Alan Titchmarsh has a dig at PM over gardening ‘jibe’
BRITAIN’S top gardener has hit out at David Cameron for comparing horticulture to the unskilled tasks like picking up litter.
Daily Express columnist Alan Titchmarsh fired a broadside at the Prime Minister, insisting gardening should be seen as a force for good in society.
Mr Cameron grouped gardening with unskilled activities like litter picking in a speech last year about allocating community work to the long-term unemployed.
As vice-president of the Royal Horticultural Society, Titchmarsh, 62, is leading a drive during National Gardening Week to bring more people into gardening with talks and workshops entitled Horticulture, A Career To Be Proud Of.
He said: “That’s the problem – many perceive gardening as tidying up, the sort of thing that you do to your sock drawer once a year.
“But as many of us know, it is so much more than that.”
Writing in this month’s issue of The Garden, the society’s magazine, he said: “The Prime Minister and others should consider just what part gardening can play in society.
But as many of us know, it is so much more than tha
“It impacts on those political hot potatoes, law and order, education and health.”
He has called on the Government to promote apprenticeships in horticulture.
He added: “Learning how things grow gives children a greater understanding of the environment.
“They will grow up with some affinity with the countryside, rather than living a life glued to mobile phones and computers.”
Born in Ilkley, West Yorks, Titchmarsh left school at 15 to become an apprentice council gardener.
Now he is a household name, thanks to his TV shows Ground Force and Gardener’s World.