Vale: Kevin Heinze

Australia’s first television “celebrity” gardener, Kevin Heinze has died. He was 81.

Heinze hosted the ABC gardening show Sow What from 1967 to 1988. When he first started the humble series, he did so from his own suburban home.

He passed away following a heart attack at the weekend at home in Montrose, in the Dandenong Ranges. He is survived by his wife, Jill.

Heinze said he first got into gardening during the early part of the war. “I just liked to be outside and I liked the feeling of planting something and watching it grow. When I started in working life, I don’t think I was intelligent enough to do much else so I had to be a gardener.

“And the television program…..well, I think it first happened because there was nothing else on TV like it. They wanted a small program telling people what to do in the garden. Was I nervous? God strewth, I think actually that was the most nervous thing you know, I went to the toilet four times before we even started. The biggest thing when you are first on television is to watch yourself….I was scared stiff looking at myself.”

Today the Kevin Heinze Garden Centre in Doncaster stands as a recreational gardening centre for people of all ages with disabilities or special needs. Heinze was its inspiration.

Sadly, his signature sign off, today seems very apt: “cheerio for now.”

Source: ABC, The Australian