UK Ecology

Articles from 2005.

The BBC programme 'Gardener's World' is now available on the Internet, enabling you to catch up on any missed episodes. You can find it by clicking here. Television has been one of the major drivers of the steady growth in the UK gardening market. A marked increase in the number and quality of gardening programmes on the main terrestrial channels, especially the 'garden makeover' format, have helped to raise consumer's awareness of the possibilities of the garden. Television programmes also serve to publicise trends in garden design encouraged by professional horticulturalists and landscapers, an example being the rise in popularity of decking a few years ago and more recently in water features. The most popular TV show in recent times has been the BBC's 'Ground Force' which has claimed up to 8 million viewers. Other popular programmes include 'Gardener's World' (BBC), 'The City Gardener' (C4) and 'The Great Garden Challenge' (C4). UKTV, a digital broadcaster, has a dedicated channel to gardening called 'Style Gardens'.

News from across the pond may point to the eventual extinction of the lawn mower! The Howard Hughes Medical Inst. (California) has been studying the class of plant hormones called brassinosteroids and a form of dwarf grass that retains its colour has been identified. Now, if they can just develop the aphid repellent rose bush we can really afford to relax a bit more in our gardens!.

The proportion of adults owning a garden, or having access to one, has been declining gradually for many years, and fell from 83.9% in 1996 to 80.1% by 2005. Allotment ownership has also declined, reaching 1.5% in 2005, from 2.2 % in 1996. The size of the average garden is getting smaller as new builds fit more houses on smaller plots and former garden areas are conveted to non-leisure purposes.

Table: Ownership of Gardens and Allotments in the UK, 1996 - 2005

April 2005. A pensioner escaped with only minor injuries after falling 30 feet from a cliff in Norfolk while mowing his back lawn. Vidal Dacosta, 66 years and originally from Madeira, plunged over the cliff at the bottom of his garden, while driving his new ride-on mower. As he clipped the grass at the back of his home in the coastal village of Walcott, he inadvertently reversed too far and man and machine tumbled over the edge, landing separately. Despite this near-death gardening experience, Mr Dacosta remains determined to remount the mower - which he has had for only two weeks - once a few parts are replaced.

Pensioner Falls Off Cliff While Using His Ride-On Lawnmower - Click for Video report.