As the proud parent of three lovely kids, I often wonder if I would like them to have the same passion and obsession with all things gardening that I have. Their current interest in deforestation and general garden destruction would indicate that I have nothing to worry about. However, from re-reading my early gardening diaries (!) I have discovered that it wasn’t until I reached my early teens that I started behaving in a really weird manner.
By then I was beyond help, riddled with the symptoms of “Gardenitis,” having to contend not only with acne but also greenfly, whitefly and blackspot! My long suffering parents had to stand back and watch one of their brood becoming a living garden feature that spoke in a strange Latin tongue. The final straw came when I fitted lights in the greenhouse so I could garden long into the night – shortly afterwards I was packed off to university!
Being the shy and retiring type, I was always conscious that, should my pals find out about my gardenitis, I would not get picked for the football team – and certainly not for the rugby team! Thus it was that my secret remained within the confines of my family and a few trusted mates until I was big and brave enough to admit to it. How times and attitudes have changed! No longer is it deemed slightly unnatural for someone younger than 65 to be interested in this most ancient of arts and there appear to be contagious outbreaks of gardenitis spreading across our green and pleasant land.
Schools are now being targeted by the RHS as they strive to bring gardening to the lives of a significant number of children and young people; their recently launched Campaign for School Gardening will be working in over 80% of primary schools within the next few years. There is also a huge increase in the number of schools that are investing in productive and instructive garden areas where pupils are encouraged to join in with after-school activities centred on connecting with the natural world. With a little help from the media and with celebrity events such as the Chelsea Flower Show helping make gardening appear cool to youngsters, it would seem that the wonderful world of gardening has a healthy future.
Enid Blyton would be so proud. This pioneering goddess of the world of children’s writing was probably the first ever celeb to lay claim to promoting gardening to kids; long before even the BBC cleared the first sods from their iconic Blue Peter garden. In her 1948 book, Let’s Garden (have a look on Amazon!!), she enchants her young readers with the following message:
So you are going to have a nice garden. Well, you could not play a nicer game or do more interesting work than gardening. You will make things grow, you will cut the flowers that blossom in your garden and you will eat the vegetables and salads that sprout so willingly under your busy hands. What fun!
I couldn’t have put it better myself – if I was the PM I think I’d make all schools put that on a large sign right at the entrance!
Obviously, it is not for everyone and the closest some of our much maligned “yoof” will get to horticulture will be their Blackberries and Apple Macs, but at least if they get the opportunity to give it a go then, you never know, they may just find that Holy Grail of PlayStations, the garden!
Jonathan Wild
Garden Consultant.
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