The Gardener's Legacy

One reason for the decline of UK biodiversity has been the fashions of using decking in gardens as a 'low maintenance' development and even replacing gardens as parking areas for cars (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jun/08/gardens-without-greenery). The first was encouraged by TV gardening programmes and one must note that commercial bodies (e.g. garden centres) have been keen to sell such relatively expensive solutions to desires for increased human living space. It is worth noting on the charge sheet that gardeners have also been responsible for many of the introductions of problematical plants to these islands. The replacing of gardens to create places to park cars can be seen as reducing maintenance and being commercially astute in some inner city locations (they can be rented). Both developments can be clearly implicated in land drainage issues.