ONE of Britain's favorite pastimes, gardening is to be celebrated during the Olympics. Last week, the Olympics minister Tessa Jowell announced a public competition to design a typically British garden within London's new Olympic park. Jowell said the idea behind the competition was to show off to the world one of the nation's favorite hobbies. It's likely the government also hopes that the competition will inspire more Brits to take an interest in the Olympics. It's a good plan, as the British love gardens almost as much as they love tea.     In many ways gardening defines Brits, perhaps because they are some of the world's keenest gardeners. The garden is seen as a private place in the UK. Most Brits would far rather sit in their garden than visit a park. They see their garden as an extension of their house outdoors, which is why so many Brits are as garden-proud as they are house-proud. There also seems to be something about the nourishing  act of gardening that appeals to the nation's gentle temperament . Interestingly, gardening has never been as widely enjoyed as it is today in Britain. Its growing popularity is no doubt due to people's increased awareness of the environment and the success of several popular gardening programs. Historically, Brits are also skilful gardeners. As Jowell noted when she made her announcement, if gardening were an Olympic sport then green-fingered Brits "would win gold, silver and bronze." Of course, the irony  of Brits' passion for gardening is that their climate is so wet that there are very few months in the year they can sit outside and enjoy their gardens. In fact, it may be the very valuableness of these few warm months that make gardens so prized and valued by Brits. All of the following are true EXCEPT   _  .
Brits' gentle temperament makes them enjoy gardening Brits do not have many public parks to spend relaxing time in Brits regard their garden as an extension of their house outdoors Brits treasure the short warm months when they enjoy their garden