Crossword Genius

County nicknamed the Garden of England (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

kent

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'garden of england' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'county nicknamed the' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ken' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for kent that I've seen before include "Part of 1 25 [KING LEAR]" , "South-eastern county" , "Southern English county" , "English architect and landscape gardener" , "Knew (Scottish)" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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