To think people can make more of an effort with their gardens

People have limited spare time and this may not be top of their priorities in how to spend it. C'mon now OP, this isn't rocket science.

My garden is huge, it has no wildlife in it except grass but I use it almost every day of the year. Is sitting out in the garden not “using” it?

Loads of people have come on to say they just wanna do it. Me being one of them although I do have a chronically ill son and looking after him takes up my time. But even if I had bags of them the last thing in the world I’d ever want to do is gardening. I’m not interested.and I get enrichment and MH improvement from other things - such as reading and running and walking. Me ad DH and the kids are setting off for a six mile walk shortly. I’d rather do that than any form of gardening.

I think if we had BST all year round and it was daylight in the afternoons much more often when people came home from school or work, perhaps a garden would be more appreciated. Or even more daylight to do things in the garden, instead of it being dark for several months on weekday evenings.

Unfortunately lots of people like the look of fake grass and slabs it seems. I think a lot if this is down to people not having the time to maintain gardens or it not being a priority. I have plenty of shrubs in my front garden and do have real grass at the back but don’t have the time for loads of gardening. Also we are away a lot in the summer months and everything just dies.

Compared to whom? The UK has amazing gardens compared to many places in the world, due to the climate. Let's not put ourselves down.

@HPandthelastwish
Thank you so much for the detailed response!

I was also thinking about clover instead of grass. Or creeping thyme. Cannot wait for spring!

My kids are out in the garden every day despite there being no plants or wildlife beyond grass. Did you think you had to have flowers before children were allowed in the garden?

You can buy plants online. That's how we've bought some of our trees; they won't fit in the car. You can get everything you need for gardening without leaving your home.

Also what’s this nonsense about “make your garden nice for your neighbours”. Do you lot constantly have your neighbours round? Mine can’t see into my garden and I can’t see into theirs

I find it a bit odd the co dept of “Enjoy your garden to the fullest and plant everywhere or let someone else have it”. I have grass and patio, o plants and enjoy my garden every day from about March to October by sitting in it

What a good idea.

Could also argue that we have a responsibility to not kill all the insects and that garden owners have a particular one as this is land these animals - vital to humans - needs to survive.

You don’t need to be Monty flipping Don. Just plant a flowery shrub or two and don’t concrete the rest of it!

@Nameychangington Supermarkets where you buy food sell cheap plants (Lidl and Aldi are great for that), you can get seeds from the vegetables in your fridge, you can grow potatoes from their skin and lettuce from the leftover bottom bit, you can dig a small hole using old cutlery - I'm sure your kids can figure it out.
You're more privileged than at least half of the people living in the world today just by being born in this country, having the social support and opportunities many don't.

I planted bee friendly flowers last year. I ended up with a honey bee nest in my house that ended up costing the best part of £500 to remove, and a 1.5m radius area in my garden that was inaccessible due to the aggressiveness of the hive. I was lucky to get the removal that cheaply (some quotes were over £1000), given they had to come in and remove brickwork and floor boards. My kids and I were unable to go out for fear of being stung. Yes, I ended up with a decent crop of crabapples compared to the previous year, but it's not an experience I'd like to revisit. I've been a tad put off having my garden bee friendly this year.

Oh and the wet weather meant all my strawberries were eaten by masses of slugs everywhere, as were most of my more ornamental flowers. I have a bird feeder, but the pest control people told me those also attract mice and rats, so I'm reluctant to refill that for the time being.

I'm slightly less inclined to work on my garden much this year, beyond trimming bushes and de-weeding. I work full-time in a stressful job as it is and I look after two children by myself. I don't need the additional stress.

You don't even recognise how privileged you are. Neither B&Q nor any garden centres are in walking distance or on a bus route, where I live. So no isn't easy or cheap to just 'pop' there and buy a shrub (how much is a shrub?), and the spade to dig a hole for it, and the bucket for watering it, and bring them back with kids in tow, then do the digging and planting then do daily watering, also with kids in tow. It's not hard or expensive, for you, but not everyone is you, a person who loves gardening and has the means to get to a shop which sells shrubs and the means to buy shrubs.

It's all very well people saying how much they adore their concrete gardens and making silly irrelevant comments about ballet lessons, but the massive decline in vegetation and flowers in the UK also means a massive decline in pollinators, with potentially catastrophic effects on our food security. Somewhere between 75% and 90% of European crops rely on insects to pollinate them, so we don't have insects, that's an awful lot of food we'd be losing. And as several PP have pointed out, wildlife thrives in untidy gardens and not so much in the manicured ones, so it's not even a case with people with gardens have to be out there working on them every single day. A lawn with long grass supports much more life than one that's mown every week. Buddleia grows like heck and hardly requires any work, and is brilliant for bees and butterflies, and several PP have mentioned lavender, which is also great for bees.

My grotty neigbours work full time and spend silly money on wine, weed and takeaways. I jolly well judge them for not spending the odd £20 or hour on their garden. They've also got dirty plastic ivy that drives me mad. With a small amount of effort they could have some wildlife in there.

I mean, it doesn't actually sound like OP is doing much either except throwing old potatoes in the ground?

*into it last summer I mean

I agree that people should take a tad more effort, OP. It’s good for the spirits and good for wildlife. Most people can, they simply won’t.

because I physically and mentally can’t these days.

i have zero support and still working. I’m exhausted.

another way that im now a failure.. can’t garden!

I do put food out for the birds. That I can just about manage

I agree with you, I got fully into it this year and it did us good seeing a nice garden out of the window but when some plants started failing I got very discouraged, ideally I’d like some free help this year to keep it going

Some people can’t afford it … but also , some people don’t like gardening and just don’t want to do it .

I keep my garden tidy . But I don’t plant or grow anything really . During the summer when I have time ( term time worker ) I do tend to put some flowers in pots and it looks lovely and I feel proud , I also do enjoy pottering around in the garden for a day or so doing it. But then, I go back to work and the days are flying by with no time spare and they get neglected and die. Then I repeat the following year !

I do agree with OP in terms of the front garden looking nice- it’s nice to see and it’s sad when you only have one or two looking nice - not necessarily plants , flowers etc but it “technically” I guess it doesn’t take much to just keep it tidy ( I just have a drive , no grass etc , so I just - or DH actually - keep the weeds from between the cracks and have a few all year round plants that take no effort at all to keep alive ) BUT when you say council estate I’m imagining one that’s not that nice - in terms of not new builds etc , maybe flats ? In that case you’ll probably find the people there don’t have pride in their homes, because they aren’t there by choice or is it maybe a deprived area where people aren’t struggling to get by and as a result don’t have the mental energy ( or money ) to spend time on their gardens .

Aphids can be removed from plants with a damp cloth for example - or ants will eat them.

A littlr warning that while ants eat aphids, thry fucking farm them. Actually tend to them on the plants in ther "farms" to ensure good aphid harvests.

No excuses here. I hate gardening. It's tedious and boring. I dislike being out in the heat, the cold, getting dirt under my nails, to watch the seeds I plant not sprout and the seedlings die, the carefully weeded garden beds regrow the exact same weeds in a few weeks.

When we bought our home DH pulled up the weed infested garden beds and we put lawn from fence to fence, and that's enough plant life for me. All gets mowed, room for the kids to play, and no blasted garden beds to maintain.