What got you into gardening?

Thought it might be nice if we all shared what got us interested in the first place

I used to dislike the idea of gardening, it never really appealed to me but then we got the internet and one day i started googling plants and my eyes opened :D

I spent a lot (and wasted a lot) of money by getting what i fancied rather than what would be happy in our garden.

Then i decided to get large bushes established at the back of the borders so i could play around with the front part of them, slowly but surely the garden started to take shape and i am so glad, what once started out as a chore has now become a great joy

 

Hey Paula,

For us we used to rent a house and a week after the landlord cemented it over for maintance reasons.

When we bought our house a couple of years ago, we really wanted a garden just to sit out in that was green and not concreted.

Since we've moved in it started as a chore, there wasn't much in the way of established plants apart from a couple of trees. Started digging first bed after removing all the gravel on top, and found we had heavy clay, not now though in that first bed as its been turned over, clay binned, and soil improver full of bits in.

I then blindly bought some marigolds that died at the end of the first summer (last year), since i didn't even realise what an annual plant what :(

Now though, this first bed has perrenial plants in

I've also got a herb garden grown from seed thats going well so far :D

 

I had numerous jobs before getting a vacancy at a sports field attached to the School I used to go to.
The School had gardens and lawns that we attended and of course the playing field whereby I would mark out a four hundred meter running track in summer and football/rugby pitches at other times.
It also had a cricket pitch (table).
I was there for nine years and moved onto grounds maintenece around the borough, which consisted of looking after shrub beds.
For about twenty years in all I was doing this, and treated it as just a job.
At the time I didn't know a danelion from a daisy.
Then I got to watching Groundforce and Alan Titchmarsh became a bit of a hero to me. (His was Percy Thrower I believe).
I was watching the TV one day and an ad came on for the Open University suggesting courses to take on many subjects.
I called the number and asked about horticultural courses.
I took a three year course with the RHS and from then on took notice of the job I was doing, and would find out the names, common and botanical, of the plants that I delt with on a daily basis.
Have been doing it ever since.
I watch every garden program and read this forum (amongst others) and the odd book to gain knowledge on the subject whenever I can.
With this said, I now drive a minibus, as the money is better and alot less physical!

 

Fonzie,

Thanks for sharing that will be picking your brains quite a lot me thinks :D

p.s. Can i have a lift :D

 

I first got the bug when my gran bought me some Montbretia ( now Crocosmia )corms when I was about 5 years old. Have gained a few qualifications and a lot of experience since then and now garden for a living. David.

 

Useful to know David, hope you see my olive standard thread in tree's :D

 

i started cutting the grass so the hub didnt have to when he came home from work, then i went on to neaten the edges, one day someone gave me a tray of pansies and i planted the whole tray in one lump ! they were beautifull and i was chuffed to bits, next i bought some perrenials and planted most of them upside down now i cant get enough of my garden, i love it, and every year i like to try at least one new plant, crikey im going on a bit,

 

YDD,

Glad i'm not the only one who plants things upside down, i did the same with Astilbe's :D

However, i'm still getting it wrong, thought i had a blackcurrant and it was a form of deadly nightshade :eek: hubby nearly ate one of the berries t'day

 

Just a word of advice, when planting it is green side up brown side down. David.

 

good tip david, thanks. and paula who stopped him ?

 

Palustris came to the rescue and there i was all set to give him that smoothie an all :( :D

 

Aha, it was all rather strange you know David, there appeared to be white fangs sprouting out of em, didn't know whether to plant it or beat it wih a spade :D

 

You don`t want them Paula, bury them. David.

 

hahahaha AG u make me laugh :D

 

I did better than that David, I uprooted them, and left them to die in the baking sun, i don't take prisoners me

YDD,

Glad to oblige