Any of us who has ever taken a break from the daily worries to pull a bucket of weeds, deadhead the roses or tie in a clematis knows an hour spent in the garden can raise our mood, put our troubles into perspective, and help us to return to the grind with a new spring in our muddy steps.
Clare Matterson, director general of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), says, “When times are tough, history shows us people turn to gardening and gardens.” Our growing realisation of the simple, soul-feeding joy that can be found tending plants is demonstrated this year by record-breaking sales for tickets for the RHS’s Chelsea Flower Show, the highlight of the gardening and social calendar.
“We have never needed the joy of gardening so much,” Matterson said in an interview earlier this week. “The power of plants to uplift, calm and make us happy cannot be underestimated… and we’re seeing people increasingly turn to gardening and the RHS for respite, enjoyment and as a way of doing something good for themselves and the planet.”
Green thumbs and big smiles: anyone who has tended their garden will know the happiness it brings (Getty)
The RHS has also seen its biggest membership spike since the Covid gardening boom of 2021 and 2022, with 30,000 new members since 1 February, and 9,700 in April alone. This rise in membership is hardly surprising. During those dark days at the beginning of the decade, if we weren’t baking banana bread, we were sprouting garlic cloves in our kitchens, planting window boxes and scattering seeds in our gardens just to feel alive.
Many of us, for the first time, realised that gardening didn’t have to be hard or mysterious, and that with soil, seeds, water and sunshine we could create everyday miracles. For many, this newfound passion endured long after washing our hands while singing Happy Birthday twice. It seemed like some kind of fever dream.
Numerous studies show that gardening not only benefits our mental and physical health, but also helps ward off loneliness and builds social connections. Gardeners are, by their nature, generous creatures and anyone who has spent time in their company knows that you’re unlikely to come away without a tip, a cutting or a handful of seeds folded carefully into a scrap of paper.
A few years ago, when I moved to a village where I hardly knew anyone, my sense of being part of the community grew as my garden did. My house is on the corner of a busy street. As I hacked back the forest of invasive bamboo that had claimed the garden over two decades and replaced it with flower beds, paths and roses that clambered along the railings, my new neighbours often stopped to chat with me over the fence, cheering me on and giving me advice. I made the garden for myself, but the pleasure it gives to other people as they pass increases my own.
It’s a demonstration of belief in a more beautiful and delicious future, where we can experiment, feel some freedom in the moment, make mistakes and move beyond crippling perfectionism, where we can dream a little
At this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, even Sir David Beckham is getting in on the act. He has helped garden designer Frances Tophill and gardening godfather, Alan Titchmarsh, create what they call their Curious Garden for the RHS and the King’s Foundation. The garden will include the newly-named Sir David Beckham rose, to be launched by the David Austin nursery at the show. If his stint as Country Life guest editor last October wasn’t enough, this must surely mean his transition from floppy-haired footballer being given the hairdryer treatment by Sir Alex Ferguson to tweed-wearing country gent hobnobbing with the King is now complete.
When his involvement in the show was announced, Sir David said, “My love for the countryside started when I was a child visiting my grandparents. I’ve experienced how rewarding gardening can be. I hope we inspire people to get outside into nature and to try something new.”
Golden buds: David Beckham is having a rose named after him (Getty)
When the world seems like a crazy place, when it is a crazy place, when our own part in it feels vulnerable and uncertain, planting some flowers or vegetables is planting hope. It’s a demonstration of belief in a more beautiful and delicious future, where we can experiment, feel some freedom in the moment, make mistakes and move beyond crippling perfectionism, where we can dream a little. We mould a small part of our world and leave a green thumbprint on the universe, even if that universe is a window box or a few pots in a backyard. Sometimes, just gazing at a horizon can boost our moods, even when it’s a horizon we’ve created ourselves.
Debora Robertson is the author of ‘Notes from a Small Kitchen Island’ and writes regular cooking and gardening updates on her Licked Spoon substack
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