A patchwork of passion and plants

Meeting Jean and Peter Block, who have opened their garden for the National Garden Scheme in Hertfordshire since 2001, it’s hard to believe that they were both born in 1935, four years before the start of the second World War. Their energy and passion, not just for their garden, but for their rescue dog Molly, their family and their various hobbies and interests – including maintaining an allotment – all contribute to their being nearly 90 years young. We wanted to find out what role their garden and gardening played in their longevity and good health.

“I think it’s a combination of all our activities and interests,” says Jean. “We keep pretty busy. There are always plants to buy and planning to do in preparation for our garden openings.”

As well as a regular hour and a half spent in the garden every day, the couple also maintain an allotment where Peter grows dahlias and they gather soft fruits and asparagus. “The allotment is more unkempt,” says Peter, “but it’s not far … on the other side of the valley.”

The valley is not an inconsiderable one, gouged out by a glacier long before lawn mowers were invented, their garden slopes steeply down the hill behind the house. “When we came here in 1969 there wasn’t much of a garden, just the slope,” says Peter. “But after a friend tipped gently backwards into the dahlias we decided to level part of the lawn to provide a better place for parties.”

A winding path now leads you through the 1/4 acre garden past a small pond bordered with a magnificent azalea. There’s an hexagonal greenhouse where the fuchsias over winter, a rose arbour and banks of tulips guiding you to a larger greenhouse where dahlias and sweet peas wait to be potted on and planted out. Peter cleared the pond earlier in the year and there are also some fabulously healthy looking marsh marigolds basking in the sunshine outside the greenhouse waiting to join the sale table when they open in May.

From there we climb the slope dotted with fritillaries at the end of the garden to the hidden compost system that forms part of the garden tour for visitors, and then skim the highest point of the garden with its seating positioned for the best view down the valley before returning to the patio which Peter is in the process of pressure washing ahead of their first opening on Sunday 4 May.

Although Jean does now use a walking stick for balance, the exertion of the slope takes little toll on the nearly 90 year olds and we head inside to chat about how they first got interested in gardening.

For Jean it was keeping two Khaki Campbell ducks from her garden patch that led her to her first magic moment at the age of ten. She collected a pile of sticks from some wasteland behind her house and pushed them into the ground to make a fence to keep the ducks out . A few weeks later they had sprouted and the realisation that putting something in the ground could make it grow – in this case willow – was a revelation.

“It was so exciting to see that for the first time, and that excitement hasn’t really lessened,” says Jean.

Peter’s first experience, at a similar age, was not so positive. “My father used to get me weeding the garden which was full of horsetail and it gave me a real dislike for gardening. But, when we got our first garden together I suddenly realised what I’d missed.”

In that first garden they created a heart shaped lawn and began their family, moving to Patchwork in 1969 where they gradually developed the garden and held garden parties for friends. It was the same friends who suggested they open for the National Garden Scheme.

Unsure at first, they contacted the charity and were accepted into the Scheme. “Like many, we were worried about the parking, but that first opening in May 2001 (which was freezing) was really well attended and our first two years were really busy,” says Jean.

“Our best,” agrees Peter. “Now we have many returning visitors, and a few faithfuls who come for a chat and cake.”

While Jean enjoys the social side of opening they both love seeing people’s faces light up when they see the garden for the first time, full of colour and texture.

“You never hear an argument, it’s very relaxed,” adds Peter.

On the downside they agree that opening your garden can be hard work and finding cakes and people to bake them can sometimes be difficult.

“But of course we would recommend opening. You just have to realise that it’s hard work,” says Jean.

When the visitors have gone Jean and Peter return to their daily connection with the garden. Jean to her planning of the next bedding scheme which helps satisfy her creativity, Peter to the soil.

“Being in touch with the soil is my favourite thing,” he says. “Planting seeds, potting on, seeing things grow.”

For both of them the garden is exciting, and therapeutic, somewhere they can create something every day. And although they have many interests the garden and gardening are now their main forms of exercise and, they agree, the source of their continuing mobility.

“We can’t imagine life without a garden – what would we do? It gives us purpose.”

Jean and Peter’s gorgeous garden – © Barbara Goult

You can visit Peter and Jean’s garden at Patchwork, Hertfordshire when it opens on Sunday 4 May and Sunday 17 August. Or book a By Arrangement visit.
CLICK HERE for details

This story was originally published in the 2025 Little Yellow Book of Gardens and Health – to read it click here