Gardening term bleeped by the BBC

His green-fingered pottering usually keeps him far from controversy.  But Alan Titchmarsh has found himself at the centre of an unlikely row after using an apparently risque gardening term during an interview on BBC Breakfast.

However, it is not the phrase ‘bastard trenching’ that is being complained about but the corporation’s over-the-top response.

Viewers heard a sharp intake of breath in the studio before presenter Louise Minchin made a speedy apology.

Last night other gardeners and viewers mocked the ‘pathetic’ BBC and said it was ‘ridiculous’ that it felt the need to say sorry for a gardener using a legitimate gardening term.

Titchmarsh, 66, was appearing on BBC Breakfast to promote his latest show, Love Your Garden.

The former Ground Force host said of the work that he does in his garden: 'I don't double dig every day. Nobody needs to double dig every day.'

When asked to explain the term by BBC presenter Charlie Stayt, Titchmarsh replied: 'Double digging is digging to two spades' blades' depth.  'There's also another name for it, which sounds dreadful, it's called "b*****d trenching" and by the end of it you realise it's a very fitting name for it.

The apology came despite the BBC allowing the term to be used both on Gardeners’ Question Time on Radio 4 and in an article on how to be a gardener.

Mick Bruce wrote: 'How pathetic of BBC Breakfast to apologise after Alan Titchmarsh used a legitimate gardening term to describe double digging.'

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