Former Gardeners’ World star Alan Titchmarsh has shared his most essential gardening tools, including one he says has become vital ‘now’
13:01, 07 May 2026Updated 13:01, 07 May 2026
Alan Titchmarsh has named his most important gardening tool(Image: Getty Images)
Alan Titchmarsh has revealed the “most important gardening tool” he owns. The 77-year-old has harboured a lifelong love for gardening, having spent his pocket money on seeds as a youngster.
He left school at 15 and became an apprentice gardener with Ilkley Council in Yorkshire. After a period editing gardening publications, Alan started contributing to Radio 4’s You and Yours and The Today Programme during the 1970s.
He subsequently transitioned to television and has fronted popular programmes including Gardeners’ World and Ground Force. He recently featured on the RHS’s Roots podcast to reflect on his career and offer guidance for novice gardeners.
One tip Alan shared concerned what he considers the most essential piece of equipment in his garden. He said: “Somebody said to me, ‘What’s the most important gardening tool? And I said, ‘Now, a kneeler’.”
On his Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel, Alan has previously highlighted some of his indispensable gardening implements. These included the rake, which he recommends should be positioned with the teeth facing upwards for “levelling” the soil.
Alan says his kneeler is vital now(Image: Getty)
He said: “You only need a few strokes across the ground to make it level with a rake.”
Meanwhile, he described secateurs as the “most useful cutting tool” in his garden. He explained: “I look for a pair that sit comfortably in my hand. With secateurs you can get different sizes, some with longer handles, which means often it gives you a better torque so you can cut slightly thicker stems.”
Alan, however, says he would never use his secateurs to cut anything thicker than a centimetre or half an inch. He added: “They are great, absolutely flawless for pruning roses, pruning trees, shrubs, any stem less than half an inch in diameter.”
Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has long been a passionate advocate for secateurs, confessing he never ventures into the garden without them.
The self-proclaimed “tool obsessive” revealed he feels “underequipped” if he has “less than 30 tools”.
Alan is also fond of secateurs(Image: Getty)
He said: “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.”
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