Full Monty: post-pandemic gardening

Monty wonders how gardening will change after the pandemic. Will people’s new-found connection to the natural world, via their gardens, be lost?

Sooner or later, lead times for publications such as this make a fool of everyone who has ever written for a magazine of any kind. While modern technology has meant that I am now writing this in the middle of January rather than in December as I had to do for many years, in these days of tiers, lock ins and lock downs – not to mention the dithering of politicians trying to do the right thing but desperate not to be thought unpopular – mean that it is unwise to predict what will happen next week, let alone in two months’ time. That, however, is not going to stop me trying!

Many gardening trends over the past 10 years or so have been based upon a general sense of uncertainty and unease that has pervaded the world, politically and economically, so gardens have become safer, calmer, more aware of the natural world (hurray) – and generally more of a refuge from an uncertain and, at times alarming World Out There.

You might think that the pandemic would reinforce these trends in spades, but I suspect that the opposite might be the case. I suspect that when we are allowed to move around and mingle with relative freedom and safety, we will do so in a way that our grandparents did (okay, for all you young things: your great-grandparents) 100 years ago, after the great flu pandemic of 1918-19. After the First World War, and the subsequent pandemic, there was a sense of casting caution to the winds and releasing all the pent-up fear and anxiety. The Western World – at least those with the money and leisure to do so – partied, and partied hard.

I am not suggesting that the average back garden will become a den of delightful iniquity, like Berlin in the 1920s, or be Gatsbyesque in its devotion to pleasure, but I do think that we will crave fun and brightness and playfulness as a counterpoint to the undercurrent of real alarm and retreat that the past year has bought.

That means flower shows will be even more eagerly awaited and enjoyed than ever. I suspect that show gardens will become less worthily imbued with environmental correctness and devote themselves more to colour, light and the garden as the stage set for wonderful parties on an idyllic summer’s evening.

In our own gardens, brighter colours will become prominent and the garden will emerge as a place where we can play and enjoy other’s company with drama and fantasy rather than as a nature-rich retreat.

Now I have to say that I do not entirely welcome this. I hate the thought of the new, and very welcome, awareness of our gardens as the door to the natural world being lost. I love the fact that so many people have discovered joy in the simple things that a garden has to offer – the peace, harmony and well-being, as well as a new fascination with wildlife, that is literally on our doorstep. But surely it is possible to keep that baby, whilst throwing out the tired bathwater of the past year.

There is a tendency for a puritanical zeal with all the do-goodery of behaving well by nature. Recycling, biodegrading, avoiding plastic and peat, caring about the source of materials and their effect on the environment, vegetarianism, veganism… all admirable in lots of ways, but they can also become a display of penitence for all the eco-vandalism of modern life. They might be good but they can also be a little dreary – and how we all hate to be lectured on what we ought to be doing.

Yet, respect and love of the natural world and environment should not be solemn or dull. There is a middle way. As soon as it is safe to do so, I believe there will be an overwhelming desire to break free, get out, have fun in our colourful gardens and share them with as many people as possible. But the wise gardener will combine that with respect for and pleasure from the natural world, after nurturing this over the past year, when forced inwards to our own gardens. We all need a chance to let off steam – but nature should never have to pay the price for our pleasure.

MONTY ON TV Monty and the rest of the Gardeners’ World team will be back for a brand new series on Friday 19 March, 8.30pm. And hear him discuss gardening for health and wildlife in our podcast at gardenersworld.com/podcast

Gardens have become a refuge from uncertainty