BBC's Gardeners' World's Monty Don makes rare personal decision about home life with wife Sarah

Monty Don, the beloved presenter of BBC's Gardeners' World, has revealed his preference for solitary gardening at his Longmeadow garden, despite sharing the space with his wife Sarah.

The 69-year-old horticulturalist explained that while he recognises the importance of shared gardening, he finds "peace and solace" in tending to the garden alone. "It's the peace and solace, actually, that helps quiet my mind," he disclosed.

Monty, who suffers from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), found returning to gardening particularly therapeutic after enduring a challenging October and November, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Given that his condition affects one in 20 people in the UK, Monty grapples with the reduced daylight during these months. Speaking on the Gardeners' World podcast, he outlined his coping mechanism: "I now have a pattern whereby I try and spend one day a week on my own in the garden, which is obviously usually a weekend, one of the two weekend days."

"It's a kind of treat I give myself," he continued. "But when I say share, I don't necessarily mean gardening with other people, which actually, personally, I don't like very much."

"Even my wife and I, who have always gardened together, we hardly ever physically garden together, we just were in the garden at the same time."

Expanding on this, he said: "I was thinking more in terms of if you had to garden, no one saw what you did, no one shared the fruits or whether they were literal fruits, or a few flowers, or whatever. Then, that might modify how you felt about it, sharing comes in lots of different ways."

The gardening guru has been happily married to his wife Sarah since 1983, and together they have three grown-up children; Adam, Tom, and Freya. Monty has been open about his battles with mental health and credits Sarah as the driving force behind his decision to get help for his depression.

During an intimate chat on the White Wine Question Time podcast with Kate Thornton, Monty shared: "It's a lot to do with the greyness, the lack of light and the general sense of the world just pressing in on you and no energy."

He vividly recalled a critical moment when Sarah challenged him on his mental state: "Sarah said to me, 'Look, I just can't take any longer your moods and your black depression, you've got to do something about it because if you don't, I can't live with you I'll take the children and I'll go'."

Prompted by this stark ultimatum, Monty sought professional help and started on anti-depressants. He later ceased using the medication, finding relief instead through the use of a light box to help manage the seasonal changes.

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