Grow Your Own - is here to stay

Grow-your-own isn’t just a media fad, says Monty Don Gardeners’ love affair with grow-your-own will continue even when the media “fad” for allotments and self-sufficiency is over – according to Monty Don.

The former BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, speaking at the Ideal Home Show in London, said: “It’s disingenuous to think the media doesn’t help. The media has fads but I’d like to think grow-your-own is above that.
“You probably know I have quite extreme views. You need to grow you own, not just want to. This is not just a horticulture fad. Individuals are realising the ownership of their food. We have been divorced from our means of production. If people grow a pot of basil on the windowsill in a modest way that is a proactive part in feeding themselves.”

Monty said he felt vindicated that 13 years after his grow-your-own TV series Fork to Fork was on Channel 4, there has been a re-surgence in kitchen gardening, albeit from “a very low base”. He advised people to “relish their garden” and “don’t be ashamed or inhibited by a lack of knowledge about plants”. This year, Monty will start filming a TV series that focuses on Italian gardens