Monty Don

“magpies, jays, sparrowhawks, kestrels, all”

— Monty Don

I'm bad at sleeping. I get somewhere between three and six hours a night.

— Monty Don

As you get older your own problems are not that interesting.

— Monty Don

We know that gardening is good for you. It is fantastic, all-round exercise.

— Monty Don

Plant breeding has been going on for millennia and it's a gradual process.

— Monty Don

I often eat cakes while my fingers are caked in soil.

— Monty Don

I love high summer as well, but nothing beats a perfect May morning.

— Monty Don

Absorbing a healthy amount of dirt builds your immune system.

— Monty Don

By starting from the ground and tapping into the absolute, uncheatable truth of nature we can make ourselves better

— Monty Don

The thing I like to stress about TV is that it's a team exercise. You really can't have too much of an…

— Monty Don

Chickweed is regarded by most gardeners as just that - a weed - but is excellent in sandwiches or salads.

— Monty Don

I love filming. I love the teamwork. It's a tight-knit group spending months on the road together. All the experience is shared.

— Monty Don

I just think that gardening is about the future, a slow thing, that is deep and spiritual as well as spiritually rewarding.

— Monty Don

Gardening is seen as a pastime that is almost like belonging to the Church of England - a sign of maturity and…

— Monty Don

If I'm honest, the thing I am proudest of is my varieties of wild flowers in the hay meadow.

— Monty Don

Woods are rich with biodiversity and, above all, places of trees and light that spangles a thousand greens through the leaves.

— Monty Don

I was a sickly child, and it wasn't until I was 19 that I realised I was quite a robust, vigorous person.…

— Monty Don

As September rolls into October, I become obsessed with apples. Now obviously this is provoked by the ripening fruit clustering on the…

— Monty Don

A weekly column is not always a treat. It can be a tyranny. There are times when I have very little to…

— Monty Don

Happiness is a by-product rather than an end in itself. It pops into your life unbidden, and then tends to pop out…

— Monty Don

I was brought up a strict Christian. My father was a lay preacher, my mother a church warden. The rhythm and ritual…

— Monty Don

I think that most people are aware that it takes so much oil and water to produce what they're eating. But the…

— Monty Don

The thing the British hate more than anything else is people who are getting above themselves. There are a hundred different expressions…

— Monty Don

A column is a curiously intimate affair. For a start, you know by default that you will have regular readers, so it…

— Monty Don

Intellectually the French are wonderfully open, in a way the British just don't begin to be. You can question ideas in France,…

— Monty Don

The more people share woodland, absorb it and regard it as part of their personal heritage and culture, the richer our society…

— Monty Don

You can trace the entire history of Britain by looking at gardens.

— Monty Don

Tony Blair is a dreadful man; really truly dreadful.

— Monty Don

I see myself as a writer who happens to garden.

— Monty Don

I live in the middle of country so I walk a lot.

— Monty Don

From the ages of 18 to 50 I ran, rowed and lifted weights at my home gym.

— Monty Don

You do not need to know anything about a plant to know that it is beautiful.

— Monty Don

I like dogs because they are not humans.

— Monty Don

Earth heals me better than any medicine.

— Monty Don

“a little, would have existed to keep animals”

— Monty Don

When you're 15 whatever your parents tell you you should do, you're not going to do it.

— Monty Don

I have learnt that gardens are like happiness: you cannot pursue them as an absolute thing or moment.

— Monty Don

I myself did not officially become organic until 1997, although I was always hopeless at using chemicals.

— Monty Don

Apples hate strong wind and damp, cold soil so try and place them on well-drained, rich soil in a sheltered position.

— Monty Don

The biggest obstacle to good gardening is the desire to know the answers and not the questions.

— Monty Don