Kate Garraway appears on Gardeners' World to speak of coping mechanism during difficult year
9 October 2020, 12:30
Kate Garraway has turned to gardening to help keep her focused as her husband Derek Draper remains in hospital.
Smooth presenter Kate will appear on tonight’s episode of Gardeners’ World (October 9), where she speaks about how her outdoor projects have been influenced by Derek’s health battle recovery timeline.
Kate, 53, explained: “It was rather sad because the radishes came, they’re one of Derek’s favourites. We ate them and he still wasn’t better.”
Posting a clip from the show to her 948,000 Instagram followers, Kate said: “It’s been the most important space for us. It’s been a place to find joy. It’s been a place to find hope.
Watch the clip below:
“It’s been a place to go a bit crazy and feel a bit unleashed in a stifling physical and emotional time that we’ve all lived through.
“It just gives you that sense of positive moving forward, that I think only a garden can do really. You can’t think short term in a garden. You have to plan, you have to have hope, you have to invest in a future.
“You don’t plant something unless you believe it’s going to come up. So by planting something and believing Derek will see it when it comes up - that gives us a sense of future.”
Kate captioned the post with a not about how she had watched the show since she was “tiny” and was “honoured” to take part.
Read more: Kate Garraway returns to Smooth Radio: 'It'll give Derek another opportunity to hear my voice'
Kate said: “So honoured to be on a programme have loved since I was tiny watching with my Dad every Friday and has been such a tonic to escape the troubles of this summer.
“Hope it lifts your spirits too and encourages you to get gardening even if you only have a pot on the window sill - it will give you more than you imagine! Gardeners’ World, BBC Two, Friday 9th October at 9pm @joe_swifty and @themontydon.
“PS my Dad is so proud! You see Dad, I was listening all those weekends you got my brother and I to help out on the allotment!”
Derek is still in hospital after contracting coronavirus at the end of March, and being put into an induced coma in early April.
Read more: Kate Garraway visiting husband Derek Draper in hospital to celebrate anniversary
While Derek is now clear of Covid-19, he continues to battle the effects of the virus.
In July, Kate confirmed that Derek is out of the “deep coma”, and is now in a “minimal state of consciousness”, but that the virus had “wreaked havoc on his body”.
