It is said that the British love 2 things above all else - their gardens and their pets. I'm not entirely sure that's true of every Brit but it is probably a reasonable generalisation if you had to make one.
When it comes to gardens, let's face it most of us have watched the BBC's Gardener's World at some point in our lives (though we might not admit to it!) and when Charlie Dimmock talks about the importance of composting or Alan Titchmarsh promotes the need for butterfly conservation many of us take notice and actually listen!
So what is it about gardens that attracts the British?
Do we like to look at them, work at them or just sit in them?
Well, pushing a lawn mower around for hours is not my idea of a good time nor that of anyone else I know, so I think the latter option is the most likely .... just sitting in the garden.
Certainly during the winter months, my sense of longing for warm, summer days increases and I look out onto the garden wistfully wondering when it will next be that I can sit out and relax there with my family. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy tending the garden and growing my herbs and fruits (see photo left of my rhubarb) which I enjoy using in home cooking but that tends to be be for just a relatively small part of the year. The rest is spent trying to deal with weeds, get the grass mowed regularly and the hedge trimmed occasionally. Tedious but necessary. If only next year we could get a sufficient number of warm, sunny days I think many people would spend more time in the garden working to get it ready. I not building up my hopes though ... I'll probably check the long range weather forecast in the New Year and aim to think about it more then!
When it comes to gardens, let's face it most of us have watched the BBC's Gardener's World at some point in our lives (though we might not admit to it!) and when Charlie Dimmock talks about the importance of composting or Alan Titchmarsh promotes the need for butterfly conservation many of us take notice and actually listen!
So what is it about gardens that attracts the British?
Do we like to look at them, work at them or just sit in them?
Well, pushing a lawn mower around for hours is not my idea of a good time nor that of anyone else I know, so I think the latter option is the most likely .... just sitting in the garden.
Certainly during the winter months, my sense of longing for warm, summer days increases and I look out onto the garden wistfully wondering when it will next be that I can sit out and relax there with my family. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy tending the garden and growing my herbs and fruits (see photo left of my rhubarb) which I enjoy using in home cooking but that tends to be be for just a relatively small part of the year. The rest is spent trying to deal with weeds, get the grass mowed regularly and the hedge trimmed occasionally. Tedious but necessary. If only next year we could get a sufficient number of warm, sunny days I think many people would spend more time in the garden working to get it ready. I not building up my hopes though ... I'll probably check the long range weather forecast in the New Year and aim to think about it more then!
