M onty Don paces through his garden, slowly and deliberately. “Welcome to a beautiful day,” he announces. Autumn has hit and the greens of Longmeadow have modulated into soft yellows and oranges. He’s right. This is as idyllic as his place will get.

“But,” he warns, “we know winter will come.” And with winter comes change, and death, and a final loss before regrowth. Don is talking about gardens, about how it won’t be long before the first frosts arrive. But maybe, just maybe, he’s talking about himself. This is his final episode of Gardeners’ World, after presenting on and off for almost a quarter of a century, and the subtext hangs heavy in the air.

Subtext has always been a big part of Don’s tenure on the programme. Where some previous shepherds of Gardeners’ World – Percy Thrower, Geoff Hamilton – had a slightly authoritarian side, Don has tended to veer more poetic.…