Gardeners’ World presenter Adam Frost credits DIY SOS’s Nick Knowles for convincing him to become a BBC TV presenter, but admits he spent his first years on the show feeling uncertain
Adam is a great believer in the therapeutic power of pottering(Image: CREDIT LINE:BBC Studios)
Adam Frost joined the team of presenters on Gardeners’ World in 2016, working alongside main host Monty Don, or “his lordship”, as Adam calls him. But that might never have happened, he says, if it hadn’t been for encouragement from Nick Knowles.
Speaking to The i Newspaper, Adam quipped: ”If there were a human being that was to blame for me being on the telly, it would have to be Nick Knowles from DIY SOS.”
The star joined DIY SOS as a guest garden designer on the show around 2015, and still makes the occasional appearance on the show.
He recalls how, while they were working together, Nick would often say to him: ‘You love talking about gardening, why wouldn’t you want to talk to two million people?”
Despite this, Adam confessed: “I spent the first couple of years at Gardeners’ World thinking: ‘What the hell am I doing?'” Eventually, however, he came to appreciate that the role simply involved doing something he truly loved, just with “nice people watching.”
On occasion, he adds, some of those “nice people” will recognise him while he’s out enjoying himself: “It’s very different going for a pint now,” he reflects.
“Normally, someone wants to talk about their tomatoes or ask for a selfie, but that is all part of it. It’s an honour. It only lasts for so long before it disappears, and then I’ll be able to go for a quiet pint again.”
Speaking about the new gardening podcast, Outsiding, which he’s created alongside author Caitlin Moran, Adam revealed to House and Garden Magazine that gardens ought to express their owner’s character: “When you’re designing for someone else, [it’s] that idea of listening and creating something that they want. I still get nervous when I bring plans to people.
“Because I suppose you’re creating part of someone’s soul in a way. You’re hoping it becomes a huge part of their lives.”
However, he’s keen to stress to enthusiasts that gardens exist for pleasure: “Don’t chase perfection. At the end of the day, if the garden becomes a little bit overgrown, it’s not the end of the world,” he says. “Use it initially for that physicality of getting out and pottering.”
The simple act of pottering about, he explained to Great British Life, lies at the heart of gardening: “I go out, I potter around, 10 minutes later, 15 minutes later, an hour later, everything feels a bit easier.
“I understand the wellbeing part better through Mrs Frost seeing her meet me a long time ago and not even know what a landscape gardener was, to the point now that I can watch the garden make her better.
“She can be stressed about something and then she goes out there for half an hour, six hours later she’s still out there and as happy as a pig in whatever we call it.”
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