As you might expect, the Royal Horticultural Society is passionate about all things to do with gardening and a large part of the organisation's work is to cultivate a similar degree of passion in the rest of us. That's why they introduced National Gardening Week, which this year runs for the week commencing Monday April 13th.

The idea of a National Week devoted to all things gardening was first raised back in 2011, based on a desire to breathe new life into communities by cultivating green spaces and getting everyone in the country involved in some way. Gardening is accessible to everyone in Britain, whether or not we have our own gardens, as schools, youth groups and even urban community gardens become increasingly popular.

Sue Biggs, the Director-General of the RHS launched the inaugural National Gardening Week on Monday 6th April 2012, neatly tying the celebrations in with the year of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the start of the annual Britain in Bloom contest. The surge in national pride helped to make the first annual celebration of gardening a huge success.

The first celebrations in 2012 introduced the idea of enabling enthusiastic amateur gardeners to 'have a go', and featured a Gardening SOS service which encouraged people to ask experts for advice. A programme of events was scheduled for each of the four RHS gardens up and down the country, and Alan Titchmarsh was persuaded to give a talk extolling the joys of gardening as a career.

To set the ball rolling, the RHS gave away 20,000 starter packs including seeds, to get people digging. And it was such a success that the week has quickly grown to become part of Britain's annual programme of events.

In 2013 the theme was planting for wildlife and the RHS gave away wildflower seeds to get us all started. Children were taught how to make seed bombs and were encouraged to create wildlife havens for bugs and creepy-crawlies. There was also a drive to making horticulture a more appealing career choice for young people, after the results of a survey showed that it was not viewed as being a particularly worthwhile profession.

By 2014 National Gardening Week was well on the way to becoming a popular British institution, with schools, colleges, garden centres and even keen amateur gardeners all keen to get involved. This year communities was the principal theme, with many National Trust properties and privately-owned gardens opening their doors to the public for free. Competitions, giveaways and talks were all designed to raise interest and attention in the subject.

As the event grows in popularity so too does the range of subjects covered by gardening experts. Talks, guided tours and expert advice from professional gardeners have been joined by pastimes such as garden games and 'how to make your own scarecrow'!

All the usual events have been scheduled for the 2015 National Gardening Week, along with a National Garden Open Day which offers people the chance to view gardens that they would never normally get to see.