The Gardener's Almanac: A Treasury of Wisdom and Inspiration through the Year

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We wanted everyone to feel really positive' – how a colourful redesign brought this workspace to life Titchmarsh urges gardeners not to mow lawns on Sundays – and listen to 'sounds of the earth' instead Publisher Rowena Webb said: ‘This is a feast of a book for every gardener, drawing on Alan’s extraordinary knowledge and contagious passion for gardens and nature.’ Perhaps in this age of mobile phones, when it’s rare to come across anyone perambulating the streets of town and city without a pair of earphones bunged into their aural orifices, the natural sounds of the earth have been superseded by a man-made cacophony.” Alan Titchmarsh said: ‘This is the sort of book I’d have on my bedside table if it had been written by anyone else! It’s been great fun to write and, I hope, will inspire and make folk smile.'

It’s got to be Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade. We play it every Christmas when we’ve got people round and everybody roars into action. It’s a great antidote to carols. It’s fab, I love it. Alan Titchmarsh has said gardeners should not mow their lawns on Sundays as power tools are too noisy. I put Classic FM on every morning while I shave, and Pavarotti singing Puccini’s Nessun Dorma pops up quite often which is quite appropriate: “None shall sleep.” A long time ago, my first proper girlfriend, Rosemary, and I had A Groovy Kind of Love by the Mindbenders as our song. She was very pretty, with red hair, and I was totally besotted for a good six months when I was 15. Years later, I was doing an autobiography signing in Yorkshire, looked up, and someone said: “Hello”. I hadn’t seen her for 40 years. It was a magical moment. I heard a couple years ago that she died, which was terrible because she was younger than me. I hear the song now with such affection, because it reminds me what falling in love is like. China Tea by Russ Conway, for four and six – 23p – from Allen & Walker in Ilkley. I used to buy classical music records while everyone else was buying pop, and had to bring them home in a brown paper bag so people couldn’t see it was Beethoven’s Violin Concerto or Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances. I was also the first person in our street to buy She Loves You by the Beatles.

Titchmarsh, 74, writing in BBC Gardeners World magazine, made a plea for other gardeners not to use noisy power tools on Sundays. There’s something calming about having a white scheme. It’s a blank canvas you can add to and change up whether it’s with cushions, plants and flowers'

The nation’s favourite gardener brings us a treasure trove of gardening knowledge, seasonal advice and inspiration. With Alan’s own delightful illustrations, there is also a month by month cornucopia of floral facts, along with wildlife to spot, projects to do, gardens to visit, poems to inspire, and much more besides. It will be the perfect Christmas gift for every gardener, and a rich resource for enjoying every day, month, and year in the garden. And as nice as that sounds, the problem is that this is simply not doable for many, as Steve Chilton, garden expert at LeisureBench, says. ‘I don't agree with what Alan Titchmarsh is saying. No one should feel restricted when it comes to how they look after their garden and lawn, especially as lawn mowing isn't directly impacting anyone else minus a bit of noise.’ The gardener and presenter said that instead, they should listen to the “natural sounds of the earth”. He added that the “jet-powered age” meant that the “natural sounds of the earth” had been forgotten.He wrote: “It’s clear to me the rarest thing in any garden is silence, it appears to be the one commodity money can’t buy.” He added that he never uses power tools or mows his lawn on a Sunday because he “profoundly believes” at least one day should be reserved for quietness.

Hodder & Stoughton has acquired world rights for The Gardener’s Almanac: A Treasury of Garden Knowledge and Inspiration Through the Year by Alan Titchmarsh through Luigi Bonomi at LBA. It will publish in October 2022. When the grandchildren were young – and I don’t thank you for making me think of this because it’ll be an earworm for the rest of the day – it was the theme tune for the TV series they liked, In the Night Garden. Please don’t play it. I’ll be humming it all day. Titchmarsh added that he was recently asked what time power tools are acceptable on a Sunday, writing: “I was worried I would sound holier-than-thou when I explained that I never use power tools on a Sunday.We wanted to create a 'sensory-balanced' workspace that was both socially sustainable and adaptable'