I started my professional gardening career in 2004, a year after Monty started presenting Gardeners’ World (‘It’s the final goodbye’: Monty Don bows out with a blissful last Gardeners’ World, 6 November).
To say this great man taught me much of what I have learned since is a gross understatement. Not just about the principles and practices of gardening itself, but the understanding in a greater sense of what a garden is, what it gives to us both in bounty, tangibly, and nourishment of something far greater, internally.
His pace of presenting matched the pace of the world surrounding him. I truly believe he has been the greatest presenter of a TV show in a generation.
I had a tear in my eye at the end of his final episode. As a novice, I would sit and watch the show with a pencil and pad every Friday night and make notes of every plant shown and every method of gardening, so that I could go to work the next week and put that newfound knowledge into practice. My friends couldn’t believe that I was giving up Friday nights out for a gardening programme. Honestly, I wouldn’t change that for all the Camellia sinensis in China.
I can’t express how much I will miss him on the show. Thank you, Monty, for being the best teacher imaginable.
Saul Abbott
Saul Abbott Garden Design, Essex
Monty Don’s struggle with depression has always been a part of his presenting of Gardeners’ World. The programme hasn’t focused on mental health, but it has always focused on the benefits that gardening, fresh air and plants bring to anyone experiencing the ups and downs of living.
Friday nights with Monty and his team of gardening experts have given me an hour every week to look at what is real and relevant to my own internal life and enjoyment. My life is decidedly the better for it. I value the programme immeasurably and look forward to its continuation in a new form for years to come. Thank you, Monty.
Jane Bates
Macclesfield, Cheshire
I was sad to hear about Monty Don’s last episode on Gardeners’ World, not that I was an avid watcher. In fact, I only learned about the show during Covid when I was quarantined with my granny, who watched it religiously. She was an avid gardener herself, regularly took part in her village flower competitions, and in the summer of 2020 spent more time outside than in. She wasn’t that interested in TV, but she never missed Gardeners’ World. I think it was Monty (who I’m sure she had a huge crush on) who inspired her to allow part of her garden to grow into a wildflower meadow to attract bees and insects.
The week of my wedding, my granny went into hospital, and the night before, worrying about her and the big day, I turned on the TV in our hotel and Gardeners’ World was on. My granny died a week later, so she got to see the flowers from my wedding, but not Monty’s final episode.
Joe Mackenzie
Lewisham, London
