Alan Titchmarsh, the former star of Gardeners' World, has identified the kneeler as his most important gardening tool. At 77, the horticultural expert has cultivated a lifelong passion for gardening, having spent his pocket money on seeds as a child. After leaving school at 15, he became an apprentice gardener with Ilkley Council in Yorkshire. Following a stint editing gardening publications, he contributed to BBC Radio 4's You and Yours and The Today Programme in the 1970s before transitioning to television, where he hosted popular shows such as Gardeners' World and Ground Force.
Essential Gardening Tools According to Titchmarsh
During a recent appearance on the RHS's Roots podcast, Titchmarsh reflected on his career and offered advice for novice gardeners. When asked about the most important gardening tool, he replied: "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, he has previously highlighted other indispensable implements. The rake, he noted, should be used with teeth facing upwards for "levelling" the soil. "You only need a few strokes across the ground to make it level with a rake," he explained.
He also praised secateurs as the "most useful cutting tool" in his garden. "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," he said. However, he cautioned against using them for anything thicker than a centimetre or half an inch. "They are great, absolutely flawless for pruning roses, pruning trees, shrubs, any stem less than half an inch in diameter," he added.
Monty Don's Perspective on Secateurs
Fellow Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don is also 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". 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."
