Monty Don hints at BBC Gardeners’ World future

Don is still grieving over the loss of his Golden Retriever Nellie from cancer last month

BBC Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has revealed he could bow out of the hit gardening programme in a few years to pursue other projects.

He’s hosted the popular show since 2003 – taking a break after a minor stroke in 2008 – first from Berryfields in Stratford-upon-Avon, and then from his own garden at Longmeadow in Herefordshire.

“I won’t do it forever. I will stop. I have no firm plans, but the BBC knows – I’ve told them. It will come to an end sometime in the next three, four or five years. It depends on circumstances and what else I’m doing.”

The grandfather-of-three said: “I’m now 68, I was going to stop when I was 65. I’ll now go on till I’m 70 and then reconsider. The reason for that is that, apart from anything else, it’s not so much wanting my garden back, although there’s a strong element of that. For instance, I always spend Saturdays in the garden and it’s a joy, because I’m there on my own.

“It’s just that, whilst I’ve still got energy, there are lots of other projects I want to do that mean I can’t be here every week.”

Monty Don says he won’t be at the helm of Gardeners’ World forever (Marsha Arnold/PA) (PA)

Don is still grieving over the loss of his Golden Retriever Nellie from cancer last month. She would often be seen on TV accompanying him in the garden at Longmeadow and attracted a raft of fans, who sent a flurry of condolences.

“There’s a great big, Nellie-shaped hole in our lives at the moment,” he admits.

“I think I’ll get another dog in a couple of years time when Ned (his other Golden Retriever) is about three or four, because I think that it’s lovely having two dogs the same.”

One of the projects he has managed to fit in between filming Gardeners’ World is The Gardening Book, a comprehensive guide to growing aimed at newcomers, offering basics on growing flowers, foods, shrubs and houseplants, aimed at people aged between 25 and 45.

The book, he says, is “basically aimed at my children”, who are in their 30s, and their friends.

“My children are a YouTube generation – that generation by and large don’t watch gardening programmes or buy gardening books.”

Don says that access to gardens for people in their mid-20s has become increasingly difficult.

“Increasingly, no 25-year-old is going to own their own home. Increasingly, fewer are able to rent their own home, they’re either going to have to share it – more and more 25-year-olds are living in one room in shared accommodation – which means that houseplants are increasingly important if they’re going to want to garden.

“Young people now have less space than I did when I was 25.”

He also believes that until people reach their 30s and 40s, gardens are not part of their lifestyle, they don’t allow time for results to unfold – and making a decent garden can take years.

So what is the future for the YouTube generation of gardeners?

“There is no easy answer. And whatever answer it is, is going to involve multiple solutions. For example, make housing less expensive, at every level; get more housing so that there is more choice; make more allotments, make more community gardens.

“Maybe – and I think I would lobby for this – have new-build housing, that they have to have either individual gardens of a certain size, or a community garden of a certain size, so that there is the opportunity for people to share space. If all those things come together, it will get better.

“But the truth is that our island is not getting any bigger, our population is getting bigger. Every year, the occupancy that has access to a garden drops.”

Younger people are increasingly sharing allotments, which he says is a step in the right direction.

For now, at least, he will remain on Gardeners’ World, helping the masses with his gentle horticultural encouragement.

“The biggest issue with Gardeners’ World is not filming here, although it’s very demanding. People think that it’s just a day a week. But we have to prepare the garden and keep it looking good all the time. It’s a lot of background work and that is tiring, demanding and takes up a lot of my time.

“It’s more a question of, maybe I want to go away every other week between April and July that involves [doing] still something to do with gardening and filming, but it’s another project. I can’t do that at the moment.

“I’ve just finished filming a series on Spanish gardens and I’m in the middle of filming a series on British gardens and I’m doing Gardeners’ World and I’m writing two books. But my energy for that kind of thing will start to fade. So something will have to be edited out. And it’s a question of what.”

Don isn’t slowing down just yet though.

“I feel incredibly lucky that my work involves the three things that I love most, which is writing, filming and gardening.”

The Gardening Book by Monty Don is published by BBC Books, priced £28. Available now.