Gardening History

Scientists have been able to date the roots of gardening back to 6000BC, but in those times gardens were not created for beauty but for the growing of fruit and vegetables but also to provide plants for medication and dyes. Gardening did not become popular as a past time until around AD1500 when the middle classes had the spare time and money to afford a beautiful garden, and have it for enjoyment rather than necessity.

The Roman’s brought the concept of ornamental gardens to the UK in AD43, but it was not until much later that the popularity of gardens rose. The interest in gardening was spurred on by the increase in explorers that were travelling the world collecting new plant specimens and bringing them back to the UK to be cultivated. In 1492 Christopher Columbus brought many new specimens back from the America’s. The wealthy land owners would experiment with these plants and have their gardeners create new and exciting developments. Many of the fine herbal gardens and orchards that were tendered by the monks were destroyed in 1534 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries. Also during the time of Oliver Cromwell’s reign in 1649-1660 many ornamental gardens were destroyed as they were seen as flippant and wasteful.

After this time of unrest there was a rise in the use of landscape gardeners such as Capability Brown who would create marvellous landscaped gardens that differed from the usual ornamental garden that the country was used to. In 1804 the Horticultural Society was formed, later in 1861 changing into the Royal Horticultural Society. The RHS held their first Chelsea Flower Show in 1913.

One key event for gardeners was in 1845 the government abolished the Glass Tax which therefore meant the rise in glass houses or more commonly known green houses. With this event there then became better producers of sheet glass to enable the structures to be safe.

During the late 19th Century there were increasing world wide expeditions which expanded the amount of plants and varieties that were available and the popularity of gardening soared. It was not until World War II that gardening saw a change again due to the fact that with rationing people were strongly encouraged to dig up their grass to produce crops such as the basics of potatoes.

In the 20th Century gardeners have been helped tremendously with the continuous invention and development of tools amd equipment to make gardening easier. One key development for instance for growers was the invention in 1974 for the Fisons growbag.