Alan titchmarsh issues urgent 'do not' warning to uk households with a garden

THE ITV LOVE YOUR WEEKEND STAR APPEARED ON BBC BREAKFAST, WHERE HE ISSUED A STARK REMINDER ABOUT BIOSECURITY, IN AN INTERVIEW WHICH AIRED THIS WEEKEND. 08:13, 19 Jan 2025 Alan Titchmarsh has

issued an urgent warning to UK gardeners - urging them: "Do not." The ITV Love Your Weekend star appeared on BBC Breakfast, where he issued a stark reminder about biosecurity, in

an interview which aired this weekend. The former Ground Force star, 75, was quizzed by host Ben Thompson on the need to protect Britain’s “food crops but the rest of our plants”. The

gardening guru warned Ben, who was in the Media City studio in Salford in Greater Manchester, that “biosecurity is a real and present danger.” He warned that one of the main functions of the

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was to manage the nations borders for plants, explaining they “monitors the passage of plants between Europe, the rest of the world

and this country.” READ MORE MET OFFICE WARNS TWO-WORD WEATHER PHENOMENON WILL HIT UK FROM SUNDAY They job is to “make sure that we retain plant health in terms of both pests and

diseases," he said. He warned that biosecurity threats were an “ongoing problem and a lot of work is being done in that area to make sure safeguards are put in place and that we don’t

import.” Article continues below “It’s vitally important that when people go on holiday, they don’t chuck a cutting in their bag. Don’t do it.” Titchmarsh said. Instead, he recommended

gardeners around the UK to buy their plants “in this country from reputable suppliers”." Even if they are foreign in origin, he added that those plants would “have been quarantined for

a good year to make sure they are free of pests and diseases”. “Then you know not only are you buying something for your garden that won’t affect it, but you’re also not bringing something

into this country that we’d hitherto managed to keep out,” Titchmarsh added. He told UK households: "It’s important that all of us take part in plant safety and biosecurity.”