The United Kingdom is very lucky that a lot of our homes come with gardens. At least if you live outside of central London or any other major city center. But there was a disturbing trend happening all over the country only ten years ago. People were forgoing garden care completely. Gardens all over the country were becoming delapedates and ruined. And there are a number of reasons for this.
But luckily times are changing. People have suddenly started to take better care of their gardens in recent years. But what exactly is this happening? And why did people ever stop caring for their gardens?
The Decline of Gardens
There are a number of key reasons why people across the country stopped caring for their garden. It would be very easy to just say people were lazy and didn’t want to bother looking after their gardens. And this is true for some people. But it isn’t the norm.
The most obvious reason is money. The United Kingdom has been in decline for years now thanks to the irresponsibility of the ruling Tory party. Recession after recession with no clear end in sight. And garden maintenance isn’t cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Especially with prices consistently on the rise. So a lot of people simply couldn’t afford to look after their gardens anymore.
To tie into this, a lot of people didn’t have the time to look after their gardens. Recessions mean people have to work more for less money. Many brits ended up getting second jobs or working extra hours. This meant that people didn’t have the free time needed to maintain a garden. It is no small feat to keep your garden in a good condition. And if you are already exhausted from working long hours, you won’t want to take part in manual labor such as gardening.
The Rise of Student Homes
Another huge factor in the decline of garden care was the rise of student homes in the UK. The country has slowly become a university country and with it a majority of homes have been converted into student homes. But this means a lot of gardens are going unmaintained as students see no need to maintain a garden for only a year. And landlords are notoriously bad at any kind of home maintenance for their properties.
The Rise Of Garden Care
So why have people suddenly started caring for their gardens again? The biggest reason was COVID. The pandemic saw the majority of the UK in lockdown on and off for two years. So people were suddenly spending a lot of time at home. And for a lot of people their main source of being outside was to hang out in their gardens. This meant people started taking better care of their gardens to make it a more comfortable environment.
They started looking after their plants more. They would keep the gardens cleaner. Trim the branches on trees and look after the hedges. And when more people found out that you can transform your garden with composite fencing, sales of composite fencing skyrocketed. Which was fantastic for the industry, especially in a time where a lot of businesses were failing. Eventually people were allowed to create bubbles with other homes which meant they could have a limited number of guests come round and hang out. Most of the time people would sit in the gardens. Which was another huge motivator for making sure your garden was looking as good as possible.
Another big reason people started taking better care of their gardens was global warming. The sad truth is that the country has been getting hotter every summer. And it is showing no signs of stopping. This meant people were spending more time in their gardens. But also it meant plants needed extra love and attention to simply survive. So people had to dedicate more time and effort to their gardens than ever before just to combat the increasing heat.
People are starting to invest in better garden furniture, particularly umbrellas and gazebos, to provide more shade in their gardens. Especially during the heatwave where it was super important to stay hidden away from the sun.
