The Financial Times and I are celebrating our golden wedding anniversary. For 50 years I have been writing my weekly gardening columns. Nobody else can match that uninterrupted run on one national newspaper. I am wistful that the FT’s Nigel Andrews last year gave up his film column after only 46 years. He was getting into his stride.
I have no intention of stopping. Expertise grows over time and my subject keeps changing, never more so than in these times of climate change, biodiversity and virus. The garden is a priceless haven for self-isolators, and the lockdown is drawing new recruits to gardening.
A long marriage takes two. This paper has given me the cue and the time to see more, try more, hear more and improve. Long service is crucial for critics and experts.