How did you get into gardening?

I was just looking at bananaman's latest photos, and thinking how great it all looked
And then I started wondering how he got interested in those kinds of plants, and whether he'd grown them ever since he started gardening. I was going to ask, then I thought it'd be interesting to ask everyone!
So - what got you interested in gardening at first? Tell us how old you were when the bug bit (if you want to!)? What did you grow at first, and how has it progressed? And anything else about your gardening history that's interesting...

 

Hi claire.It started for me last year when a mate at work showed me his banana plant i thought like every body else did NANAS IN UK now way.Since then im hooked on nanas lol.Iv always just been the sort of guy who just tidys the garden and cuts the grass thats itBut now im growing vedge and alsorts i love it...daz

 

I started when I was about 17. Got a job as a landscaper with the local council. Soon had my own allottment. About 36 years ago!!!

 

My Dad helped me to sow radishes and lettuces when I was six or seven. He also gave me a hammer, a tenon saw, a chisel, a screwdriver and some nail pincers at about the same time. Fifty-odd years on, I still use them - they weren't toys. And whatever he was doing, he encouraged me to watch and learn.

So I now have the chrome initials that were screwed to his toolbox in a prominent place in my workshop - to remind me to be properly grateful....

 

Hi I started 22 yrs ago when I moved into this house, my garden is 45ft by 80ft, then I used to buy anything but I did buy a palm tree about 10 yrs ago and a cordyline. Over the past 5-6 yrs I changed to everything tropical and its like a jungle now! thats cos I holiday abroad every year and love to still have that holiday feeling back home. People that know me can't beleive that the plants survive over winter but they do.

 

I moved house 20 months ago, I couldnt get rid of the kids so I moved and didnt tell them so now I have a garden that I dont have to share with 3 grown up kids and their various cars/bikes/speaker boxes etc.

My Dad was an avid gardener and I loved our garden as a child and was always interested in what he was doing/growing but since I got married I've not really had a garden that was practical to "garden" in. Now... even though my new garden is not very big we're growing all sorts of veg in a tiny little plot plus I have a greenhouse, a couple of shrub borders and umpteen hanging baskets and I'm completely hooked on gardening.

Theres nothing I love more than to come home from work and sit in my blossoming garden and in the summer light the barbie and pick salad that I have grown myself. bliss!

 

Yes! Nice topic Claire!

My dad has always been a gardener but I really haven't had the incentive til this year. 18 months ago I moved from a flat where I had a balcony and a couple of pots with salad veg.

Now I have a real garden space and the work/home balance has begun to shift in my favour.

The mature shrubs were going to take over if I didn't make a stand but it still took 12 months to get going!

Perhaps I'm growing up!? Fighting it with motorbikes and sporty cars, but slowly Radio 2 and my garden are winning!! :eek:

 

We had a long thread going on this last year ... can anyone remember where ??? ... just so the rest of us don't repeat ourselves !!! :D :D

 

it was my sister kathy 3 that got me going at it 4 years ago my old man was not amused he says thy all look the same when the snow is on them but i love my garden

 

So, we have more sisters here ???? Kathy3 is your sister, high kype? We have me and my Sis, Kedi-Gato and now my cousin(s), davris. We have our originals MMD, jjordie and eleagnus.

Do we have any brothers here ????

 

yes lady of leisure its good when you need some help you just coll on your sister

 

My late Grandad was my inspiration, always telling me that the garden was the extra room in the house that everyone needs but seldom uses.

Thats all changed now, and my blog is in his memory.

Hope he's happy with the progress !

 

Thanks, some great stories already [ ]
Sorry to repeat a thread though - I will have a look for the other one too, I really enjoyed reading how you all started out!

 

:D I started it and indirectly this one :D

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001831#000009

For me it was going to the allotment with my dad, growing marigolds and nasturtiums. We also had a small greenhouse with cucumbers tomatoes etc. Also a veg bed at home, runner beans, french beans and other veg. I bought my first plant at the local agricultural farm day, it was a red geranium and as I remember smelled lovely. In fact I still love the smell of the leaves.

I fell in love with trees going on forest walks with my great uncle who only recently died. Epping forest and all round there, stopping at occasional shops for orange ice lollies. I currently have just under 30 trees in various forms in my 50x30 plot !

I've had various obsessions with house plants (still have, currently cacti). At college I had so many house plants in my room I thought I might not have enough air as I slept :rolleyes: Come to think of it, that was a jungle. Also at the house I lived in at Uni I had a small flower bed with fuschias taken from cuttings of next doors. I ended up having a fuschia addiction...are we spotting a trend here ? obsessive nah ! and then finally buying my own house and having a blank canvass garden. In terms of 'going tropical' It has always been my desire to create a womb like garden, not just to be in the garden, but in-side the garden. Tropical or traditional gardening for me is creating and expressing yourself onto a space which makes you happy. Foliage wombs just happen to make me happy

As for 'turning full on tropical', Zantedeschia inspired me to go tropical.... currently available in whopper sizes I noticed from B&Q for �£12.50, bargain.

My plant was inherited by my nan from a recently deceased reverend (year 2000)and she gave it to me when she could no longer look after it.

After that I became hooked on cannas and all things lush and leafy. Then I just went bananas, literally ! At first I wasn't that fussed on cordys and palms, having only eyes for bananas. However, I can't get enough of them now, having many more palms than bananas, and I am achieving a balance of leaf, texture and colour to a point where I am nearly satisfied with what I have done these last nine years.

Hopefully, if I haven't broken my back tomorrow, shifting 8 tonnnes of 20mm shingle from the road to the back garden, I will post up some new pictures of the finished hideout 2007. thats me