Listening to the radio a few days ago, the presenter mentioned an article on gardening in the Daily Telegraph that resonated with me.You can "Traditional gardening skills being lost" here.
The Royal Horticultural Society is concerned that gardeners in search of instant gratification are buying pot plants from garden centres rather than growing plants from seed and because of this, traditional gardening skills are being lost.
Sound familiar ?
I've commented along similar lines on resin, ready to plant, buildings. In fact there are plenty of parallels between the two. To quote from the article:
This, the RHS says, is not only short-sighted but also expensive. Gardeners are paying over the odds for potted plants, when those with their roots exposed offer far better value than those sold in containers.
Such plants are not only cheaper but, having been given time to bed in, they are also more robust and capable of withstanding whatever the weather might throw at them.
Well, ready to use buildings are more expensive than constructing the same thing from cardboard and plasticard, especially for the larger models. The home-grown version will probably blend in to the model better than an unmodified "near enough" version in a box.
Does it matter ?
There will always be people who can grow plants from seed and bulbs. For most of us, doing this requires time and facilities that we either don't have or really can't be bothered to acquire. Buying a plant in spring means we get a nice dose of retail therapy and a pretty plant. Maybe it's not as hardy as the one we potted up in the autumn, but do we care ?
Likewise, if you don't have time to make a model from scratch, is it so bad to buy a ready-to-plant rather than go to all the trouble of making our own. After all, there will always be some idiot who knows how to do this and they can make the master for the Chinese factory to copy. We know what we'll get then rather than wonder if our own version will be as nice.
Maybe it's all down to the levels you want to hit with your hobby. Some gardeners love the idea of spending autumn in the potting shed and delight in saying "I grew that". Others just want a nice display and are quite happy to say "I bought that". To the uninitiated, the garden probably looks exactly the same. It all comes down to what you want from it.
Well, ready to use buildings are more expensive than constructing the same thing from cardboard and plasticard, especially for the larger models. The home-grown version will probably blend in to the model better than an unmodified "near enough" version in a box.
Does it matter ?
There will always be people who can grow plants from seed and bulbs. For most of us, doing this requires time and facilities that we either don't have or really can't be bothered to acquire. Buying a plant in spring means we get a nice dose of retail therapy and a pretty plant. Maybe it's not as hardy as the one we potted up in the autumn, but do we care ?Likewise, if you don't have time to make a model from scratch, is it so bad to buy a ready-to-plant rather than go to all the trouble of making our own. After all, there will always be some idiot who knows how to do this and they can make the master for the Chinese factory to copy. We know what we'll get then rather than wonder if our own version will be as nice.
Maybe it's all down to the levels you want to hit with your hobby. Some gardeners love the idea of spending autumn in the potting shed and delight in saying "I grew that". Others just want a nice display and are quite happy to say "I bought that". To the uninitiated, the garden probably looks exactly the same. It all comes down to what you want from it.
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