Victory Garden Gone Ozzie

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 Hanna   Umm... Yeah

Victory Garden PosterI am a big fan of the show the Victory Garden. Mostly because I am part of the rare 10% who does not pay for their television and when you only have 7 stations to choose from (8 if I spoke Spanish), your gardening television choices are limited.

This season sees a new host, Jamie Durie,  and he is Australian. Which perturbs me a bit. It is not to say that there is anything wrong with Ozzies, it is just they seem to be taking over the home improvement and gardening world here in the US.   Don’t they have gardens and houses where they live?

I have actually known quite a few Ozzies in my life. I traveled around Europe tortoise style for awhile and in that circle, Ozzies are abundant. Never in that time did they give me the impression of being a nationality steeped in knowledge about all things green and home building. Honestly, the impression I got was they were a nationality steeped in beer and knowledgeable about how to always find a good time and dodging the local police when a good time got to be a little too good. But those are stories for another kind of blog.

Part of what is bothering me is I am not so sure that Mr. Durie could have told you what a Victory Garden was prior to being hired by the show. It is an American idea that even to this day has influenced our home gardens.

So why is it that Australians are taking over the airwaves? Everything from my gardening shows to hawking as seen on TV stuff. Well, one can not deny that they are hot. Mr. Durie is no exception. And this is evidenced by the fact that the man made a living once based only on his looks… top to bottom… as a, ahem, male entertainment professional. Trust me, I am sure he made a good living at it (WARNING: you do not want to click on this link if you are at work). Rumors abound that this is a last ditch effort by the Victory Garden to save the show. Which saddens me. It is sad that gardening shows don’t do well on television and sad that they feel a sexy Australian guy is the only thing that can save the show.

I would say that if The Victory Garden goes off air, I will be forced to get cable, but I hear that the G in HGTV is gone as well. So that is it. I will just have to go insane in the dark winter month without gardening anything to sustain me.   That could be dangerous.

15 thoughts on “Victory Garden Gone Ozzie”
  1. Anthony on

    My mate watches this program, and we pay — too much! — for television.

    If you’re interested in garden photos you may want to have a look at a post I did recently on an heirloom flower, Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate.

    If you ever feel like taking a virtual trip down I-77 maybe you’d like to check out my Canton blog. OK, it’s not a “Canton blog” (that sounds painful actually) but I’m in Canton.

    Maybe we can look at a link exchange.

    Have a great week! And enjoy the summer temps!!

  3. Ellie on

    Obviously I hate to argue with someone who’s blog is so enjoyable, but I take issue with your idea that the Victory Garden is exclusively American. In fact, most Brits would argue it was pretty darn British, see this website for an example of the British Dig for Victory campaign: http://www.homesweethomefront.co.uk/web_pages/hshf_dig_for_victory_pg.htm

    On the other hand, I agree with everything you say about Australians…

  4. entangled on

    Gosh, I’m going to have to dust off the TV to take a look at this. Not so much for the gardening content, though. Jim Crockett must be spinning in his grave.

  5. gus on

    I do pay for T.V., and I watch “Gardening By The Yard”. The Gardener Guy is great, both entertaining and knowledgeable. I also like the fact he is in zone 6, living in northern zone 5, I can use some of his info. As can people much further south. I haven’t seen “The Victory Garden” in years, I hope it survives.

  6. Gardenista on

    Wow. I had notived that the G was mostly absent from HGTV in the programming I have seen recently. Is this intentional? How sad. Regarding this new hot gardener — I hope there’s no new media pressure being put on us now to actually look good while gardening. The thought makes me wilt.

  7. matthew on

    While the victory garden was not as big in australia we still had something very much like it, australia was very isolated being an island and all and many homemakers ( especially during the war when transport was compromised) grew their own fruit and vegg! im australian can you tell 😛

  8. Stuart on

    Oh yes, Hanna. We’re intelligent, knowledgeable, darn good looking and we enjoy the odd beer – still yet to taste a good US one, but I can be lobbied with samples.

    While you Yanks want to wrestle the world with ‘shock ‘n awe’ campaigns, we’re happy to infiltrate the airwaves – just ask Rupert! If it takes good looking Aussie ex-strippers to prop up the gardening shows then so be it. C’mon Aussie – Oi, Oi, Oi!

  9. Cory on

    I started gardening last year (still don’t have a clue). I looked all over tv for shows specific to veggie gardening, but didn’t find much (one or two episodes). I am learning along the way though thru trial and error. Being just south of Cleveland (Youngstown) we do not have much time to enjoy the garden. I have a raised bed, organic garden. I grow with seeds from “Seeds of Change”. The 1st year I killed 200 seedlings by suffocating them (left greenhouse lids on trays while in direct sunlight). This year, I took the lids off early, but I think some type of plant disease wiped most of them out. The pepper plants lived though. Chilies thrived, I have tons of them. NE Ohio weather sucks though. I will learn how to maximize growth one of these years but I don’t count on tv anymore to provide me a source. I did find a way to enjoy veggies year around though. Stop by my bog and tell me what you think. Either way, I don’t expect to find many gardening tips on tv in the winter. Looking forward to trying again in the spring!

  10. Curtis on

    The G in HGTV is pretty well gone now. Except for 1 or 2 garden shows. Gardening by the yard is one of them(which I DVR). Diy has a few on too but not alot.

    I don’t know why garden shows don’t last. They are a sure lot better than those thousand home makeover shows.

  11. Kylee on

    I’ve not caught the new Victory Garden yet, but will. Today, in fact. We, too, have not had cable (not available) or satellite (only had it a short while a few years ago). But that changes today. Our daughters paid for and arranged for Dish Network to be installed and it is being installed as I type. I’m sad to hear the ‘G’ is scanty in HGTV, because that was one thing I was looking forward to. *sigh*

  12. nelumbo on

    Well if you do get cable, I agree with Gus: HGTV’s “Gardening By The Yard” is cheesy but has some good information. I enjoy it and learn something,anyway.

  13. Wicked Garden on

    I haven’t watched the Victory Garden in years because it was so painfully boring. (Like poke-my-eyes-out-with-a-stick boring). I just added it to the DVR (you should start paying for TV – you don’t know what you’re missing.) A new, hot Aussie sounds like the host for me! Last time I checked, sexual promiscuity had little effect on gardening ability, thankfully. And God knows if gardening shows want survive, they have to find a way to bring the sexy-back!

  14. lisa on

    I don’t pay for TV either! I mean, $60 a month?! I could be buying a bass boat or a camper for that kind of jing! I have an antenna and a rotor to move it, good enough. (Like I need another excuse to sit on my ass! 😉 I always enjoyed the Victory Garden show, but the previous host’s voice WAS too soothing, and he put me to sleep more than once. Much as I’d like to have a good gardening show on the air, blogs have given me much more valid and valuable info than any show ever did. Blog on!

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