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We recently found out that green-fingered Brits spend the equivalent of almost three years of their lives pruning and maintaining their crops in their gardens.
Broken down, that means British gardeners spend an average of 5,675 hours getting their gardens in shape over 50 years.
Taking into account that Brits usually spend around 37 hours per week at work, this means that gardeners will spend almost a huge three years of their working lives in the backyard.
Take a look at the infographic below for all the gardening stats!
The figures were compiled to see once and for all how much time the UK spends getting their gardens to look their best.
Brits are less likely to spend time in the garden during winter months. But, their love for sheds, paint pots and lawnmowers still sees them spending an average of just over two hours gardening each week.
This means that in total, the average UK gardener will spend around 114 hours on gardening tasks. This includes trimming the hedges and weeding and planting each year.
We also take into account regular tasks as well as the one-off jobs that homeowners tend to complete just once or twice a year. This includes a variety of outdoor tasks such as painting sheds and fences, mowing the lawn and cleaning the patio.
Spending an average of nearly two hours in the garden each week may seem like a high figure. But, it just goes to prove that we really are a nation of garden lovers.
You’ve also got to take into account that trimming hedges and re-painting fences aren’t quick jobs. These two chores alone will take around 17 hours each year!
Most garden chores can also only really be undertaken during spring and summer. Britain’s unpredictable weather means a most of this time will actually be spent during the warmer months. This is when gardens often becoming a little neglected.
Still, 5,675 hours is an incredible amount of time to be spent preening and maintaining our gardens over a lifetime. It just goes to show how proud we are as a nation of our backyard havens.
How much time Brits spend on gardening tasks
| Garden tasks | Average time spent each year |
| Mowing lawn | 15 hours – one hour every fortnight for 30 weeks of the year |
| Trimming hedges | 9 hours – three hours to trim boundary hedges and clear up, three times a year |
| Watering plants/flowers | 45 hours – 15 minutes every day during spring and summer (20 March – 22 September) |
| Other plant/flower maintenance | 13 hours – 30 minutes every week during spring and summer |
| Weeding | 13 hours – one hour every fortnight during spring and summer |
| Raking leaves | 6.5 hours – 30 minutes every week in autumn |
| Re-painting sheds and fences | 8 hours – 8 hours once a year |
| Jet-washing patios | 4 hours – 2 hours twice a year |
What do you think ?