Fans have been left reeling with the news that beloved Gardener’s World presenter Monty Don is stepping down from the programme after more than 20 years. The BBC announced the news today (Tuesday 8 September) that the 71-year-old, who is the programme’s longest-serving head gardener, will leave at the end of the current series. For years, the broadcaster said, Don has “inspired and guided millions of viewers with his warmth, wisdom and passion for gardening” since joining Gardener’s World in 2003, replacing Alan Titchmarsh on the fellow presenter’s suggestion.
Importantly, chief content officer Kate Phillips also acknowledged how Don has been open over the years about his personal struggles with grief and depression, advocating for “the power of the natural world to improve mental health”. Don recalls in his book The Jewel Garden, written with his wife Sarah, how in 1992 he hit rock bottom while dealing with the bankruptcy of their jewellery business in the 1987 stock market crash. We sold every stick of furniture we had.” In a piece for the Observer in 2000, he elaborated that “the s*** hit the fan” as the couple – who had a two-year-old and a six-month-old baby – had to liquidate their business, while Don’s other TV and journalism work dried up.
Don felt so hopeless that he went to a healer to try and get himself back on track: “He had been treating me for four months for the malaise that hung around me like a bad smell, and made me abstain from tea, coffee, alcohol,” he recalled. There was only one course of action: to give up my work and spend a year working the land.” New subscribers only. £9.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled.
This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent. Don had serious depression – which he had suffered from since his mid-twenties – as well as hallucinations. His depression peaked when he saw a horrific image in a newspaper from wartime Serbia that “disturbed [him] beyond measure” and gave him nightmares.
With Sarah’s support, along with medication, he began to garden again at their home in Herefordshire. Earth mended the hurt.” Slowly, Don began to receive more work, and the family were able to pay off their debts. After seven years, they had a garden that was “absolutely lovely”, he said, “this beautiful thing that we are making out of life’s muddle”.
Don said that he needs at least one full day a week of gardening in order to “maintain [his] sanity… It works better than any pill, better than any medicine. Earth heals.” The presenter has maintained his message about the power of nature in healing throughout his career, including in an appearance on BBC Radio 4 in February last year. You sow a seed and you trust that it will flower.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
