By Alexandra Sullivan, Project Archivist
For my latest cataloguing project I numbered, rehoused, and listed the archive of gardener, author, and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh CBE. The archive contains a variety of materials, from correspondence and press material, to audio cassettes and objects. This material tells the story of all facets of Mr. Titchmarsh’s career, as well as the recognition he has received (both in the form of official accolades, and letters and gifts from fans). It was a fun archive to work with, and I enjoyed showing interesting material to my colleague Rob, which we termed ‘Titchmarsh treasures’. I would like to celebrate National Gardening Week by sharing three of my favourite items with you.
Front cover of ‘Alan Titchmarsh’s Avant-Gardening’, TIT/3/1/2, Archive of Garden Design.
I chose this book because it is a lighthearted exploration of gardening, from an unusual perspective. The introduction describes the book as a guide to ‘what is socially, horticulturally acceptable’. Avant-gardening involves not only knowing which plants are fashionable, and where they should be sourced, but also what to wear while gardening, and which gardens to visit. My two favourite sections are ‘What to Wear’ and ‘Excuses’. The ‘What to Wear’ chapter explains that style is as important as practicality to the avant-gardener, and opens with lists of ‘what not to wear’. Discouraged items include shorts, mittens, and galoshes. Annotated illustrations are then provided of recommended outfits – approved items include green ‘Hunter’ wellington boots, tweed or corduroy trousers, and sweaters with a fair isle pattern.
‘Alan Titchmarsh’s Avant-Gardening’, TIT/3/1/2, Archive of Garden Design.
Other advice includes fashionable mulches, how to flaunt your conservatory, and the avant-gardener’s social calendar (the highlight being the Chelsea Flower Show). If all else fails, the reader is provided with a list of excuses to fall back on when showing visitors their garden:
While we may not all be expecting distinguished visitors to our gardens, it may be helpful to have a few excuses at our disposal for the next time the in-laws come to visit. Sadly, I would not make a very good avant-gardener, as my garden has two ‘don’t touch them with a bargepole features’ – a shed, and plastic pots; and I also lack the recommended gardening attire.
‘The Busy Bee’, TIT/1/1/1, Archive of Garden Design.
The next item is one of the oldest in the Alan Titchmarsh archive – The Busy Bee gardening magazine, dated January 1923. It was sent to Mr. Titchmarsh by a fan, along with two play scripts. The Busy Bee was a ‘journal for Amateur Gardeners, Smallholders, Allotment Holders, and their homefolk generally.’ The editor described the magazine as ‘a compendium of useful hints’, and invited readers to write in with their gardening questions.
I chose this item because it provides a window into gardening in the 1920s. The common problems faced by gardeners in 1923 are still familiar today (such as managing pests who like to feed on vegetable plants), although some of the suggested remedies (e.g., lightly brushing tomato flowers with a rabbit’s tail) seem strange by modern standards.
One of the main differences I noticed between then and now was the advocation of pesticides. The euphemistically titled ‘Pests and their Remedies’ section lists some scary sounding chemicals, as well as encouraging the gassing of moles, the drowning of earwigs in hot water, and the ‘extermination’ of ants.
On a cheerier note, I enjoyed testing my archive colleague with the riddles from ‘The Children’s Page’. I thought the answers were clever, but my colleague was not so impressed!
The final items were donated to the Archive of Garden Design in March 2025 – twelve pages of beautiful watercolour drawings of various horticultural subjects (including fruit, vegetables, flowers, and insects). Alan Titchmarsh created the watercolours to illustrate the cover of his book, ‘The Gardeners’ Almanac’, published in October 2022. The Almanac provides monthly advice about what to do and what not to do in the garden (the latter is especially helpful for impatient gardeners such as myself), as well as which classical music to listen to while gardening. There is also a bird, flower, and fruit of the month, and a recommendation for which garden to visit that month.
As well as their aesthetic quality, I chose these items because they are a key addition to the archive, helping to tell the story of Mr. Titchmarsh’s publishing career, and also because they reveal his artistic talents (which I was unaware of before working on this archive). The painting of the mole is intriguing, as it has been crossed out, and annotated ‘ignore the mole’. I wonder if the mole was ever intended to be part of the cover art, or if the back of the paper was simply reused.
Watercolour (‘Mole’), TIT/3/1/12, Archive of Garden Design.
The biggest highlight of all was meeting Mr. Titchmarsh, who kindly came to the Garden Museum to answer my questions about his archive. The information he provided has been added to the catalogue as extra context for researchers.
The full listing of the Alan Titchmarsh archive can be accessed on our online catalogue. Further deposits of material (known in the archive world as ‘accruals’) are expected, so keep checking our online catalogue for the latest information about the Alan Titchmarsh Archive. If you would like to discover your own Titchmarsh treasures, you can email [email protected] to book an appointment to view the archive.
