HOMEOWNERS in Worcestershire are splashing out more cash on garden improvements than the national average - but not necessarily because they like gardening.

Many of us are looking for an "instant" garden, with all the comforts of the living room on the patio and plants bought ready-grown from the garden centre.

Last year, people in the Midlands spent £1,222 on improving their gardens, while the average spent nationally was £920.

Influenced by TV makeover programmes, magazines and neighbours, more and more of us see our gardens as an extension of the house, where we can eat, relax and entertain friends.

"People are not looking at the cheaper barbecues or the plastic tables and push-up parasols. They are going more upmarket," said Andrew Sinclair, manager of Laylocks Nurseries in Bromyard Road, Worcester.

"They want better barbecues, teak or glass-topped tables, gazebos and parasols with crank handles.

"Men and women tend to come shopping together, looking for good value on decking and furniture."

Palms, ferns and ornamental grasses were still popular, but some of the more traditional shrubs like laburnum, forsythia and flowering currant were coming back into fashion, he said.

At Worcester Garden Centre, Droitwich Road, sales manager Adrian Fox confirmed that people were spending more money on gas barbecues, patio furniture and parasols.

"They spend a lot of money on bedding plants, tools and fertilisers in the spring and they want ready made, instant, convenience gardens," he said.

"At this time of year they want to spend leisure time in the garden and treat it like an outdoor room.

"Log burning chimineas are popular in the autumn because people want to spend as much time in the garden as possible, even when the evenings get cooler."

He said the market was becoming younger, with first-time buyers taking an interest in outdoor living.

One gardener who admitted being influenced by TV makeover programmes like Diarmuid Gavin's Homefront, was Dana Robinson, aged 40, of Madresfield, near Malvern.

"I love it. It gives you ideas and encouraged us to think of the garden as an extension to the living space," she said.

"We tend to entertain friends in the garden, but we don't have a barbecue, because we don't like barbecued food.

"We have a patio table, lots of seating and candles that we light at night. We are planning to get a big parasol and a patio heater, because that extends your summer.

"Our friends have even got a hot tub that they can use all year round."

She said she believed young couples were going out less and entertaining friends at home more.

Mal Hunt, aged 52, of Monarch Drive, Worcester, said she had a low maintenance paved garden with plants in pots.

"We have a covered area for when it rains and if it's chilly we burn logs in a cast iron chiminea."

St Peter's Garden Centre owner Tony Blake said when funds were tight some people were choosing to spend money on their gardens rather than go on holiday.

"We've seen a fairly dramatic increase in sales of garden furniture and barbecues, but we've also seen growth in core garden products," he said. "Perhaps because of the emphasis on organic produce, there is more interest in growing vegetables. But people are growing them in pots and containers as a feature of the garden.

Outdoor spending facts

Nearly a third of high spending gardeners live in the suburbs

Seven out of 10 of them are female.

Gardeners in the Midlands invest the most money per square foot of soil (58p compared with 40p nationally).

Gardens are becoming smaller, decreasing by six per cent from 1992 to 2002.

Most gardeners are aged over 35.

Over 55s have the largest gardens and do the most gardening.

New gardening tools such as strimmers and sprinkler systems have made garden maintenance easier.

One fifth of gardeners own garden lighting.

One tenth have decking.

(Information taken from a survey carried out by Verdict Research for Focus Wickes DIY, May 2004).