A few years ago, when glossy magazines began to take notice of the art of gardening, somebody labelled gardening "the sex of the 1990s". But, when you think about it, most novices can bumble their way through the convolutions of the latter with reasonable success, whereas with gardening a lot of expert help can required along the way.
And that's where we run into trouble on this island, we just don't have the tradition of growing that a lot of other European countries have. "There is no handing down of gardening knowhow in Ireland, as there is in England," says Ann Nutty, general manager of Malahide Nurseries. "There, they all have a granny or grandpa or an Aunt Molly who's a good gardener.
"As a nation we have few experienced gardeners," she goes on, "and the thirst for knowledge is huge." Which is where the people in the garden centres come in: for many customers, they have to be all those relative rolled into one. And that means dealing with such gems as "will I take the pot off when I plant it?" or "I got a cherry tree here last summer and the leaves all went brown and fell off after a few months".
The key to building a land peopled by keen and gardeners is to induct them young, to get those fingers into the soil as soon as possible - and away from the urgent buttons of electronic games consoles. It is with this in mind that Malahide Nurseries and nine other garden centres, all members of the newly formed Plantsplus group, are launching a Junior Petunia competition this weekend.
Petunias are versatile plants, with their coloured and flared, old-gramophone trumpets: they are members of Solanaceae, that commodious family that embraces potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, deadly nightshade, mandrake and tobacco, to mention but a few of the clan. The original petunias - a far cry from the much-engineered garden varieties - are natives of the stony slopes and steppes of South America, and their name derives from petun, a Brazilian vernacular name for tobacco. Over the past couple of decades, heaps of money have been pumped into developing and refining the breed, and there are now petunias for every position: hanging basket, window box, bedding scheme and mixed border. Within the past few years we've had Surfinia and Million Bells petunias for hanging baskets, while last year a huge, yellow one, Prism Sunshine, raised in Costa Rica, burst on the scene. And last year also, Junior petunias, with smaller trumpets and a more compact habit, began to sneak up on us. So this year, Junior petunias and junior human beings are to meet in the Junior Petunia competition. Run in association with Barnardo's charity, it involves about 2,500 schoolchildren, who will converge upon the garden centres this weekend, take possession of a petunia plantlet and promise to love, guard and nurture it for the next three months. At each centre, two winners - a girl and a boy - will be presented with a bicycle at a judgment day bash at the end of June.
A clever public relations job, you may think, but so what? Anything that might sprout a new crop of gardeners is welcome. So listen here, young people who are entering, here is how to win (and I know this because Ann Nutty told me): put the petunia on a bright window-ledge and don't expose it to draughts, or frosts or anything nasty. Every morning, stick your finger in the pot to see if it's damp. If it is, that's fine. If it feels dry, it needs water. You'll also need to feed it with special plant food, which you can buy at a garden centre, and it's important to follow the instructions on the packet, because if you over-feed it you can kill it just as easily as if you underfeed it. Don't eat the feed yourself and don't let anyone else eat it either!
The judges will be looking for: the best petunias will have a few flowers open, and lots of buds to open later on in the summer, and the leaves will be a rich green with no yellowing or drooping. True, it's probably not as demanding as a Tamagotchi or as challenging as Tomb Raider II, but it's really the same thing - sort of.
It is too late for more children to enter this year's competition, but schools interested in participating in next year's Junior Petunia com- petition should contact Barnardo's, St Mary's Street, Edenderry, Co Offaly, telephone: 0405-32830.
Diary Dates: Today, 2.305 p.m.: Howth And Sutton Horticultural Society spring show and plant sale, St Nessan's Community School, off Baldoyle Road, Sutton.
Today: 2.304.30 p.m.: Royal Horticultural Society Of Ireland, spring show and plant sale, Taney Parish Centre, Taney Road, Dundrum. Kiltrea Bridge Pottery, Enniscorthy, annual Easter sale runs from Thursday, April 9th until Monday, April 13th, 10 a.m.-5.30 p.m. each day, except Easter Sunday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m. Stylish, hand-thrown terracotta containers, including jumbo pots, at substantial reductions.