Home & Garden
Traditional hands-on gardening is making a come-back as the pandemic reverses the trend towards low maintenance gardens.
Over a quarter of Brits (28 percent) now wish to take more care of their gardens. More than one in three of us (37 percent) want additional plants and aim to grow extra fruit and vegetables (35 percent).
The statistics, provided by Homes & Gardens’ new report ‘Our Homes & Gardens; Understanding Our Changing Housing Culture’, also show that an overwhelming 95 per cent of respondents enjoy spending time more or as much time in the garden as they did last year. Out of them, over a third (37 percent) agree that they now spend quality time gardening.
According to the RHS, Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don says, “We garden to nurture our little corner of nature but just as importantly, to nourish our souls and more and more people are tapping into its healing power.”
“Plant a seed that becomes a beautiful flower, and your life is immeasurably enriched. Simply sit in a garden and listen to the birds and the world is set in a perspective that is empowering. Gardens are fun and beautiful and rewarding – but much more than that, gardens are desperately important, and we need them now more than ever for our physical and mental wellbeing.”
Alongside gardening, outdoor living is now positioned right in the heart of housing culture. Gardens are now valued as areas that can be well utilised, providing space to translate interior functions to the outside and to enjoy new activities, while benefiting from the light and fresh air. The Homes & Gardens report also found that functionality is highly desirable, with a fifth of respondents to its survey (21 percent) now wanting to create an outdoor eating space, while just over a third (34 percent) require a better patio or seating area to fulfil their outdoor living needs.
One such homeowner is Beth Davies, who lives in a three-bedroom house in Middlesex and is passionate about gardening and entertaining. Because of this, she decided to create a relaxed, sociable space outdoors, opening out from the kitchen and extending the house into the garden for use all year round. This project required a complete redesign and landscape of the outside area, which she finalised in just under three months with the help of a garden designer, just before the first lockdown. To suit her needs, the space’s existing features were combined with new planting, raised beds, a barbecue area and a bespoke pergola for a secluded feel.
In addition, clever storage solutions for garden equipment and accessories were built into the seating area at the back of the garden. Thanks to the structural evergreens introduced into the garden, she now enjoys luxuriant vegetation throughout the year and the whole space provides her with a much-needed sanctuary environment in these challenging times.
