Amateur Gardening was founded in 1884 during the Victorian horticultural era of the country house head gardener. Until the world wars, gardening was epitomised by him (it was always a man) and his staff using hand tools to grow produce for the house kitchen and pristine ornamental gardens for leisure.
Popular in domestic gardens was a miniature version of what was created at the big house, with formal lawns, neat hedges, carpets of flowerbeds and uniform rows of vegetables, though the looser cottage garden style was common in more rural areas.
Now, 14 decades on, we have been through a technological and scientific revolution with labour-saving machines and chemicals helping gardeners achieve the perfect plot.
Many of Britain’s 27 million gardeners still draw inspiration from visits to heritage
