What got you into gardening

@shiney , interesting- (and thanks to @Kelc for starting this topic) I was just thinking of the era today. Apologies, rambling nostalgy coming on!

My city grown grandparents were given a sizeable plot near Helsinki after the war when the state didn't have much to go by. But in Finland, there's always spare land so everybody was given plots to build a house or just to grow food to help with the shortages.

When my memories start in mid- 70s, the purpose of the plot had changed from food production into a family holiday labour camp _cum free childcare facility, and my wise grandparents guided us city kids into the secrets of gardening during the summers we spent there.

We had the mandatory jobs, but were also given "treats" as a compliment of our progress. Small areas in the veg patch carefully separated and named to allow us to grow our very own crops (radishes and carrots mostly) to proudly present to our hard working parents upon return to the city, and a little patch to sow flowers of our choice (from a selection of super-easy seeds, Calendulas were my trade mark).

I learnt the basics, and absorbed the need of having muddy fingers and the scent of earth. I also learnt about learning, Granddad spent the evenings browsing books about modern methods, and also studied very old books to re-discover old, by then forgotten methods and beliefs, sometimes ending in rather questionable trials. Watermelons do not grow well in Finland, take my word. Not even when boosted with a clever linkage to the outdoor toilet. Illegal alcohol can indeed be made from blackcurrants, but using twist top glass bottles is not advised whilst the fermentation is in progress.

During the winters I developed a passion for houseplants. Not being allowed a pet, growing plants was the next best thing to nurture a small, cute living thing that depends on me. I read everything the bricks-and-mortar google had about everything, and gladly visited elderly Aunties in the hope of getting cuttings of something interesting. That got me a false reputation of being a Good Girl

Now I'm in a fortunate position to have both, a sliver of a rented garden and a house to grow plants in.

My work keeps me glued to my laptop 8 hours a day, and gardening is a true lifesaver both physically and mentally. The joy of seeing seeds sprouting (ahem, Opuntia Santa Rita! ), getting out there to dig a bit, planning, pretending to be a grand designer, daydreaming and having some low cost me- time are important to me.

 

Sowed some runner beans with my Dad when l was 6 , and from then on got into growing more and more each year from seed , the process of a dry little seed becoming a fresh green thing fascinated me and it still does ! .

 

I started as a little kid growing those small cacti that you can buy in 2in pots, but they didn't grow fast enough for me so one summer I bought a packet of marrow seeds with my pocket money, planted them in our fairly rough garden and they grew like crazy.
At that point I was hooked and mostly on plants that like warm growing conditions.

I got into what is now called exotic gardening a long time ago when not that many exotics were available, so had to grow most from seed back then, even getting hold of seed was not easy, and the seed was not good when you could get it.

I've wound down a bit in recent years.
Dont grow much veg these days, but grew lots in the 80s and 90s.

 

Oh wow what a interesting story, thankyou so much for sharing it

 

It really is magical watch what s tint little seed can produce right?

 

I love that you bought seeds with your pocket money when most kids bought sweets or toys.

 

The garden came with the house . I had no choice but to learn to look after it. It's only in the last 5 years since I joined the forum that my garden has really started to take shape.

G.

 

Do you enjoy it now though.

 

My early years were spent on almost an acre of garden surrounded by farmland. My mum reared chickens and geese, my granddad worked our large vegetable plot, so to a certain degree it was bound to have a knock on effect. I was still very young when our home and ground was compulsorily purchased. We moved to a newly built house with a 60ft long garden which was gradually taken over by a vegetable plot and a new menagerie. Various animals with my mum's six aviaries added to that. At that point I only mowed the lawns.

Married fairly young and with three children at 24 years old my own garden started to become an escape - time to switch off. I remember my first big project was to turf over a retired 50 x 50ft vegetable plot. I've moved many times and have gradually worked my way up the country, finally retiring here in Inverness-shire in 2016. My love of gardening having developed along the way I'm now retrieving a very unkempt rural garden from nature and trying to turn it into something respectable, keeping a rural appearance and working with said nature. A typical suburban garden (no offence meant to anyone) would look very out of place here. The climate and soil are challenging but where there's a will.....

 

What are green shield stamps?

I couldn't be without a garden now, saved me this last year for sure.

 

@Kelc. Have a look at the Blog I posted as an answer to your query about getting into gardening. Slightly fictionalised, but essentially what happened.
Sadly, no longer grow Sweet peas though. Too many pollen beetles.

 

Oh wow that's great

 

I sure will