Plan your gardening year!
After a very strange 2020, it’s time to look forward to a green-fingered 2021
What’s hot in the world of gardening for 2021 and which events are going to be unmissable? As a degree of normality is restored (hopefully) following the Covid-19 pandemic, we round-up the gardening trends, projects and essentials that are a must for your New Year calendar.
TRY A TERRARIUM
Terrariums are making a comeback. Kits containing contemporary bottle gardens, specialist soil, tools and gravel are winging their way to garden centres for 2021. Plenty of plants will thrive in these tiny indoor greenhouses, including aloe, fittonia, echeveria, asplenium and haworthia. A perfect New Year project to banish those January blues!
ORDER SEEDS EARLY
Spring 2020 saw everything from flower and veg seeds to onion sets sell out fast. While lockdown fuelled sales, the Horticultural Trades Association says up to three million people have discovered the joys of gardening during the pandemic, so demand is expected to be high once again. In April, the Suttons group said demand for seeds soared by more than 1,000 per cent while Mr Fothergill’s reported that, in May, veg and flower seed sales were up by 500 and 300 per cent respectively. With heightened demand forecast in 2021, it makes sense to order early to avoid disappointment.
BEAT PRICE RISES
Thinking of making a big-ticket purchase for your garden? Then take advantage of the January sales. According to reports, logjams at UK ports caused by pre-Brexit stockpiling are creating costly delays. The Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association is warning of price hikes, claiming the cost of shipping freight has soared by as much as 300 per cent, raising the spectre of suppliers passing rising costs onto shoppers.
Why not gr a little fore in a jar?
REVIVE TIRED LAWNS
The lockdowns of 2020 took a toll on lawns, with sparse patches and compacted ground common due to heavy wear and tear. Moss killing, feeding and overseeding tired turf will be essential for spring 2021, to get lawns looking shipshape ahead of what’s set to be another stay-at-home summer. Plus, it’ll avoid heavy turf restoration later in the year.
BOOK A COVID-SAFE FLOWER SHOW
Nervous about returning to crowded events? Flower show organisers will be attempting to woo gardeners back with a host of safety measures. One of the first to kick off will be Spring Essentials, a special version of the Harrogate Flower Show at the Great Yorkshire Showground on April 22-25. Traditionally, Harrogate attracts up to 60,000 visitors but numbers will be capped at 20,000 to ensure the event is Covid-safe. Tickets must be bought in advance and Harrogate 2021 will be an outdoor event.
HELP FEATHERED FRIENDS
Since the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch started in 1979, nearly nine million hours have been spent watching birds on our plots, with 137 million birds counted. The annual wildlife watch has identified important trends, such as a 76 per cent decline in song thrushes between 1979 and 2019, while house sparrows and starling numbers have fallen by 56 and 80 per cent respectively. But there’s good news too, as the number of great tits has risen by 68 per cent since the first Birdwatch. To help pinpoint how wildlife is faring in your region, make sure to take part in the next count between January 29-31 .
TRIAL PEAT-FREE COMPOST
Figures from The Growing Media Monitor report claimed that the amount of peat in compost sold to gardeners fell from 53 per cent to 41.5 per cent between 2015 and 2019; a tiny drop considering the Government wanted UK gardening to be peat-free by 2020. If you’re cautious about ditching peat, why not make a New Year’s resolution to trial a peat-free brand against your favourite peat-based compost? In addition to the New Horizon and Miracle-Gro peat-free composts widely available at garden centres, specialist peat-frees such as SylvaGrow and Dalefoot Composts have a legion of loyal fans.
Help identify trends by taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch
It’s a good reminder that calendula is a magnet for pollinators
LOOK FORWARD TO CALENDULAS AND COURGETTES!
Fleuroselect, the international organisation that trials new plants to pinpoint winners, has declared 2021 the Year of the Calendula and Year of the Courgette. While this is primarily a marketing initiative, it reminds gardeners that calendula (pot marigold) is a magnet for pollinating insects and will thrive in pots and borders, while courgettes are easy to grow and yield bumper crops – an ideal choice for beginners.
ENJOY A COMEBACK AT CHELSEA
Covid-19 robbed gardeners of their Chelsea fix during 2020 but the RHS is on a mission to bring back the horticultural extravaganza on May 18-23. Numbers will be reduced from 168,500 over five days in 2019 to 140,000 in 2021, when the show will be expanded to six days for the first time in its 108-year history, to allow for social distancing. Look out for a new category at Chelsea 2021 called Sanctuary Gardens, which will celebrate how the nation has found solace in gardening during the pandemic. Expect to see track and trace check-ins, changes to layouts to prevent crowds and cashless transactions where possible across RHS shows.
LET HOUSEPLANTS HIT NEW HEIGHTS
Houseplants are firmly back in fashion. So much so that the Garden Centre Association declared 2019 the ‘year of the houseplant’, after sales rose by more than 17 per cent over 12 months, but that was just the beginning of the story. Houseplant departments have been star performers at garden centres in 2020, with sales up by 33 per cent in January, 81 per cent in July and 48 per cent in October. Indoor foliage has lifted our moods during the pandemic, a trend that retailers believe will extend into 2021, with houseplants a hot topic on social media.
GROW VEG IN SMALL SPACES
Grow-your-own is set to be huge in 2021. Reports claim that a quarter of Britain’s food is imported from Europe, with fresh produce susceptible to perishing if Brexit-related border delays materialise. Windowsill gardening kits for herbs and edibles are being rolled out to cater for novice gardeners, while topsoil providers are gearing-up to meet demand from the rising popularity of growing fruit and veg in raised beds.
WAGE A WAR AGAINST PLASTIC
As the war against single-use plastic is stepped up, new concentrated refills of products such as plant feed and tomato food will arrive at garden centres, helping gardeners to reuse existing containers. More pots and containers will be made from eco-friendly alternatives to plastic, such as bamboo and recycled rubber, while garden furniture crafted from recycled ocean plastic waste is flooding onto the market. A new generation of soil improvers made from by-products of renewable energy are providing an alternative to synthetic feeds.