Why do you garden?

There are so many different reasons that people garden.  Here is a selection of thoughts from our customers.

I love being outside in different seasons working with the soil and all the amazing variety of plants.  Gardening is great therapy – stress reliever and good exercise.  I love creating cottage style borders, mixing plants to blend colours and textures and scents.  It’s very creative.

Liz

I’ve always gardened because I’ve had to, since I had a garden, just to keep it looking tidy and nice.  And I like seeing the flowers growing.  I’ve never grown vegetables, just a bit of lettuce.

Norah

There is nothing quite like the smell of freshly cut grass, tomato vines and buddleia.  The best moments are when a plant or tree suddenly flourishes after two to 3 years of constant attention.  All of this gives me the greatest of pleasure.

Paul

I garden because I enjoy it and live in hope of one day having the garden I dream about (not going to happen!)  My idea of heaven is gardening on a warm sunny day listening to Test Match Special on the radio – bliss!

Norma

I enjoy the challenge of growing plants especially ones that I will be able to eat.  I like working outdoors and also enjoy the hard landscaping aspects of gardening.

Alan

To keep my family in fresh fruit and veg for the year.  I do have proper ‘wild flowers’, snowdrops, bluebells, cowslip, primrose, etc, for their sheer natural beauty.

Debs

Love doing something out in the fresh air; doing something with your hands; explore the wonders of nature; doing something with my husband; I get carried away from negative thoughts; totally forgetting time or stress.

Conny

Love flowers, get some exercise; want the surrounding of the house to look nice; enjoy buying plants; see what comes out of these little seedlings; like looking at beautifully laid out flowerbeds; trying to create a cottage garden or a herbaceous border.

Hans

I love the escape and creating interesting visual and scented gardens for myself and others.  My influence Ken Turner, who I knew in the sixties, he had an amazing eye.  My father is a gardener and how he is retired we grow plants together – which is the only thing we have in common.  I love planting on roofs and facades of building.

Lynda

I garden because I believe it keeps me fit, my brain active and my spirit refreshed.  I feel content when I garden, also I’m addicted to potting up plants for sale.

Davina

As a Christian, I believe the old adage “you are nearer to God in the garden than anywhere else on earth”.  I am privileged to make my living as a gardener, which allows me to use my creative gifts.

Paul

Gardening is time to spend outside, surrounded by beauty.  I believe the green thumb runs in my family.  My mother and grandmother were both crazy about gardening.  I always had knowledge of plants growing up because I was surrounded by them.  I believe it’s just in my genes to want to be in the garden!

Phyllis

I can’t stand seeing bare soil, always has been like that.  Even when I was fresh out of college and had no soil in my third floor flat, the balcony was full of potted plants.  For me, it’s therapy.  It calms me and keeps my mind distracted from the stress of life.

David

Gardening is a way to watch something grow from a seed that can feed your family; it always amazes me. I really love working in the garden every year.

Billy

Besides being obsessed with gardening I am an artist and have this need to define space.  Gardening allows me to create, using plants as a visual medium. Plants, with their leaf shapes, stems, and patterns add a compelling and pleasing graphic element to the environment. I also love growing my own food.

Emily

When I owned my first little house and planted a pot of yellow marigolds I knew I was in it for life. I’m drawn to the garden as a place to be creative, enjoy the birds and get out of my own way for a while.  And just breathe! 

Alison

The “seeds” were planted when I watched my Grandma in her sun hat weeding her rock garden.  I was about five years old.  I can’ t ever remember not being involved with gardening.  Best of all are the friends you make who share your passion.

Alice

I just can’t seem to ‘not garden.’  Maybe it’s because I’m English.  I can actually stare at my garden for ages and just appreciate what we can do to, even in small spaces.  When we go out, I’m only interested in the gardens.

Samantha

You go as fast or as slow as you feel you want to go, and that deafening silence that only peace, perfect peace, can bring.

Richard

If I can get one person to take a step in my shoes and try gardening and just see why I garden, I think they’d feel good about life.

Tony

What more reason could you have for believing that all’s right with the world than when sitting in a peaceful garden, surrounded by living, growing plants, listening to birdsong and watching small fluffy clouds drifting across a blue sky?  Aaahhhh.

Suzie