Alan Titchmarsh: The thrill of raising a plant from a speck of dust or a green leaf can only be learned first-hand

I still cannot use my thumbs when potting up a rooted cutting or potting on a plant. I use my fingers. They are better at gauging the pressure needed to firm the compost, be it peat-free (lightness of touch is important) or soil-based (a little firmer).

It is not something I learned from a book. This is a gardening skill based on feel and that can only be learned first hand (no pun intended), being shown the technique by someone who learnt it from someone else and then passed it on.

I was instructed on how to take a cutting, how to encourage it to form roots, how to plant a tree, sow a seed and myriad other growing techniques at the age of 15 when I went to earn my living in a nursery. I attended day-release classes and read books, but the key practical skills I needed as a gardener were learnt on the earth and at the potting bench in the company of experienced hands who, in their turn, had learned from those skilled gardeners who had gone before.

Watch a skilled grower and you can see evidence of a kind of ‘slap-dash love’, as Laurie Lee called it when referring to his mother’s way of gardening. It is an ease with plants; a way of handling them that comes with confidence and experience, of trial and error refined over the centuries. Such horny-handed sons and daughters of the soil are possessed of valuable skills that, if not handed down, will perish with them.

It is this premise upon which the new initiative Hortistry is founded. Hortistry was born out of a conversation between The King, Jekka McVicar and Susie Bacon at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Under its aegis a group of prominent practical horticulturists, gardeners, growers — call them what you will — has banded together to pass on their abilities and knowledge to the next generation of professional gardeners. McVicar the herb grower, Matt Pottage of the Royal Parks (ex-RHS Wisley), Brian Humphrey (one of the finest plant propagators in the land), Sheila Das (National Trust) and Tony Kirkham (retired head of the arboretum at Kew Gardens) are a few of the many accomplished and highly respected gardening gods and goddesses who are demonstrating their hard-won skills at practical workshops.

It is an exciting prospect. This month will see the first two masterclasses, each for about 40 attendees, who will have pre-registered their interest. One is at Beth Chatto’s Essex garden, the other at McVicar’s herb nursery near Bristol. Budding and grafting, seed sowing, taking cuttings — all at the very heart of plant propagation and successful cultivation — are being taught to a group of folk who will become the next generation of skilled growers.

More masterclasses will also be scheduled over the coming months, resulting in hard- won abilities being transferred to a whole new generation who understand the wisdom and the benefits of learning from those who have practised their craft over a lifetime of gardening.

Why do we undervalue such essential abilities? Why do we fail to understand the thrill and satisfaction of raising a plant from a speck of dust or a green leaf? We underestimate at our peril the worth of those who have the know-how, the ‘magic’ needed to ensure that the environmental concerns with which we burden the next generation can be addressed and ameliorated.

Some make their feelings known by going on marches and complaining to their MP. I believe that a far more pragmatic approach is by developing skills that will make a positive and practical difference to the land beneath our feet, and ultimately the wider landscape, as did the great gardeners who went before us and bequeathed to us these invaluable capabilities.

The founding of Hortistry will surely please The King. Anyone who has seen his excellent film Finding Harmony — A King’s Vision will understand that here is a man not simply paying lip service in terms of our duty to the land, but who actively encourages the practical application of knowledge and skills in addressing the problems that face our planet. Hortistry is doing that at grass-roots level.

As someone who has spent their life tending the earth, planting and sowing and endeavouring to transmit a love of and belief in the things that grow and on which we and all forms of life depend, I find the emergence of Hortistry wonderfully reassuring. It is all too easy to be overwhelmed by the problems facing our fragile landscape. This initiative is a tangible way of making a positive impact. All power to their gardening elbow.

This feature originally appeared in the April 15 issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.