Monty Don shares 'difficult' and 'awkward' issue during filming after 'closing gardens'

Monty Don has opened up about the "difficult" and "awkward" issues his film crew can face when they film his gardening programmes. In a chat with Nicki Chapman at BBC Gardeners' World Live over the summer, the green-fingered presenter discussed his latest show, Monty Don's British Gardens, which featured a whopping 62 different gardens.

It led him to share details about the logistics involved, how the gardens he visits may have to close so he can film alone, and how the whole process can ultimately lead to something "difficult". He explained that they may ask that gardens be closed due to problems that arise when filming with lots of people, noting that guests are "paying good money" to come and visit the garden. Monty, speaking via the BBC Gardeners' World Magazine podcast, said: "They don't want a film crew saying, 'No, you can't walk through there, and you can't do that; you're in the back of the shot'. And yet, you can't really film lots of other people in the background for two reasons."

He continued: "One because, if, as you know, if their faces appear - I think it's for more than five seconds or something - you have to have their written permission, and that's very awkward if there's lots of people and they're in the distance.

"And two because you're editing, so you might shoot from one scene to another that are not consecutive. So you'd have somebody in a blue thing suddenly become a red thing there, and so that for continuity, it can be a problem."

Monty added that it's "much easier" to film when they don't have lots of people in the background, so they aim to close the gardens, work on days when the gardens aren't open or, alternatively, they shoot very early in the morning.

In other news, Monty recently shared some tips on how to deal with black spot on roses, a fungal infection that causes dark patches on the leaves and stems of your rose bushes.

He explained that many plants can have black spot, but it won't impact the flowering or their health. Monty noted that it's simply "unsightly" and he can actually "tolerate" it.

Monty said: "If it's defoliating completely, if a plant is suffering and looking bad, and other roses near it are not suffering from it, then that's because the plant is particularly prone to it, so just get rid of it."

Despite this, if you're in a situation where all of your roses are affected, then you've "got a problem". Yet, with potentially warm and damp conditions due to the weather, he warned that we may expect more fungal issues, "not less".

Opening up about the issue on the podcast, he pointed out that the "only practical thing" that gardeners can do is "don't water overhead", advising people to "keep the leaves dry".

He suggested that people water their plants at the base and collect any impacted leaves that fall and burn them, stressing that you shouldn't use these for compost.

Monty added: "In winter, rake the ground around the plant thoroughly to disturb the spores. Leave it bare over the winter months, then mulch it thickly in early spring."

You can next catch Monty on Gardeners' World on BBC Two on Friday, September 12, from 8pm to 9pm.