Only a couple of weeks ago the much-revered Monty Don said on Radio 2 “One thing is for certain, we`ll be spending much more time in our gardens this year” How true he is – for those that are lucky enough to have them of course.
We`ve found that as a business, Brexit had already begun to turn people`s minds to their own plot as we were going into political and geographical semi self isolation. The effect of Covid 19 has now compulsorily brought us face to face with our immediate environment – our house and garden.
I hear the phrase “Things will never be the same” but it is said with anxiety and fear of the new temporary environment, but equally as we begin to resolve ourselves to this new situation, we look at the positives which are an antidote to the previous lives we all blindly trod. Those of following the dollar and complaining of having no time to take stock and nurture ourselves and our loved ones.
So, while the environment has a brief breather from our influence, we can use this time to take stock of the gem we have in our immediate outdoor environment. Strange how this is already happening right from the start. Try and buy seeds or compost, or a chicken hutch for that matter.
I`ve just come in from the garden and apart from the shear silence, there`s a sense that it`s only us that have slowed. The flora and fauna is quietly getting on with it and we can ride this momentum to alleviate the feeling of the general arrest of our own lives.
For millennia humans have made nature work for us, in some ways to the detriment of the environment, but what has given us the most pleasure is embellishing our own environment, from the Egyptian massive feats of irrigation from the Nile to produce fertile areas out of dust, to contemporary times, in the development of our own gardens.
In the forty years I have been a garden design, I`ve been taking thousands of briefs from clients and converting them into places that they recognise as their own – whether it`s a haven of peace and tranquillity or a bespoke party venue, or both.
Each of us can now benefit from having help creating the most perfect place in which to see this through – and beyond.
So, perhaps not so much `year of the garden` but the `year that you begin to realise the power of the garden`.