Inspired you to get into gardening, whether it be flowers, shrubs, trees, fruit, veg? Mine was just wanting somewhere to enjoy pottering around and feel content knowing i had "done" that. up until a couple of years ago i found gardening a chore, now it's an absolute pleasure and i can feel myself getting cranky if i can't get out there and get my hands dirty, that's recently been passed onto veg growing which i never dreamed would be so exciting and rewarding! Just a shame my hubby doesn't always share my enthusiasm, each to their own though eh!. Looking forward to reading your replies :thumb:
mine was veg! that was seriously 2 years ago, last year was a wash out, now got the GH so the bug has definately bitten. hope to build a few raised bed veg plots when the weather gets better (and if i get a short holiday). also looking fwd to growing flowers for next year ps ruby whereabouts in gods country are you?
I'm a city bloke but I've lived abroad and had a farm for about 8 years. It had quite a few acres and I kept some animals (for pets and company!) in the pasture. The farm itself was on a small hill and the land around was stunning but the immediate surroundings of the house were completely bare. I found out later why - the goats would jump the pasture fence and gobble everything and the geese would nipple every new shoot and the deer were a bleedin pest. It took three years to establish a vegetable plot (quarter the size of a football pitch! - crazy I know but I didn't have a clue) and on a rocky sandy hill of about 1/4 of an acre from the house to the barn I made a large rockery leading down to a ferny damp spot under a large pine tree. As a beginner I had no idea about soil and pH, so planted lots of wrong things that died the first year - pulmonaria and hosta in rocky sand LOL Very acidic soil and in some parts rocky sand and in others 90% sand. A miserable start. I had to haul all the manure up the hill in wheelbarrows and it was a tough few years. After reading up and getting it a bit right it turned out nice and I was well chuffed. I've enjoyed gardening ever since though I have a smallish urban garden which is a different kettle of fish altogether now. I find it relaxing now and enjoyable which is much needed after the pressures of work. Looking to move to the country now!
My granny is the greatest specimen of green fingered human I ever met, and she raised me while my mom worked, so I cannot remember a time of my life without a garden being involved... I had my first own plant at the age of 5 I think, but I became "conscious" (if you get my idea)at around 15- 16. Then proceeded to study biology at university and then worked part time in garden design for some years. Had my first own garden at the age of 25 and I cannot imagine my life without one now. Unenmployed now, but I would love to go back to professional garden design as a career.
Biker, have you got any photos of that? sounds like a labour of love but well worth it i bet! i was born and raised in a city too, moved to the country 16 years ago and have never looked back
Ivory, that brought back memories of my granny, she was always in the garden, i remember ducking down picking peas when she wasn't looking, maybe that's where i've got the bug, albeit late from
Alasdair following todays weather i think it could be heading that way too, there's been about 2 inches of rain here today, the main reason i've gotten into veg is soaring prices, and we love our greens, i never thought i'd be as sucessful though! answer to your question i'm doon in the borrrrddduurrsss :thumb:
Well it was my granddad who got me interested in gardening and infact i learnt more from him than i did in 3 years of collage for as long as i can remember i spent every spare moment i had with him getting up to allsorts in the garden from potting up plug plants to rotovating the allotment i also learnt so so much more from him about most things hence how i can get over nearly any practical problem there is if it wasnt for him i wouldnt be where i am today i just wish he was still here to see how well im doing :(
For me one of the great pleasures of gardening is that now I can repay some of what my granny did for me as a child (yup my granny is still alive and comparatively spry), sharing with her any rare seeds I come across, cutlings from the plants I pick up in remote garden shows where she is unable to go, and finding things on the internet when she wants to know something. We garden in very different (opposite?) ways, and yet it is a great joy to share our experiences (and plants) as we go along.
When I was young my mum was the gardener and none of us kids were allowed to touch the front or back garden so apart from growing an onion in a jar of water for school I never had much interest until I got married to my ex husband but still never had the bug until Mr Kandy and I got married and bought our bungalow with it's 60x29ft garden.We saved up and got a greenhouse, borrowed books from the library,and watched all the Gardeners World programmes that were on the TV plus listened to Geoffrey Smith on the radio:thumb: We also got ourselves 10 pole of allotment down the road and which gradually grew to 30 pole which we still have.The enjoyment for us is to sow a packet of seeds and to nurture it until it flowers and we are then amazed at how something so tiny and insignificant like a seed can grow into something so beautiful in the space of a couple of months So thanks Mum for passing on the Gardening Bug Gene or should I say the Gardening Bug seed...:thumb:
Ruby, what an interesting thread. Well done. It's interesting to know how we all got involved. Think it may have been posted before but nothing wrong with putting it to the fore again. I have said before that although my mum & grandad liked gardening and had a lovely garden when I was growing up, albeit in a council estate with all that brings!, I never appreciated it. We have lived here 10 years and only in the last couple have I wanted to do something. Now I love it. It was kept as neat as possible when I was working but it was a chore not a pleasure. Now things are totally different, I even like cutting the lawn! Don't worry Spud, Kandy et al. I'm sure they know. My grandad & mum (& dad) will be so pleased I'm doing something. Whether gardening or whatever interest you have - It's good. Isn't this site amazing, I love it. It's the people that make it though, so all our departed families or friends that inspired us thank you and may it go on. cheers
Two of my earliest memories are; Sitting by the greenhouse and munching on chives. My father picking out hundreds / possibly thousands of poisonous laburnum seeds from the lawn. I would eat basically anything I found in the garden. :D Later on, my "pocket money" was based on what I had done in the garden, cut lawns / weeding. My grandfather was an avid conservationist, he spent his last 5 years restoring a nearby abandoned railway line into an area of absolute wonder. I helped when I was asked to do so, but I could have done much more. RIP Grandpa (2003) :( So it's a little guilt, merged with growing up and having fresh vegetables available in the garden. :o
