I have had the pleasure of dining out this week. It was a works do, not mine (us gardeners tend to head for the nearest pub) but my partner's.

Nick works in the medical profession and we often get taken out to local restaurants and events. These used to be quite serious and dour affairs. I would have to play the good doctor's wife, dress appropriately and say all the right things. Whenever I was asked what I did for a living, my answer was usually received with a mixture of pity and disdain. I would then play little part in the conversation for the rest of the evening.

I am pleased to say that things have changed now. Take last Tuesday for example. We were out with some of Nick's business partners at a very classy eatery in Osmotherly at the invitation of a large organisation. On entering the building, I was introduced to the company accounts manager who had driven all the way up from the South West to be at the meeting.

As soon as I had uttered the magic words "I am a gardener", the ice was broken and all serious pretensions evaporated. We sat and discussed the dilemma of David's Camelia for most of the evening, only moving on to talk about up and coming trends in the garden and whether decking has had its day.

It's the same when we go on holiday. Nick used to dread being found out as a doctor as the rest of the break would be spent giving second opinions and looking at dodgy rashes. Now though it's me that gets all the questions and has to do the problem solving. I have to do my homework before I go away now, and learn the names and common diseases of any unfamiliar tropical plant that I could be likely to come across.

It just goes to show how the profile of gardening has altered over the last five to ten years. It used to be an activity reserved for those who had retired or who had more money than they knew what to do with. Professional gardeners were poorly paid and thought of as "slightly slow". Indeed, rural sciences as I remember it being called was only taught to those in "remedial" classes.

It used to be said that there was no money in horticulture as a career. Today a good garden designer can make themselves a very good living indeed. Landscapers are everywhere and learning centres are throwing grants and monies at classes and courses in horticulture. The garden is now one of the major selling points in the property market, and can be seen as an investment rather than just something pretty to look at.

Much of the heightened importance of the garden has to do with the recent multitude of garden makeover programmes. I know that they have had their critics, but they do give you ideas and inspiration. They have made gardening accessible and acceptable. They have taken away or explained some of the secrets and mysteries of horticulture. They have said "get out there and get stuck in", and that truly is the only way of learning how to garden. You have to get your hands in the soil and not be ashamed of the muck under your fingernails.

JOBS TO DO THIS WEEK.

Pick and dry herbs

Pick a few handfuls of your favourite herbs. Tie them in bunches and hang them up in a dry, cool place. This way, you have the next best thing to fresh herbs during the winter months.

Harvest onions

Pull the onions part way out of the ground and bend the neck where it joins the bulb. This encourages the goodness to go to the bulb and allows the sun to dry out the outer skin. Leave for a few more weeks if the weather is good. Remove as and when required, or if the weather becomes too wet.

Lift spring bulbs

Bulbs such as daffodils and tulips can be dug up now. You may want to split them if the bunches have become too big, or if the flowering was poor. You may want to move them to another site. Remember that one of the most common reasons for not flowering is inadequate depth of planting.

Listen to Brigid as she tackles listeners' gardening problems live on the radio every Sunday morning, from 11am to midday, on Radio Cleveland.

Published: 03/08/2002