Gardening guru Monty Don, 68, is finally breaking down after years of resistance and planting a lawn … so his grandchildren can ‘charge up and down’ his Long Walk without bashing the plants.

• Monty Don fought back to claim the lawn at Longmeadow House in Herefordshire
• Don finally relented after watching his three grandchildren play outside
• He revealed that he sows grass on the lawn at the rate of 30 grams per square meter

Gardening guru Monty Don has resisted getting a lawn at his home in Longmeadow, Herefordshire, for years.

The 68-year-old preferred to focus on vegetables and flowers rather than grass – and any greenery he allowed to grow in his garden was long left to the benefit of wildlife.

But Don eventually gave up after watching his three grandchildren play outside and establish a lawn in an area known as the Long Walk.

He said: “We had a really tough winter and spring with Long Walk because we used to have an alley of clipped cones, but the box suffered terribly from mold last year. So we cleared the whole area.”

He added: “And the whole point of the Long Walk from day one was that it was a peaceful green space that divided the Cottage Garden on one side and the Jewel Garden on the other.

“I want to keep that feeling of a gap between two busy gardens. And after many discussions, we decided to make a lawn.’

Don, who shares his Tudor home in the village of Ivington, near Leominster, with wife Sarah of 40 years, told BBC2’s Gardeners’ World: “We haven’t had a lawn here in Longmeadow for many years.

“But I was watching my grandkids play the other day and I realized it was beautiful to see them charge up and down… they just felt comfortable not having to hit the plants or hold on or not . that.’

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His grandchildren are five-year-old George, three-year-old Daisy and a third grandchild who was born in August last year.

Don, who replaced Alan Titchmarsh as World of Gardeners’ main presenter in 2003, said he sods grass – including rye – at 30 grams per square metre.

He said the seed mix he uses contains a “deterrent” that tastes salty to birds so they won’t be tempted to eat it.

Last year, the father of three said he was not a fan of mowed lawns for children to play on.

He told the Radio Times at the time: “Letting grass grow, which is after all a pretty passive thing, is probably the single most effective thing you can do in any garden of any size to support life, especially for insects, but also for the little ones. mammals, invertebrates and reptiles.’

The gardener also said there was no need to keep the lawns “striped and trimmed”, suggesting it was only an “interest”.

He added: “Cutting grass burns a lot of fossil fuels, makes a dirty sound and is the most harmful thing you can do to wildlife.”

… but will he try the ‘dead hedge’ trend?

It might look like a pile of sticks that you could ask the council to take away.

But ‘dead hedges’ – dead wood transformed into an ornamental screen – help cultivate wildlife and are essential for a stylish garden, says the Royal Horticultural Society.

The charity, along with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, advises gardeners to put in a dead hedge, with the RHS adopting a huge example from designer Sam Southgate at his Wisley garden in Surrey.

Mr Southgate, whose ‘Nest’ took six months to build, said the benefits included wind protection and privacy screening.

He said: ‘It shouldn’t be called a dead hedge. It is a life-giving hedge. It takes your garden to the next level for wildlife.”

The RSPB said dead hedges “work much harder for wildlife” than a fence, providing homes for robins, dunnocks and wrens, while frogs were found in a hedge in Wisley.