Gardeners’ World host Monty Don has shared the one tool he never goes into the garden without — and every gardener needs a pair
Monty Don named one tool he ‘never goes into his garden without'(Image: PA / James Manning)
Monty Don has revealed the single tool he “never goes into the garden without”. The 70 year old has harboured a lifelong love for gardening, pulling weeds from his family’s strawberry patch as a small child.
By his teenage years, he’d become proficient at running a vegetable plot and would pluck chickens and chop firewood at the family residence. During his late teens, he found work as a gardener in Aix-en-Provence, France.
Upon his return to England, he encountered wife Sarah and the couple ultimately made their home in London. Monty describes it as “very unusual” for a pair in their twenties to maintain such a remarkable garden at that period.
His plot attracted the eye of a photographer and launched Monty towards stardom. Today, as host of Gardeners’ World, Monty frequently offers his expertise and advice to aspiring horticulturalists.
In a clip on the Gardeners’ World YouTube channel, Monty admits he’s a “tool obsessive” who feels “underequipped” if he has “less than 30 tools”. And there’s one particular implement Monty refuses to venture out without.
Monty suggests investing in a set of secateurs(Image: Getty)
He explained: “Every gardener has to have a pair of secateurs. These are Japanese, they’re very beautifully made and they’re very sharp, which is important.
“I never go into the garden without a pair of secateurs, so it’s got to feel comfortable, they’ve got to be small enough so that you can put them in your pocket or in a holster, but big enough so that you can cut.
“The one thing I’d say about secateurs is, don’t overgear them. They need to be just enough to do the job. Don’t try and force it, sometimes you need more than one, a light pair and a heavy duty pair.”
Meanwhile, the expert suggests that a spade would be an “easy” pick for his top five tools. He’s owned his own bespoke spade since 1990, which he insists he “won’t let anyone else touch”.
Monty recommends investing in a spade(Image: Getty)
He continued: “I’ve been using this for 35 years and I’m sure it will see me out. A good spade will last, I plant everything with it, I dig everything with it, it’s the most useful thing in the garden.”
He reveals his fork was crafted in exactly the same fashion. And while Monty’s is stainless steel, he acknowledges it’s “good but not necessary”.
Similarly, Monty advocates spending money on a quality trowel. His preferred trowel features a flat blade rather than a conventional one and gets “used all the time”.
Monty described a decent pair of shears as a “delight” in any garden. The implement has “gone out of fashion” for a period but has experienced a resurgence in popularity, he noted.
Monty returns to screens with Gardeners’ World from 8pm this evening (April 24). This week Monty will be introducing a hint of the Mediterranean by planting lemons in containers.
He’ll also be working in his woodland garden and potting his summer bulbs. Meanwhile Sue Kent will be sowing tender crops.
Comments are closed.