and is packed with information. Each month the articles are relevant to the gardening year, so in winter they will not be talking about mowing the lawn or growing strawberries and in summer they will not be talking about frost cover. The multitude of photos of are of very high quality, even if they do make your own garden seem quite dull and colourless in comparison.
If you are not too ashamed of getting older and have even a mild interest in gardening, give it a go. I can guarantee a good read on the toilet and off. Enjoy!!
Summary:
|
|
