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

[Lovelybitofsquirrel3]

Due to circumstances changing I moved from the family home (owned, not by me, by family) to a council estate a few years ago.
Generally people don’t bother to plant anything/haven’t bothered with their gardens. There are hardly any bees, butterflies or insects that visit and I’m finding it depressing. A lot of people haven’t bothered with their gardens.
I planted potatoes last year which were never pollinated, and one or two bees visited, I don’t know where from and they died quickly.
I’m not looking for excuses as to why people don’t plant but surely it’s simple to buy a few packets of seeds and turn over some turf.

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!

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

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

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.

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?

@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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

It’s well research that people do have less time now.

But I think tastes have changed. I said in an earlier post that 80’s and 90’s gardens were overflowing with plants, whereas people in general gravitate towards the sterile and minimalist look these days both in their houses and in their gardens.

You can, but PP was saying that it's easy and cheap to pop to B&Q and buy a shrub and my point was, it isn't for everyone. Not everyone's lives are the same, not everyone's priorities are the same. OP and some PP don't seem to understand that.

There's a world between fancy high maintenance gardens and plastic grass and concrete. There's a world between people who have time but can't be arsed and people who'd ideally like to have a nice garden but don't have time or resources. The OP and some PP don't seem to be able to grasp that not having their idea of a good garden isn't a moral failing, or a simple 'just pop here and do this!' fix.

You’d think someone who is trying to push people to spend time on their gardens would be aware that potatoes don’t require pollinators.

Strikes me this is just another attack on the poors.

I had a bees nest in my brickwork once and I put a FB post on a local group- people were chomping at the bit to collect it for free! A beekeeper travelled from 40 miles away to remove it, and add to his collection.

Is it not soulless and depressing? Do you not long for birdsong and a bit of wildlife?

Pollinating insects are declining anyway, which is obviously dreadful. But no, it's not that easy for people on low incomes or with a disability, which is probably more common on a council estate.

Do what I do and create and throw wild flower 'seed bombs' around the area.

Nope. It’s peaceful and I enjoy the quiet. I enjoy even more the absolute bare minimum effort and maintenance. I don’t mind cutting the grass as I can listen to an audiobook but I’ve no interest or time in doing any more maintenance than that.

My life has a lot going on. It would be incredibly foolish to make it even harder by adding a time and money guzzling hobbie to it

There’s no simple solution.
People are bloody knackered. Cost is another thing. It can seem to be another chore to add to their lists.
i’m lucky. I work part time. My other half works full time. I have a tiny house. It needs so much doing to it. Can’t afford to get new doors and windows, etc, but I find getting into the garden helps my mental and physical health.
Work life is not a bed of roses either.
You are not really saving an awful lot of money by growing your own veg, but yes, it’s infinitely better for you and the environment.
Also the thing regarding food security.
I built a massive raised bed in my garden during the covid shite, and it’s amazing what I can grow. Garlic is amazing. Strawberries. Potatoes. Spring onions. Lettuces. Spinach. Rocket. Wild flowers galore.
I’ve planted a plum tree, got some plums, not a lot, but that’s gardening for you. Got wild raspberries……they grow all over Scotland.
Christ, I’m no Monty Don, I’ve got too many sodding slugs.
I live on the edge of a town. I have hedgehogs visiting. Field mice. Toads. Sparrowhawks, all sorts of little birds. Last spring was horribly wet. I do get a lot of bees….some bumble bees nest in my garden.
Paving over a garden and adding artificial grass is setting a very dangerous precedent. Especially with regards to flooding, environmental impact, and biodiversity.
I do genuinely believe if we could get more people interested in gardening or just wild flower growing, we might, just might be able to build communities a bit more.
Nature is perfect as it is. It holds a lot of answers. But the pressure on people, not just in the U.K., is huge. Priorities. And blocking out a lot of noise on SM/TikTok etc.
Yes, it can be a bit disheartening to see unkempt and uncared for gardens. But a little bit of imagination and a little time can make for smiles through our gardens.

I'd also recommend yarrow, seems to be quite hard-wearing and stays green in our garden even in very dry weather. Spreads itself well too.

And camomile is lush to walk on barefoot.

I'm still not understanding the "less time" thing.

Our grandmother's generation had kids and jobs but no car, had to use the bus and still had a nice house with a presentable garden... How did someone with 8 kids have "more time" back then...🤔

It's a lifestyle choice. It's priorities and aspirations.

I think this is one of the most miserable threads I've ever seen on here. I think people's gardens are indicative of what's going on in their minds, and soulless and depressing about sums it up. Concrete and plastic grass, no wildlife. Endless excuses for not even shoving a little ornamental cherry tree or a few shrubs in. Don't people like to see and hear birds at least? I expect they hate them because they crap and sing early in the morning. The more detached from nature we are, the more miserable we are.

Oh well, enjoy the dead, barren, concreted future.

I also really don’t wanna keep waffling on about my DS’s disability but to paint a picture of my life, he has good spells and bad spells - during the bad spells, there’s lots of pain, hospitals stays, visits to the doctor, managing pain and medication. This means sitting with him for hours cuddling him, making sure he has what he needs, making sure he isn’t experiencing hospital-trip worthy symptoms or just, and this is awful to say, waiting until he’s tired enough to fall asleep so he can stop being in agony and we can all get some rest. I also have a preteen DD who is healthy but has her own emotional needs. I’m REALLY conscious that her childhood isn’t defined as “Parents never paid attention to me because my brother is ill”. So DH and I make a pretty good job of tag teaming to make sure she’s ok and we are spending time with her.

Now not all our days are like this. We often have good spells where he lives like a perfectly healthy child. But we can never tell when it’s going to turn. He’s having a good spell at the moment but it could change any minute. The climate makes no difference either - he’s as likely to have a bad period in the summer as he is in the winter

With this kind of life we have to be very selective about our commitments and hobbies. I’d LOVE to volunteer for the PTA for example, or a local group (dream volunteering is being a magistrate, hopefully one day) but it would be very unfair to commit my time to anything when there’s a likely chance of be forever cancelling things.

So I don’t feel I could commit to even a small section of the garden, because inevitably I wouldn’t be able to look after it properly.

I’d never have plastic grass though because it looks shit IMO. And you apparently have too hoover it. Fuck that noise.