In article , Charlie
Pridham wrote:

In article , says...
In article , Charlie
Pridham wrote:

In article , says...
In article , ShinyRed
wrote:

I?m new to this forum, but thought you might be interested that
gardening is more popular than ever, despite the fact that less and
less of us have gardens!

Unfortunately, that's a load of tosh. The UK garden market has been in
decline by value every year since 2001/2, ie since the highly
influential (like it or not) Ground Force TV programme was taken off
air.

For the actual picture, see
http://www.the-hta.org.uk/index.asp?...86&s_idno=1079

Surely how much we spend does not give a good indication of how much we
garden?

Can you suggest a better indicator? Don't be misled by your personal
experience - the number of gardeners who don't buy seeds or plants
because they collect their own or take cuttings is a tiny fraction of
the total.

Thats the point, sales of plants have been there highest for 15 years
this year, its all the other stuff people are not buying.

The data I pointed to obviously doesn't include the current year so
perhaps there will be an upturn when all the figures are in. Until
then, everything is anecdotal. I agree that this year has been
exceptional in several ways including:

- Lifting of widespread hosepipe bans
- Record April weather
- Refurbishment of flooded gardens

However, the historical data I pointed to does separate out plant sales
so even based on that measurement, gardening has declined since 2001/2.

In reply to ShinyRed ) who wrote this in
, I, Marvo, say :

Hey guys

Thanks for all your responses, they've been great to read, it seems to
be a really interesting issue.

We saw the increase in searches, and weren't sure if it was maybe
partly the 'Ground Force' effect as Stan the Man said. Hopefully the
people we've found taking it up as a hobby will keep their enthusiasm
up - gardening needs an ongoing commitment as you say!

I think they will. Gardening is more addictive than fags, any day (with
apologies to Helene)