Green pastures ahead?

Monty Don, Alan Titchmarsh and others celebrity gardeners predict the challenges of 2021

MONTY DON

“On a very basic level, the challenge is space. By the time I was in my early 30s I was on to my second garden of my own,” says the Gardeners’ World presenter, whose latest book My Garden World has just been published.

“But young people my children’s age, in their early 30s, don’t have houses, they don’t have gardens – it’s having the opportunity to garden. If young people have the energy and the desire to change things but don’t have access to gardens, like we did, that is a big challenge.

“Climate change is something that is affecting gardeners as much as anyone.

It’s not necessarily disastrous but it is a change and it’s difficult.”

The gardening guru, whose latest poetry book Marigolds, Myrtle and Moles: A Gardener’s Bedside Book provides a much needed escape, says: “One good thing that did come out of 2020 was the realisation that gardens had an enormous part to play in not only preserving the sanity of the nation, but also in providing food.

“More folk than ever decided to grow their own fruit and veg. Thankfully, in spite of being closed at the beginning of the first lockdown, garden centres were opened just in time before the spring turned into an absolute disaster for British growers and British horticulture – worth around £24 billion GDP to the economy, and priceless in terms of our physical and mental wellbeing.

“I do hope that the legacy of this year – and the solace and stimulation that has been provided by gardens and gardening – will have a lasting effect on our attitude to growing things, and that future generations will see gardening for what it is – the sharp end of caring for the environment.”

PIPPA GREENWOOD

The regular panellist on Gardeners’ Question Time says: “I have concerns that there could be plant shortages, partly because of Covid, but my fear is that the new border controls and proposed plant inspections, import regulations and all the costs involved could have a far bigger impact.

“For many reasons (and certainly in terms of actual carbon footprint) we simply cannot grow all the plants gardeners want in the UK, basic things like day-length, seasons and temperature mean that growing some of what we want would not be acceptable from an environmental perspective. These EU-exit effects are also likely to cause a hike in the prices we see in garden centres and nurseries.”

SARAH RAVEN

“With new research pointing to the immunological benefits of Vitamin D, being outside, growing and gardening is set to rise further, says the gardening broadcaster and author, whose new book, A Year Full Of Flowers is due to be published on March 4.

“Uncertainty about the future makes planning anything hard, and that includes the garden. There are longer than usual waiting times for things with greater demand for stock and fewer people out there able to grow and/or deliver the plants you want or need.

“And with Brexit, plant availability and prices are less certain. What will happen to the euro/pound exchange rate? Will there by tons of waste? Will there be lorries held up full of plants coming from the continent needing water? Growing your own is the best way to keep at least some control.”

LUCY START

The SheGrowsVeg influencer with 105,000 followers on Instagram says: “When the first lockdown struck, people who had never had much interest in gardening in general abruptly embraced the pastime with fervour and the scarcity of seeds, plants or just a simple bag of compost at the start of this year’s growing season is testament to the sheer numbers of people getting involved.

“The big challenge facing the gardening world in 2021 is to turn this sudden influx of gardening newbies into long term converts. To do this there has to be more ways for all people to grow, more focus on how to grow when you have little or no space and efforts made to keep the innovation and energy that appeared last year alive and engaging.”