2020 was a record year for gardening sector

Never before have people spent as much on gardening as they have in the past year. All in all, Netherlands residents spent 2 billion euros last year on garden equipment including shrubs, pots, tiles, barbecues and fencing. Compared to 2019, sales in gardening increased by 20 percent, according to consumer research conducted by the GfK.

The garden sector saw the third strongest increase in turnover in the past year, preceded only by bike and hardware store sales. “People were forced to sit at home and could not go on holiday during the beautiful spring and summer, so a lot of money was spent on renovating the garden”, Brenda Horstra from the Dutch Gardening Sector said to NOS.

Consumers not only spent money on their outdoor garden area. “People also want a jungle feeling indoors”, garden center manager Pascal van der Grijn said. “You want to have a cozy feeling at home, and you can achieve that with plants and decorations.”

2021, however, is off to a more pessimistic start with sales at garden centers declining by nearly 80 percent. This partly attributed to shopping appointments to which many people do not show up. “People just don’t come. This is very unpleasant when the employees are ready and the customers do not let them know they are not coming”, Horstra said.

Gardening services, on the other hand, are continuing to fare exceptionally well this year. Gardener, Raoul Hagenbeek, from Liempde in Noord-Brabant said that the gardeners’ schedules are now completely full until August. “It is going well, yes, but that was also the case prior to the crisis. I think it is more of a kind of after-effect of the financial crisis. A lot of people got stuck on their money.”

The high number of garden renewals has led to a shortage of gardening materials on the whole continent. “We often miss out on materials. There is a glaring shortage of plants and garden wood internationally”, Hagenbeek says. “Garden wood is also becoming increasingly expensive.”

Richard Maaskant, from the Royal Association of Gardeners and Landscapers explained: “Due to the high demand, it has in fact come to delivery issues. I would not be surprised if prices were to increase by up to 40 percent.