Adam Frost has responded to a complaint directed at him and his Gardeners' World co-star Monty Don regarding their use of a specific gardening tool. The popular BBC presenter, who has been a staple on the show alongside Carol Klein, Joe Swift, Frances Tophill, and lead host Monty Don, revealed that both he and Monty share a fondness for a Dutch planting spade.
During an appearance on the Talking Gardens podcast, Frost was asked about his favourite gardening tool that he could not do without. He explained that the Dutch planting spade is the one implement he gets asked about most frequently. Despite spending over £60 on it 15 years ago, he considers it a worthwhile investment.
When asked about its specific uses, Frost described it as multi-purpose: “Everything! It's the most sort of multi-purpose thing that I've got. You can use it to chop stuff, you can get it underneath stuff, you can slice with it. It's just great, absolutely great.”
However, he revealed that a complaint had been made, suggesting that neither he nor Monty Don use the tool correctly. “They moan... they don't think that Monty and I use it in the right way 'cos apparently it's not designed for Monty and I,” Frost said. When questioned about what they were doing wrong, he added: “Yeah, I don't know. I'm not really that worried, but I said, 'Well, it works!' They said, 'Yeah, but it wasn't really designed for you guys with your hands,' and this, that and the other. I said, 'Well, it works, and you seem to be selling quite a lot of them because we're using them.'”
Frost’s gardening career began in a parks department, where he worked alongside former Gardeners' World host Geoff Hamilton before creating show gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Earlier this year, he opened up about a difficult period in his life, writing in his book For The Love of Plants about how health issues, Covid isolation, and work pressure left him feeling like his “life was unravelling”. He wrote: “During lockdown, like so many, we as a family had our challenges. Mrs Frost was really poorly, and so too was our youngest daughter. Then, just as we got through that, I caught Covid and shut myself away for 10 days to quarantine. During my isolation I started to feel disconnected, as if my life was unravelling. I spent a lot of time looking out of the window at the vast garden I'd created, and the only thing that comforted me was music.”
BBC Gardeners' World airs tonight (Friday, April 24) on BBC Two from 8pm to 9pm.
