Over the last 10-15 years, the popularity of gardening has steadily grown. If you define “gardener” in the loosest possible sense, as someone who grows something for any purpose, then there are as many as 27 million gardeners in the UK, alone; that’s over 40% of the population!
However, whilst the gardening industry has undoubtedly experienced its own boom in recent years, it is interesting to note that our homes are actually getting smaller, and with them, our gardens are shrinking. In fact, our houses are now (on average) roughly the same size as they were in the 1930s, shrinking from 83.3m2 at their 1980s peak, to just 67.8m2 today. What’s more, around 10% of newly built homes do not feature a garden at all! On top of this, housing prices have been booming for over a decade, while relative increase of wages have not risen to match this trend. More flats are being built as well as large quantities of smaller houses, and as Britain’s younger population flocks into the bigger cities, the rental population is increasing - most with access only to concrete, hard-standings.
Even when a garden is present, rented houses offer other limitations. Regardless of the best wishes of green-fingered tenants, landlords are seldom keen to allow the damages to their property that gardening might bring, and understandably prioritise protecting their investments over permitting large-scale, landscaping alterations in the form of an allotment space, or installing conventional raised beds.
These trends then, might paint a bleak picture for the gardening prospects of future generations, and along with it, their overall health and happiness. However, just as the country undergoes demographic shifts and changes to living arrangements, so too must gardening adapt.
Enter container gardeners and raised planters. Spatially efficient, flexible and aesthetically pleasing, container gardening is proving the next big garden trend as Britain incrementally shifts toward the city.
This article aims to explore housing trends in the UK, inspecting the prevailing direction of travel, and presenting the benefits that gardening has to offer in the face of these – as well as how these might be explored.
Housing trends in the UK
Housing trends in the UK are changing. While at present, most people in the UK still live in houses, these are progressively shrinking and splitting into house-shares, while large numbers of flats are being built to accommodate population growth, and an increase in urban density numbers. Future attraction to the cities, as well as an already-in-motion large-scale migration to these, will be discussed in this section.
House prices have been booming for a long while now, and have tripled since the mid 90s. Despite this, wages have not risen commensurately, meaning that the average house now costs far more in comparison. This naturally greases the housing ladder, making it harder for people to buy a first-home anywhere, let alone a home with a garden large enough to accommodate a traditional allotment or raised bed!
Furthermore, the UK population is growing at a rate of around 500,000 people per year, at rate which means that those new houses being built, cannot possibly match this growth! With an ever-climbing population, and a finite amount of space in which to facilitate this, the future looks bleak for any expansion to Britain’s low-density housing – and with this type of housing too, goes Britain’s gardens.
It is simply not feasible to sustain large and spacious houses and gardens in a country with the same population as France, but half the space! Any attempt to stick with this low-density approach means we risk saying goodbye to the green belts around the cities or, in an even more dystopian perspective, losing our national parks too.
Are apartments the answer?
When compared to our European counterparts, Britain has one of the fewest numbers of people that live in apartments and flats. Around 14% of Brits live in an apartment, compared to 57% of Germans, 66% of Spanish people and an average of 48% across Europe. It is therefore reasonable to assume that Britain ought to adopt a similar strategy, and that the percentage of apartment residents should expect to increase over the course of next few years.
It is suggested that this process starts with making apartments and city-living more attractive.
Perhaps a generation ago, cities were seen as bleak, crime-ridden, crowded and dingy. Today, the opposite is true. There has been a renaissance of urban living, partly owed to a younger, skilled generation, flocking to the cities in their thousands.
With this new affluent clientele comes a market for a host of cafes, bars, gyms, restaurants and other recreational amenities. These all served to outweigh the cons of a reduced living space, and make city living much more appealing.
You could argue then, that this trend towards the cities and apartments has already begun in Britain. Cities are expanding and 43% of Londoners are already living in a flat. Moreover, this trend is not isolated to London, as the population of Leeds, Birmingham and Liverpool have all expanded by 150%, 163% and 181% respectively (since 2002) – due an increase in high density accommodation!
With further expansion of cities expected and a population increase to match, it would appear that apartment living in the UK is soon to experience its own boom. Which begs the question: where does that leave gardening?
What about the rest of Britain’s rental population?
Though those living in flats face obvious, space-related challenges – the rental population more generally also face a number of inhibiting factors, going beyond the physical limitations that not having access to a garden would present. Tenants in rented properties have to navigate physical, legal and logistical limitations. In most cases, landlords of rented properties prioritise the investment on their houses over the ambitions of their tenants to grow their own salads, herbs and vegetables. So, regardless of potential access to the earth, the gardening prospects of the rented population are all similarly low.
Moreover, renting in the UK is reported to be extremely unstable: 29% of private renters have moved 3 or more times in the last 5 years. This number jumps to 37% when looking at London. This instability is therefore not conducive to gardeners, given that you typically cannot bring your garden with you when you move.
On top of this, the private rental sector in Britain is growing. Between 2007 and 2017, the sector grew by 63%. There are now 4.6 million households that rented their home in England alone, and that number is forecasted to grow. New supplies of accommodation will come from the Build-to-Rent sector, as there are currently around 132,000 units of purpose-built rented accommodation in the works.
With so many new homeowners turning to rented properties, the outlook for traditional forms of gardening does not look good. Either through physical or legal barriers, old methods of planting-in and digging-up the earth are no longer feasible, putting the gardening industry in a precarious position.
Where does that leave gardening?
Given the above, it seems that traditional forms of gardening are under threat. One potential remedy that gardeners have tried, is to turn to allotments. However, these cannot hope to cope with the demands of a gardening boom and are predominantly oversubscribed. In fact, evidence has suggested that some gardeners have faced up to a 14 year long waiting list! Just as Britain changes the way it lives then, so too must it change the way it gardens.
The question of how best to garden in a limited space is one competently answered by a new development: container gardening. Previously, container gardening has been largely inefficient. Wood has long been the go-to material used to make containers, but this quickly deteriorates in use aesthetically, and also provides sub-optimal growing conditions (both in their trough design, and heavy-metal preservative treatments). However, newly developed plastic containers are an effective improvement to these shortcomings and allow you to get the most out of gardening in a smaller, urban environment.
In particular, and if possible, one of the best ways for homes without a garden to use these containers is to establish green space on a rooftop, patio or balcony.
Indeed, as discussed earlier, many city inhabitants are skilled workers that lead busy lives with time consuming jobs. A container garden then, is a perfect solution, allowing them to enjoy the many benefits of gardening in a contemporary fashion, and with a dramatic reduction in time commitment to the overall upkeep and maintenance.
Apartment balconies, patios and rooftops require containers that are modular, versatile to match their shape, and allow for greater spatial efficiency (by making the most of corners!) As opposed to other brands, Ergrownomics containers don’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach, and come with a range of kit configurations and variable heights. These can be interchanged to ensure that containers are best suited to their height. This means that if a tenant moves property, their planter can move with them. Further flexibility is provided by the hand-finished, modular builds, that can accommodate any special requirements and challenges that individual apartment variation might bring.
Furthermore, weight is an important consideration to balcony gardens, as there may be restrictions and advice regarding maximum capacities. In some cases, it may be necessary to consult a structural engineer or surveyor to assess the maximum weight capacity of a rooftop or balcony – before an installation can take place. To help with this, Ergrownomics planters and the components offer a fixed, known weight, even when filled to capacity. This allows tenants to work constructively with these services to maximise their garden potential, without exceeding any weight limitations, or violating codes!
Another reason why we recommend plastic containers for balcony, patios and rooftop gardens, is that they won’t crack when left out in colder temperatures (although be weary that cheaper containers offered by our competitors are still not necessarily all-weather suitable!) This removes the difficult, strenuous and messy activity of moving your container indoors for the winter months. Moreover, the carefully selected food-safe MDPE used in Ergrownomics containers is quick to warm, and slow to cool, allowing you to extend your season for a prolonged cropping period and yield – keeping your balcony planters in use for longer.
Our Ergrownomics containers are also frost, humidity, and fully weather resistant. The frame is made from twice galvanized steel – with custom powder coating options available - meaning that they won’t rust and remain strong, inflexible and stable. Ergrownomics offers a bespoke colour matching service, to give you the final say on style, and fully complete your balcony renovation. With all patio, balcony or rooftop gardens - containers should be raised off-ground with an efficient drainage system to prevent saturation; an efficient irrigation system should also be installed when possible. To meet this need, our irrigation works in tandem with our drainage to be as mess-free and unobtrusive as possible – using a neat filter system with low-profile irrigation lines.
What’s more, for even more refinement, we can also offer a bespoke “balcony-gutter” attachment built into your frame, allowing you direct any excess water with even greater precision. With less time spent cleaning and watering, gardeners can spend more time enjoying their contemporary, urban garden.
What can we conclude?
The fact that Britain is moving towards high-density urban living, and that gardens are shrinking, necessarily requires the garden industry to adapt. Opportunities can still be provided, but as with everything, there are right and wrong ways to go about it! Ergrownomics raised planters provide a genuine, clean and productive alternative to traditional raised beds and allotments – perfectly complementing the premium opportunities for space presented by new housing trends. We’re committed to spreading the joys of gardening to everyone, no matter where, or how far above ground, they live! Check out our range to find out more.