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Alan Titchmarsh has named the "most important gardening tool" he has. The 77-year-old has had a lifelong passion for gardening, having used his pocket money to buy seeds as a child.

He then left school at 15 and went on to become an apprentice gardener at Ilkley Council in Yorkshire. Following a spell editing gardening books, Alan began contributing to Radio 4's You and Yours and The Today Programme in the 1970s. He later moved into television and has presented hit shows such as Gardeners' World and Ground Force. He recently appeared on the RHS's Roots podcast to discuss his life and share his words of wisdom for amateur gardeners.

One piece of advice Alan gave is what he thinks the most vital piece of kit around his garden is. He said: "Somebody said to me, 'What's the most important gardening tool? And I said, 'Now, a kneeler'."

On his Gardening with Alan Titchmarsh YouTube channel, Alan has previously shared some of his essential gardening tools. Among them were the rake, which he advises should be left with the teeth up, which he says is for "levelling" the soil.

He said: "You only need a few strokes across the ground to make it level with a rake."

Elsewhere he described the secateurs as the "most useful cutting tool" in his garden. He explained: "I look for a pair that sit comfortably in my hand. With secateurs you can get different sizes, some with longer handles, which means often it gives you a better torque so you can cut slightly thicker stems."

Alan however says he would never use his secateurs to cut anything that was more than a centimeter or half an inch thick. He continued: "They are great, absolutely flawless for pruning roses, pruning trees, shrubs, any stem less than half an inch in diameter."

Gardeners' World presenter Monty Don has also been a vocal supporter of secateurs, admitting he never goes into the garden without them. It came as self-confessed "tool obsessive" Monty revealed he feels "underequipped" if he has "less than 30 tools".

He said: "Every gardener has to have a pair of secateurs. These are Japanese, they're very beautifully made and they're very sharp, which is important.

"I never go into the garden without a pair of secateurs, so it's got to feel comfortable, they've got to be small enough so that you can put them in your pocket or in a holster, but big enough so that you can cut.

"The one thing I'd say about secateurs is, don't overgear them. They need to be just enough to do the job. Don't try and force it, sometimes you need more than one, a light pair and a heavy duty pair."