Alan Titchmarsh has issued a friendly caution to fellow gardeners whilst recounting an occasion when he was "told off". In a tool-focused episode of Gardening With Alan Titchmarsh - his recently launched YouTube series - the cherished presenter began by emphasising the importance of one of the garden's indispensable "workhorses".

He outlined that the spade proves useful for numerous jobs, including planting trees, shrubs, and border perennials and for earthing up potatoes, before turning his attention to another commonplace tool: the rake. Alan's guidance on the implement was accompanied by a personal story from his time at horticultural college, along with a word of warning designed to help people prevent potential injuries whilst undertaking their "levelling".

As he propped the rake with the teeth pointing upwards, Alan remarked: "This is what most people think of as a rake. And this is most people's idea of a rake. Did you notice I leaned it with the teeth upwards?"

He then turned the rake over so the teeth were near the ground. Alan added: "Never, ever, ever put a rake like that because you'll tread on it and it'll come up and whack you in the eye. Always stand it like that.

"I remember being told off by a lecturer at horticultural college, and I was overraking the soil. He said, 'Stop it. Stop it'. I said, 'What? What?' He said, 'The rake is not for breaking down soil. That's what a fork is for. The rake is for levelling and you only need a few strokes across the ground to make it level with a rake'.

"There are other rakes as well. There's the famous springbok rake; this one with wire tines. The nearest we get to a musical instrument in the garden. This has one use and one use only: for raking dead grass, thatch and moss out of a lawn."

He went on to explain that the type that works best for leaves on gravel or lawns is a plastic or rubber-toothed rake, observing that they are "much more giving" and won't get stuck in the grass.

Alan described this type as "really efficient and effective" at sweeping up leaves, adding that this would be the rake he would choose if he "could only run to one", suggesting it could also be used for "levelling the soil a little".

In related news, Alan recently disclosed that there's a particular tree species that he doesn't like "very much". Speaking once more on his channel, he admitted that he's not keen on the weeping birch.

He said: "Personally, I don't like it very much, but if you like it and you want a birch, Young's weeping birch for a tiny garden, but jacquemontii for anything of reasonable size."