Wealden and Lewes in top three Sussex areas to be a gardener, according to new study

Hedging specialists Hedges Direct analysed 346 local authorities across the UK on seven key factors that contribute to a good set-up for gardeners.

The metrics used by the company include average garden space, climate, soil type and public gardens, which were combined into an index to produce a score out of 100.

Visit www.hedgesdirect.co.uk.

Wealden took second place in Sussex, after Rother, with a score of 60.6 out of 100, and Lewes took third place in Sussex with a score of 60.5 out of 100.

Martin Chaplin, head of horticulture at Hedges Direct, said: "The conditions gardeners are working with vary much more than people tend to realise. There are more than five months between the shortest and the longest growing season in this study, and a typical garden runs from under 50 square metres in some areas to more than 700 in others, so two gardeners doing exactly the same things in different parts of the country will get very different results.

“Shelter is the other thing that gets underestimated. Wind does more damage to plants in an exposed garden than cold does, and a hedge filters it rather than forcing it over the top the way a solid fence does, which makes a real difference to what will grow in an exposed spot.”

A spokesperson for the Hedges Direct study said: “Wealden is second in Sussex and 17th in Britain, on 60.6 out of 100. It has the county’s best selection of gardens to visit and the 13th best in Britain, with 43 gardens that open to the public and 18 on the historic register, both the most in Sussex, and its 48 allotment sites are also the most in the county, giving residents without much garden of their own somewhere to grow. Typical gardens of 313 square metres are the second largest in Sussex and the 18th largest in Britain.

“Lewes takes third place in the county and 18th nationally, with 60.5 out of 100. Frost damages tender plants and new growth, so fewer frosty days give a gardener a longer, safer window for planting, and Lewes has the 30th-best frost risk score in Britain, with 75 days of ground frost a year. Its growing season, the part of the year warm enough for plants to keep growing, runs to 314 days. The district also has 19 gardens that open to the public and typical gardens of 238 square metres, larger than the national norm.”

In the study, six areas across Sussex rank in Britain’s top 50 and eight rank in the top 100.

According to Hedges Direct’s study, the top ten places in Sussex to be a gardener are:

1. Rother. 62.5 out of 100. Ranked eighth nationally.

2. Wealden. 60.6 out of 100. Ranked 17th nationally.

3. Lewes. 60.5 out of 100. Ranked 18th nationally.

4. Eastbourne. 59.7 out of 100. Ranked 26th nationally.

5. Mid Sussex. 59.0 out of 100. Ranked 31st nationally.

6. Chichester. 58.1 out of 100. Ranked 41st nationally.

7. Hastings. 57.4 out of 100. Ranked 55th nationally.

8. Horsham. 56.5 out of 100. Ranked 75th nationally.

9. Brighton and Hove. 55.2 out of 100. Ranked 101th nationally.

10. Arun. 55.1 out of 100. Ranked 103rd nationally.