Gavin: How lockdown has made our love of gardening bloom
A NEW generation of gardeners have been inspired to get digging after reappraising their lives during the coronavirus pandemic, says TV star Diarmuid Gavin.
The garden designer said people were “addicted” after tackling neglected outdoor spaces during the warm and sunny lockdown.
Award-winner Diarmuid, 56, presents a BBC show which he likens to watching Bake Off as viewers get to see how other horticultural experts do things.
Filmed in just over a month as lockdown restrictions were eased in June, he helps people design their dream gardens from the comfort of his own home.
It also lets him work on his own plot near Bray, County Wicklow, which has been 13 years in the making. The six-part series came about after he realised how “tough” lockdown was going to get so started live nightly Instagram broadcasts.
As people shared common problems, Diarmuid brought together fellow gardeners to share their knowledge in a fun way.
It attracted thousands of global viewers. He said: “The secret was the people gardening with us.
“We developed a core group of gardeners with different areas of interests and they would show us how to take cuttings or pot on. It’s like Bake Off, it is lovely seeing how other people do things.” And since lockdown, nurseries and garden suppliers told him they have not known a time when interest in gardening was so great.
He said: “When garden centres got back into their stride, they noticed people had got addicted.”
Before the pandemic work took him away, often leaving early at least twice a week to catch a flight, returning late. This gave him little time for his wife, teenage daughter or two dogs or tend his garden.
Diarmuid said: “It is nice slowing down. As part of the show I wanted to live like the Good
Life, so we got three rescue chickens and that has been great fun trying to keep them happy and away from the foxes.
“I think we’re examining what is important now. If our dreams are relatively simple and we can achieve them by doing subtle changes, we are doing that.”
Gardening Together With Diarmuid Gavin, BBC Two, 6.30pm, tomorrow
GOOD LIFE: Diarmuid, right, has more time for his family and garden