Most of us would look at Monty Don’s life as something to aspire to - from his stunning gardens to his faithful pooch, Ned.
But in a heartfelt and candid interview as part of the RHS visual podcast, Roots, the Gardeners’ World icon revealed that the origins of Longmeadow and his landscapes hark back to a tougher time, including the failing of his business and a "breakdown".
Speaking with Jo Whiley for the podcast, as well as revealing the one thing viewers will never get to see in his gardens, Monty explained that finding order and symmetry in the structure of his gardens was indicative of his mental state at the time.
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Monty Don's gardening book is full of tips and tricks to get your outside space looking its best with successful blooms. With advice for potting strawberries, caring for succulents and feeding birds, you'll be a master green thumb in no time.
He told Jo, "I effectively had a breakdown and making the garden was very much part of the healing process."
Explaining earlier that he and his wife Sarah were able to buy their property thanks to money inherited after his mother passed away, Monty shared that the couple went from high-flying in London to having to shut their jewellery business down and move to Herefordshire on a "shoestring" budget.
Of course, it all worked out in the end. But Monty explained to Jo, "I was looking at the plans of the garden the other day. It's very symmetrical. It's very geometric.
"Everything's straight lines. And what I was doing was trying to order my life."
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"I was trying to put back the pieces of my life that I felt were fragmenting everywhere. Doing the one thing that I knew I could do, which was grow things in the garden."
He added, "If I was doing it now, I probably would have had many more curves and twists and bends and all the rest of it. But I wanted structure and order and form."
Touchingly, Jo summed it up perfectly. "So you came undone and you tried to put yourself back together again."
Gardening truly does have a way of healing - simply being around pants and other garden activities can boost your mood, as proven by science.
And for Monty, he might not be in the same tough spot he was a few decades ago, but gardening is still his happy place.
Jo asked if working hard in the garden still helps with his mental health, to which he answered, "You have to be physically doing something to help with the busy [clears throat] really. I have to be busy.
"That's really the thing. I double dug all this, the whole garden and I would move everything and I’d work all day.
"I loved it and I still do."
