Help please

Hi there

I am currently doing an undergraduate study on gardening and would like to know if there are 4 or 5 people off here that would be interested in answering a few questions for me? it shouldn't take longer than 5 mins and I would really appreciate it!! If I put the questions up here now then you can just post a reply:

1) When and why did you first become interested in gardening?

2) How much time approximately do you spend per month in your garden?

3) Is this longer or shorter in comparison to when you first began gardening?

4) What is it that you actually do in your garden?

5) How do you feel when you are in your garden?

6) Would you class gardening as a leisurely activity

7) What do you think other people's attitudes are towards gardening?

8) How does this compare with your attitude towards gardening?

If you could answer as fully as you can I would be so grateful

Thanks very much

Moonbeam :D

 

Hello Moonbeam, I shall have a go at answering your questions but it may be a long one.
1- I have dabbled in gardening since I was a child but only became enthusiastic about it 15 years ago when we moved into a new build with a builders rubble heap for a garden. I always loved flowers and plants and having a clean canvas allowed me to experiment and create.
2- I spend about 6 hours a month doing heavy gardening jobs such as weeding, digging over etc. The rest of the time I mostly potter and plan and play in the greenhouse with my seeds.
3- My first garden was small and it took me 15 minutes twice a year to weed both the front and back gardens, then every 2 years I had a good pruning session. Now we have almost an acre so it does take a little longer than 15 minutes.
4- My garden has a wild;ife area, borders, flowerbeds and a vegetable garden we also keep chickens who eat the weeds for us. I tend to do most of the weeding, I love pruning and my father-in-law helps me with the vegetables, my husband cuts the grass. I grow many of my bedding plants from seed in the greenhouse and I'm in the middle of creating a new secret garden where I can go and hide. We have planted some new fruit trees and I am busy planning an herbacious border. Then I also sit in the garden and listen to the birds and insects and admire nature's handiwork.
5- I find it very relaxing to garden. I think about all my worries and I can feel them wash away.
6- I would, it can be very hard work but at the end of the day there is always a sense of achievement. You are out in the fresh air getting plenty of exercise and you have something beautiful to show for it.
7 & 8- most people I know like gardening, though the people who bought our old house dug up all my lovely plants and paved over the garden, but that was their choice and their loss, and their next door neighbour's loss too because they often said how much they liked our garden and how it spurred them on to do theirs. My daughter is like I was and is very happy to plant things but sees that as the end result, she forgets they need watering and looking after but perhaps she will develop an enthusiasm for gardening as she grows older. My son doesn't go near the garden, mostly due to horrendous hayfever so I can understand it. I think there are a few gardeners out there who are instant gardeners, they buy ready made baskets or just plant out pots of plants bought from the garden centre and they miss alot of the joy in growing your own. I appreciate that I am lucky to have the space to grow my own seeds and not every one has but I have had neighbours who have bought hanging baskets every summer let them die because they can't find the time to water them and then buy another to repeat the same process. TV programmes are partly to blame because it makes it all look so simple, I quite enjoyed one of the makeover series where they went back a year later to see how the garden was doing.

I hope this answers your question Moonbeam I may have rambled on a bit in the last question. To put it succinctly, I see gardening as a means of creating something beautiful that I have grown and nurtured myself and in return I get a sense of achievement and a feeling of peace, not to mention some very tasty vegetables :D

 

Celia you are a legend thank you so much!! That is perfect

Anyone else please? I would be so grateful!!

 

Hi moonbeam.
1 I became interested in gardening about 26 years ago when I was in my 20's.
2 I spend about an hour a day on average throughout the year. More in summer and less in winter.
3 Shorter I suppose as now I just have a relatively small garden as opposed to a large double allottment when I was younger.
4 I grow fruit and veg mainly but have herbs and shrubs also. Try to keep the soil in good condition using my composters and wormery.
5 I feel great in the garden especially when the sun is shining.
6 Yes certainly very liesurely and enjoyable.
7 Most people I know aren't as keen on gardening and seem to find it a chore.
8 Totally different to my attitude. I suppose when I had my allottments I was in touch with more people who had the same interests i.e gardenong.

 

Hi John thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Could you please explain to me why it is that you feel great in your garden? Do you use it as a means of relaxation? Also why do you feel it is important to keep the soil in good condition?

Thanks again

 

Hello again 'moonbeam',
I was a bit brief wasn't I?
Ifeel goo/great in the garden because it is peaceful close to nature and an absolute pleasure to see things growing and to look after them. Making sure that desease or pests don't take over. Prevention is definitely better than cure. Yes it is very relaxing outdoors in the garden. Maybe even with a chilled glass of wine towards the end of the day!
It's important to keep the soil in good order and to rotate your crops. Different plants use different nutrients from the soil. If you grow the same or even similar crops on the same soils year after year they will strip the soil of the same nutrients and won't flourish as well.

Important to keep a check on pH also. Some plants will prefer alkaline soils whereas others need acidic conditions. Plenty of well rotted manure and compost needs to be dug and in some cases used as a mulch.
Hope this helps.
John

 

No it is all good you have been a great help!

Thanks again for taking the time to assist me.

Amy

 

Hello, and here goes....
1) Age 2 probably, if making mud pies in the borders counts? Always loved gardens but it was when I first bought own house in my 20's that I realized I was hooked.

2) Outside - up to 60hrs/month in Spring & Summer, maybe 20 in Winter. But a lot more than that thinking, fantasizing & plotting

3) Less, but that's only because my first garden was a major overhaul so v. long hours spent.

4) A lot of wandering around looking for things that I've put down and lost! And just looking, thinking, enjoying. Drinking wine. Playing with my young daughter (4) who also likes "helping". Garden fairly mature, so a mixture of maintenance (weeding, pruning, training etc)and changing the planting - moving stuff round etc. Drinking wine.

5) Happy. (Unless I've killed something recently). The best moments are when I "click" with a planting idea, especially somthing that connects in a satisfying way. It might something I read ages ago which suddenly becomes relevant. Or a better position for a plant which is not doing well.

6) Well, different things work for different people, don't they - but I think the combination of physical activity, mental challenge, artistic elements and the sheer magic of nurturing life is pretty darn good.

7) I think gardening can be enjoyable on so many different levels. But I do know quite a few people who just want "the look" and are not keen on the process itself, esp. getting mucky. I think a lot of this is tied in with peoples' preoccupation with house values etc.

8) Have yet to meet anyone as obsessed! I think I have also got a more fatalistic approach - I am very bothered about things feeling "right" (it's an old house). Generally speaking I favour what nature throws at or offers to me - not out of strict organic principals, just wanting to go with the flow. Also for many gardening means retail therapy - there's a hell of a lot of stuff to buy if you want to. But I really like the way that gardening can subvert all that - it is possible to garden on an extremely tight budget. My daughter loved growing sweet peas last year, but was amazed when we collected the seeds in the Autumn and already we have new plants growing in the same pot in their place.

Hope this helps!

 

It's a pleasure Amy any time
John

 

Hello Monnbeam,
1 My first time in gardening was when I was 10 with my dad cutting lawn with very small shears big lawn small shears and it was a further few years until I got into it more
2 About 50-60 hrs in spring and summer a bit less in winter about 15-20 I would say
3 A lot longer now as you grow up and learn more about gardening the more you want to do
4 I do lots of things, more in the spring, putting out all the plants that I have raised by seedlings, weeding the back and front, then I might decide to move, or change something,then I will take the seeds from last years sweet peas and seeds of passion flowers,then I start whistling ? if I feel like, thats the beauty of it, do what makes you happy, you dont need all the books to tell you, experiment with your garden you will get great results
5 I feel great, I feel tired, I feel relaxed, wonderful feeling being out there doing what you think is good for your garden, and yourself,
6 Yes in the summer, when everthing is out, and in lovely colour, you see that when all the work involved pays when you see it in all its glory
7 I dont really care, Im not being funny saying that, I think some people just dont want to do gardening, and I think some people have no idea about the subject, it might not be there fault, perhaps they never had a garden, perhaps they would rather do something else with there time
8 My attitude towards gardening, is that there is no other hobby in my mind, that can give you so much enjoyment, even when my disabled grandaughter comes round, even she will help me in the garden, obiet in a small way, I am not a fantastic gardener by any means, but I would like anybody to see my garden in full flower, is very rewarding, whatever hard work as gone on, it is joy for me and long may all of us be able to do it.

 

Thank you for your replies they have been really really helpful