HortWeek’s 185-year history is set to be celebrated by the launch of a digitised archive in the near future, with magazines from 1841 set to be made available in computear-readable form. Looking ahead and predicting trends for the next 20 years, rewilding, robotics, biosecurity, consolidation, localisation, climate change and sustainability emerge as themes. We also celebrate the history of HW and its predecessor The Gardeners’ Chronicle, airing the views of industry figures, as the publication has since early Victorian times. In 2021 the following horticulture experts and leaders gave us their perspectives and predictions.
Lord Heseltine
Founder, Haymarket (HW publisher)
“The HortWeek we publish today bears little resemblance to its illustrious predecessor, The Gardeners’ Chronicle. In 1985, Haymarket was by far the largest magazine-publishing subsidiary of the British Printing Corporation. A rationalisation was obvious and we were offered the chance to take over the other six subsidiaries. Thus came The Gardeners’ Chronicle into our fold.
“In its 19th century heyday it had been the bible of the great private estates with their prestigious gardens. Two world wars had much reduced that world and the new marketplace lay in the municipal gardens of local government. We purchased a leading journal serving this market and merged the two magazines.
“HortWeek itself has had to survive in a fast-changing marketplace, with the dramatic reduction in recruitment advertising and the online availability of most of its content. By insisting on the highest quality of product and with a willingness to embrace the best of the new digital world with the visual attractiveness of print, HortWeek has enhanced its position at the heart of the gardens marketplace.”
Sally Drury
HW technical editor
“When The Gardeners’ Chronicle was first published in 1941, the lawn mower — a push-along, set-height -cylinder reel that originated from -carpet making — was just 10 years old and only used for sports grounds and formal lawns. Elsewhere, mowing was the job of the scythe or sheep. While Richard Trevithick had already designed the barn engine — a semi-portable stationary steam engine for agriculture — it would be another 60 years before the first commercially successful light-weight petrol-powered general--purpose tractor became available. Since then we have come a very long way in a short period of time and the speed of change is ever accelerating, making it difficult to predict how the industry will look in just another 10 or 20 years.
“One thing is clear — there will be fewer people employed ‘working the land’. We have moved through mechanisation and into automation. The ‘Hands Free Hectare’ project at Harper Adams University in 2016, in which a cereal crop was produced and harvested without a single person entering the area, was inspirational. Now there is a rush to develop robotics for the edibles sector. In future, it will be largely down to artificial intelligence to determine crop husbandry and to carry out duties such as planting, the control of weeds, pests and disease, and picking. Subsequent distribution will be via autonomous transport.
“In glasshouses, artificial intelligence will play an even greater role, monitoring and collecting data to determine and control the environment and plants’ needs. The Autonomous Greenhouse Challenges held in the Netherlands and the USA have shown that greater yields of higher-quality crops can be produced, and bigger savings made on inputs, compared with grower-operated greenhouses. While glasshouses and plastics-clad structures produce the berrying and fruiting crops, vertical farming will take care of the greens. Growing on shelves under LEDs may be attractive to some ornamentals growers.
“When it comes to the landscape and grounds maintenance, battery and solar power will ultimately take over and we will also find some of the machines and tools we use now being replaced by robots. Husqvarna’s pioneering work with its Automower has popularised the robotic mower. We also have robotic line markers and will very soon have autonomous spraying. It is only a small step, surely, before we have self-functioning aerators of golf courses and sports pitches. We may even see equipment moved between sites by drones. With advances in weather stations and the use of data, irrigation in the sports turf and landscape sectors should see a further boost.
“In terms of landscape design, the importance of ecology, biodiversity and conservation will reign. Towns and cities will be ever greener and more naturalised, perhaps even ‘ruralised’ to the point where we find deer roaming our car-free streets. Above all, we will see big business take a greater interest in horticulture.”
Tim Briercliffe
Secretary general, International Association of Horticultural Producers
“There are not many industries you would choose to be in during a pandemic, but ornamental horticulture is certainly not the worst. Despite the economic constraints that there will be on national and personal spending as the world recovers from Covid, I really believe that the future for our sector is bright.
“The pandemic has re-engaged many people with nature and caused them to appreciate their own living environment more. This ties in with huge movements towards more sustainable living and the need to combat climate change. Yes, the industry will need to work hard to keep these new customers, but now the sector also has an opportunity to promote how good use of plants and the landscape can help in the climate change battle.
“Cities need to be finding green solutions to the environmental, social and economic challenges they face. We need to make it easier for them to see how greening makes a difference and how to justify it. If we can do that, then there is huge potential for this industry to not only grow but to become a vital component of the green future of the country.
“Globally, we will see relentless growth in horticultural production and markets in rapidly developing economies, China in particular. It won’t be long before these areas become the centre of research and development. A change in policy towards the use of new breeding techniques — gene editing, not GMOs — could open the door for huge numbers of new varieties. After Brexit, the UK has an opportunity to become a world leader in this area. The pandemic has also speeded up the digitalisation of our industry, and this is not going to go backwards.”
Christine Walkden
Television gardener
“Along with automation, robotics and technology all improving the industry and making it more efficient, on the amateur side — although I hope this will not be the case — I think a lot of the smaller specialist gardening societies are not long for this world. Within the next 10 years, I suspect many will not exist as acquiring knowledge these days is by technology rather than by meeting and talking to people.”
Cleve West
Landscape Designer
“‘Gardens are for people’ has always been the way we perceive our outdoor spaces since Thomas Church coined the phrase. If we’ve learned anything over the past five years, it’s that we have a clearer understanding of how our lifestyles and choices impact the environment. A more sensitive approach to our interventions and acknowledging the fact that gardens are not just for people would be a good starting point in terms of other lifeforms getting a slice of the action. This may mean an aesthetic barometer reset for some, or at least degree of tolerance for the shaggier look, but it helps us reconnect with nature in a more meaningful way and, in turn, alleviates some of the stress and demands we place on her.”
Nat Boynton
Sales and marketing director, Happy Plants
“As the mental health benefits of gardening become more widely appreciated, it is vital that at least a selection of core plants remains affordable to all. However, the price compression of the past 25 years cannot continue, so it feels inevitable that production of core lines will consolidate towards fewer, bigger nurseries. Innovation and efficiencies will likely prove the key to balancing the British public’s ravenous appetite for inexpensive garden offerings against our ongoing battles with spiralling overheads.
“The pandemic has accelerated a shift in the use of annuals — away from traditional, prescriptive horticulture and instead as plants for decoration, flair and experimentation. Branding and marketing carry far more weight with the ‘digitally savvy’ portion of our evolving consumer base. In another 25 years, I can’t imagine there will be any non-digitally-reliant shoppers left.”
Nicholas Marshall
Director, The Country House Group
“What we’re doing now is turning over a new leaf in terms of retailing in horticulture. We’re very concerned about importing plants. We want to grow much more locally, reduce the amount of plastic and peat used and encourage people to grow more of their own. Covid was a wake-up call. People suddenly realised the value of outside space, hence the massive move out of London, with people buying houses with gardens.
“This will mean a lot more people will need help with their gardens. We introduced e-learning at Wyevale and we want to get back to more of that with customers, to help them with what they’re doing in their garden. I also expect to see the re-emergence of more locally-owned garden centres in the future rather than large groups. We’re living in very exciting times.”
Charmay Prout
Commercial director, Helmrig
“Over the next 20 years, I believe there will be a transformational shift in the way successful horticultural businesses operate through the use of more automation, data and robotics. This will not only be used to mitigate rising production costs but to ensure security in the supply chain through less reliance on a high volume of labour. One of the exciting benefits of this is the ability to generate useful data and analytics that should lead to enhanced precision in crop production, improving what we do. This brings a demand for new skills, which is a major challenge we face as an industry particularly perceived as low-skilled and low-paid. But through better collaboration, we can change that. It’s time to get creative.”
Paul Rabbitts
Head of Environment, Norwich City Council
“Well, the last 25 years have been fun. Having worked in the industry for more than 30 years, I have seen CCT [compulsory competitive tendering] come and go as well as best value and comprehensive performance assessment and the horror of austerity followed by Covid-19. Anyone who can tell the future of the next 25 years has divine powers. However, I dare predict local authorities will still be primarily responsible for managing the majority of our parks and open spaces, but I suspect there will be fewer local authorities as local government reorganisation rears its head again — fewer councils, but bigger. Some of the bigger parks will come under more localised control, for instance trusts, as we are seeing at Crystal Palace Park and have at Nene Park.
“Parks will always retain their popularity with the public and this will be just as much the case in 25 years’ time — history shows us this. Many of our parks and green spaces will have adapted to the ongoing climate crisis and we will see horticulture that will have adapted to this, plus biodiversity will be much more important as we begin to look at how we can reverse climate change.”
Dr Mark Johnston
Independent scholar, arboriculture, landscape and urban forestry
“The growing awareness that urban trees are vital to our health and welfare, the challenge of climate change and the threat of biodiversity loss should mean that arboriculturists and their unique expertise will be in ever greater demand in the future. However, that will only happen if they address the current difficulties facing their industry, to ensure they can respond positively and collectively to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. That includes promoting a positive environmental image for the industry, reversing the rundown in local authority arboricultural services and building a unified and coherent voice for British arboriculture.”
Adam Frost
Presenter, Gardeners’ World
“This is a dream — I’d like us as gardeners to back off a little bit and not necessarily be controlled. I do that on my own level at home. I cut the grass less. I leave little areas to go wild. I’m a lot more hands-off a lot of the time, rather than hands-on, and I very much garden with wildlife in mind. I hope that becomes a bigger thing. Geoff Hamilton set my moral compass when it comes to gardening and maybe I’ve not really changed my take on any of it. Maybe we all ease off a little bit and become more understanding that green space outside our back door is not just about us but about the wildlife we live with.”
