‘Gardens,’ said Rudyard Kipling, ‘are not made by singing “Oh, how beautiful!” and sitting in the shade’. We’ve no doubt this is true: we are British after all, and if we believe what’s said about us, we are the nation of gardeners.

Yes, we have a long and venerable history of gardening, garden design and incredible green spaces (London is, unbelievably nearly 40% public green space), but if you’re reading this within the M25 boundaries, there’s a fairly good chance you don’t have the means to see if your green fingers are anything more than theoretical.

In the 90s our TV screens were awash with home makeover shows. While our fascination with property on the small screen seems to have endured, gardening-centred programmes had – until fairly recently – stopped reaching a sizeable audience.

Why? Well, for a start, many of us belong to Generation Rent. One report has predicted that up to 60% of Londoners will be renting the places they call home by 2025. We don’t own the gardens we might want to redesign and even if we have access to a garden, it’s more likely to accommodate a pot plant than a Capability Brown scheme.

While we live in hope that the housing tide may turn sooner rather than later, there is an increasingly dynamic gardening scene emerging from the figurative undergrowth, and one that is just perfect for anyone without the home ownership section on their CV.

Indoor gardening, you see, is now officially ‘a thing’. There’s been a move to green up our urban living areas for some time – you only have to look as far the Garden Bridge in London or the High Line in New York to see that we clearly have an insatiable appetite for innovative and green shared spaces – but the idea of gardening in our homes beyond a pot plant has really begun to (bad pun alert) take root.

While Chelsea may be the ultimate destination for anyone who truly understands – and is willing to explain – the difference between pelargoniums and geraniums, the GROW London Contemporary Garden Fair is more about what fair manager, MonicaYam, describes as, ‘the contemporary worlds of horticulture and design’. It’s a more aesthetic approach than a botanical one: you’re as likely to find beautiful plants in pots as stylish bee hotels or wood carving workshops, and the onus is on inspiring people to consider incorporating green elements into whatever space they have, be it inside or out.

It’s a subtle shift, yes, but a really inclusive one that recognises the value of green space no matter how big an area you might have to accommodate it. There are as many innovations in indoor gardening as there are gardening in the fresh air, and there’s never been a better time – both seasonally and pragmatically – (failed pun attempt ahead) to jump on the wheelbarrow.

So, if you’re yearning for more foliage in your flat, here are some simple ideas and innovations to get you started.

 

The Terrarium

Loved by Victorians, this simple innovation enabled all those famous plant hunters of the 19th century to transport newly discovered species from the four corners of the earth back home. It was this humble little greenhouse – originally designed by Charles Ward in 1827 to protect his beloved ferns from the foul London air – that enabled tea plants to be transported from China to India, where the tea growing industry thereafter flourished.

There’s something really magical about growing plants in tiny glasshouses and creating your own little ecosystem. 2016 looks set to be the year of this little glass house and tutorials abound for how to get started. Geo Fleur are at the GROW London Fair offering workshops, and over in Bermondsey, London Terrariums also hold their own sessions throughout the year.

Succulents

Over in California, succulent gardening has seen a massive upswing in popularity, no thanks to the state’s rather rain-deprived meterological situation of late. Weather notwithstanding, there’s something really awesome about these plants – they’re the kind of thing you may have had on your windowsill as a kid – but now the gardening fraternity have really cottoned on to how interesting they are as well. The Living Wall is one such notion. Part planting scheme, part picture – for anyone living in a tiny space, it’s always nice to get a two-for-one type deal on interior decoration, isn’t it?

Ikebana

There’s flower arranging, and then there’s Ikebana. At first glance, this time-honoured Japanese technique of displaying flowers may seem simple. It isn’t, of course, because nothing simple ever is, right? The practice has a long history and is believed to have originated in Buddhist temples, where the offering of flowers was an integral part of worship. Indeed, the first teachers were said to have been Buddhist monks, which perhaps explains the mindful approach to the art.

Always eager to throw in a little trivia for your enjoyment, here’s an interesting aside: one of the possible translations for Ikebana (apart from the obviously ‘flower arranging’) is ‘giving life to flowers’. Isn’t that lovely?

Cut flowers

Ok, so you’re not growing anything per se, but there’s still much enjoyment to be had by letting the outside in. Yes, your local supermarket will stock cut flowers, but if you’re in London, you have other options too – New Covent Garden, after all, is flower central.

Learn a little about how to arrange flowers, and even the most ordinary selection can be transformed into something amazing. Bloomon offer a subscription-type service, if you’d like a contemporary flower masterpiece delivered straight to your abode, but if you’d like to get more stuck in and embrace your inner florist, Jam Jar Flowers are one of many that offer classes.

Macrame hangers

All the rage in the 70s, it was inevitable that these little beauties would eventually find their way back into fashion. Along with the resurgence of interest in home crafts more generally, macrame plant hangers are back and there are plenty of places to get tutorials, if you don’t want to buy. This time round, colour is the name of the game and flares are optional.

Or…

If that’s all too retro for you, there are some more contemporary takes on the plant hanger – all perfect if the only potential space you’ve got in your place is in the air or, if like us, you really want to indulge your inner geek and grow a plant upside down…

… or appear to have a piece of a forest hanging in your front room. Alternatively, Kokedama, sometimes described in their native Japan as ‘poor man’s bonsai’, is essentially a plant whose roots have been covered in a special kind of soil and then encased in moss. The trend really caught on in the Netherlands and has now crossed the channel to Blighty.

Urban intervention

And, if you really don’t have any indoor space whatsoever, but you’re feeling militant, there are always Seedboms. Made of biodegradable materials, you lob ‘em onto an area of land in need of greening up and let the seeds therein work their magic. A little act of urban beautification right there for you.

As ever, if you are finding space precludes you from getting stuck into some gardening, Boxman could help you. As London’s self-storage company with a difference, they’ll deliver empty boxes straight to your door for you to fill with your gardening paraphernalia, and then they’ll return to pick it up when you’re ready.

The Chelsea Flower Show runs from 24-28 May, 2016. GROW London is on 24-26 June, 2016 at Hampstead Heath. Featured Image via the rather inventive Petite Green.