Gardening Statistics 2020 and 2021

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Gardening Statistics 2020 and 2021

Those of us fortunate enough to have gardens have almost certainly reaped the benefit over the course of the pandemic. The first lockdown running for some 3 months from the end of March 2020 also saw great weather for many. And for families in particular, outdoor space at home became vital. We saw a surge in sales of garden furniture over that period as people looked to make the most of being outside while we were restricted to staying home.

 

But pandemic aside, for many Brits, their garden is their pride and joy. They take some maintenance though. But is the gardening a chore or a joy for adults in the UK? We decided to find out by polling 2,041 adults in the UK in December 2020 and here we present our latest gardening statistics.

 

Men or Women: Who handles the gardening at home?

Even as recently as 2019, a study found that women still do the majority of the household chores. That study found that women do around 16 hours a week of chores compared to just 6 hours for men. But gardening does not appear to be an area where such discrepancy between genders exists.

 

According to our survey, there’s a relatively even split in terms of who deals with most of the household gardening tasks.

 

  • 42% of both men and women claim to enjoy gardening
  • 35% of men claim they do the majority of the gardening in their household while 33% of women claim the same
  • Women are just slightly likelier to find gardening a relaxing activity than men according to our statistics

 

 

 

How many people enjoy gardening?

A whopping 42% of Brits enjoy doing the gardening and 35% claims it helps them relax.

 

There’s some disparity between age groups though with those in older age groups the likelier to enjoy it.

 

 

Age

% Who Enjoy Gardening

% Who Say Gardening Helps them to Relax

16 to 24

31.18

21.29

25 to 34

35.22

24.48

35 to 44

37.22

26.81

45 to 54

41.14

36.29

55+

51.42

46.91

There’s some regional variance too, with gardening likely to be regarded a more enjoyable activity by those living in the North West than anywhere else in the country:

 

Region

% Who Enjoy Gardening

% Who Say Gardening Helps them to Relax

East of England

38.22%

34.03%

Greater London

33.84%

28.52%

East Midlands

44.08%

38.16%

West Midlands

45.25%

37.43%

North East

43.37%

25.30%

North West

51.60%

38.36%

Northern Ireland

47.27%

34.55%

Scotland

40.59%

40.00%

South East

44.60%

36.24%

South West

38.64%

29.55%

Wales

48.48%

41.41%

Yorkshire and the Humber

37.72%

35.93%

 

Is Gardening Stressful?

 

While a good proportion of the population claim to find gardening a relaxing activity, according to our figures, for some it’s a stressful chore.

 

 

  • Almost 1 in 10 (9%) claim they find gardening stressful
  • Those aged 16 to 24 are likeliest to find gardening stressful (14.45%) and as we get older, fewer of us are likely to be stressed by the task. Just 4.77% of over 55s claim to find it stressful

 

There are regional variants here as well:

 

  • Those in Yorkshire and the Humber are more than twice as likely to find gardening stressful as those in the South West and Wales
  • There are only 3 regions where it’s regarded as stressful by more than 1 in 10. Yorkshire is one and is joined on the list by Greater London and the North East

 

 

Region

% Who Find Gardening Stressful

East of England

8.90%

Greater London

10.65%

East Midlands

7.89%

West Midlands

8.38%

North East

10.84%

North West

8.22%

Northern Ireland

9.09%

Scotland

7.65%

South East

9.76%

South West

5.68%

Wales

6.06%

Yorkshire and the Humber

14.37%

 

 

How many people don’t have gardens?

 

Those of us who’ve made the most of our gardens over lockdown will be acutely aware of how fortunate we are to have them. But of course, not everyone’s in the same position.

 

Nationally, 9% of our survey respondents said they do not have a garden. Across the country we see huge variations here too.

 

In Greater London, where the average house price is over £666,000 at the time of writing, almost 1 in 5 lack a garden of any sort.

 

Here’s how it pans out across the country:

 

 

 

Region

% Who Have No Garden

East of England

8.90%

Greater London

19.77%

East Midlands

7.89%

West Midlands

7.26%

North East

8.43%

North West

9.13%

Northern Ireland

7.27%

Scotland

6.47%

South East

10.10%

South West

13.64%

Wales

2.02%

Yorkshire and the Humber

5.99%

 

 

Based on our statistics, Wales is the place where people are least likely to be without a garden (just 2%) while almost 1 in 5 living in Greater London are in that position - making those in the capital’s region 10 times likelier to be living without garden space than those in Wales.

 

How many of us hire gardeners?

 

For those who are unable to make the time for the gardening or simply don’t enjoy it and are in the financial position to do so, hiring a gardener is an option for maintenance.

 

  • In July and August 2020, searches in Google UK for “Gardeners near me” peaked at 40,500 per month! (According to kwfinder.com)
  • 1 in 20 of our survey respondents say they hire a gardener to deal with their gardening

 

 

Region

% Who Hire a Gardener to Handle the Gardening

East of England

6.81%

Greater London

10.65%

East Midlands

6.58%

West Midlands

6.15%

North East

4.82%

North West

6.39%

Northern Ireland

7.27%

Scotland

6.47%

South East

3.83%

South West

5.11%

Wales

5.05%

Yorkshire and the Humber

7.19%

 

 

The Lockdown Effect

 

When we use kwfinder.com to analyse search trends, we can see a real surge in popularity for people looking for tips for beginners over lockdown:

Again we see regional variations here:

While an average of 1,800 searches per month are made in the UK for “gardening for beginners:” (with typical seasonal variations anyway), April 2020 brought 5,600 such searches.

 

So will lockdown have converted even more future gardeners for the long term?

 

Well, that remains to be seen. But what is clear from our statistics is that gardening is very much a loved pastime by a huge proportion of the public in the UK.



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