Monty Don Opens up about Knee Surgery that might end his Gardening Career.

For years, Monty Don has looked like the calm center of British gardening — steady, practical, and almost inseparable from the rhythms of the soil. But the latest health update changes that image in a very human way. In the account you shared, Don describes a long decline in his knees, years of pain while filming, and a recovery he calls “painful and slow” after knee-replacement surgery. For a presenter whose authority comes from doing the work himself, that is not a small setback. It’s a turning point.

What makes this story hit so hard is that it isn’t dramatic in a flashy way — it’s the kind of condition that creeps in quietly. Don describes a decade of deterioration, and that tracks with how knee osteoarthritis often behaves: it usually builds over time, especially in weight-bearing joints like the knees, causing pain, stiffness, and reduced movement. When surgery becomes necessary, recovery is rarely quick. NHS guidance notes that a full recovery after knee replacement can take several months or longer.

That medical reality matters because Don’s public life has always depended on physical credibility. Gardeners trust him not because he talks about gardening, but because he demonstrates it — repeatedly, season after season. So when he says he had reached a point where even basic movement after filming became difficult (as described in your excerpt), it reframes what viewers have been watching: not effortless television, but perseverance under strain.

At the same time, this isn’t a “farewell” narrative — at least not yet. Don has openly discussed ending Gardeners’ Worldsomeday, calling it a “remorseless treadmill” and saying in late 2023 that he wouldn’t do it forever and expected an exit in the next few years. But he has also repeatedly pushed back on immediate exit rumors, saying on BBC’s The One Showthat he expected to continue for “at least another three years” from 2024.

The clearest indicator is contractual, not speculative: Don confirmed he agreed to continue Gardeners’ World for two more years from January 2025, which takes him through the end of 2026. He also said he keeps going because he still enjoys it — especially since filming happens in his own garden. That doesn’t sound like a man disappearing tomorrow. It sounds like someone managing workload with sharper boundaries.

And he’s hardly been inactive. In 2025, he designed his first RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden — an enormous undertaking he described as humbling — and was still front-and-center in public horticultural life. He also fronted Monty Don’s British Gardens, which premiered in January 2025. Those are not the moves of someone already gone; they’re the moves of someone choosing projects carefully while protecting longevity.

So what does “possible retirement” really look like here? Probably not a sudden goodbye. More likely: a phased transition. Less physically punishing on-camera labor, more travel/documentary work, more writing, and eventually a planned handover of Gardeners’ World rather than an abrupt departure. Don himself has signaled that succession is part of his thinking, including comments that the next era of the show should look different from his own.

In other words, Monty Don’s health story is not just about knees. It’s about identity, adaptation, and the moment when passion meets physical limits. The pain is real, the recovery is real, and the retirement conversation is real too. But if the current evidence is the guide, this is less an ending than a recalibration: slower pace, smarter choices, same gardener.