I have always loved plants but did not have a garden when I lived in Kenya, only a roof terrace where our neighbours used to grow roses in very large wooden boxes. After I got married and had my own garden, I have always loved pottering in it and have always found it a place to escape to. In the garden, I could relax and recharge. Then I moved away from the house and garden when my marriage broke up (as these things happen sometimes !!) and I lived in an apartment for 4 years. The thing I missed the most and it was almost a physical pain, was not having a garden. Since then, again, life has moved on, and now I have a decent sized garden that I love every corner of. My husband is interested in gardening too but leaves all the planting and growing to me and does all the digging and the heavy work for me. We also look after my Mums garden which basically gives a bit more space for growing more plants.
My main thing was growing fruit as it sounded like something I could do. Then I went shopping for some boarder plants and saw a fushia that looked EXACTLY like one my grandad used to grow in his greenhouse and I thought it would be a little bit like having him in my new house... and its grown from there. My lupins and fushias really remind me of him when I see them :-) and my other grandad was obsessed with growing fruit and veg so its like they are kinda helping me. I just wish they had seen me grow up and get an interest in it - it would have made them really happy!
I've never had anyone to inspire me into gardening. Gardening has evolved from necessity to pleasure and finally to addiction. :D Saying that, I've always enjoyed watching Gardeners World and have done for more years than I care to remember. Ant.
I have to admit that I think the best inspiration to do anything with your own little plot comes from having children not only do you as a person evolve but also your garden has to as well. We have 2 boys the elder one use to love tending to his little flower patch and he even had a colour scheme of yellow and white we also brought him a tiny pond and he loved nothing better to see what creatures were visiting him day by day. Sadly his younger brother was a horror (terrible 2's and all) and would want to throw things in the little pond so that had to go! Even though we have only two boys (4 years apart) we have always managed to grow stuff round them ok there have always been a few plants that has had abuse from a foot or golf ball but like most things they grow back. As I have already said the garden evolves along with the kids what was once a massive sandpit (20ft x 5ft I think) for the boys to play with became a nice sized alpine bed for mum later on.Hel.xxx.
My general introduction to gardening was though my Dad and Grandparents on my dads side. I have very early memories of having my own plot at about aged 3. I loved the flowers back then and used to pick off al my dads runner bean flowers up to a certain height (being only small at the time). I continued to have my own part of the garden through various house moves until i ended up looking after the whole lot by the time i was about 14 with my Dad being the labourer University then stepped in and it wasnt until i was 25 that I had my own garden again, a tiny plot on the back of a newish house. I started with the usual eclectic mix of plants, but started to get into bamboo, palms, cordylines etc. About 4 years ago i came accross a book called "Courtyard and Terrace Gardens“ by Joan Clifton in the January sale at Ottakers for £1 In it was a garden described as a contemplatory retreat which had a tropical jungle look and I was hooked. This was the look I wanted to create in my small plot. As it was January there was not a lot I could do so I ended up buying a selection of palm seeds on Ebay and thought I would have a go whilst waiting for the weather to warm up. Whilst trying to work out quite how I would make the space work, I soon realised I wanted a much bigger plot to create my Jungle. So by mid January the house was up for sale (bending the truth a little here as my partner was moving in so we needed more space and to be near the railway station) and we were house hunting. The Estate Agent was informed we wanted a large south facing garden as one of the priorities. In the end we got the house and Garden size we wanted, not a giant but reasonably big for a suburban back garden (125’ long getting wider at the bottom end) but unfortunately north-west facing. Not ideal, although long enough not to matter but a nice house and plenty of space to play with. We moved in during April 2005 and got started, mainly clearing the over grown plants that were already there, the previous owners hadn’t really done a lot. Although the owners prior to them had landscaped the garden, so I had some nice features to start off with, including a huge old phormium that looks much better for clearing the brambles and conifers it was sharing its space with. A lot of the hard landscaping was done to a high standard - patio walls, pergola etc. We have added a lot, and brought in the exotic plants we are keen on. Like many people the garden is packed and we wish we had more space
Hi O2, Some pictures ar ein this Gallery http://www.pbase.com/edgegallery/gazmark I need to upload some for this year A lot has changed even since last year. There is currently a pond under construction. The middle part of the garden which was a 5' hole from a former koi pond is now filled and partly planted, it will have a patio built there too eventually, but not until the pond at the bottom of the garden is finished first. Everything has a particular order, as any rubble left rom building the new pond will be used as hardcore. Next the grass pathways will be changed to gravel as the grass has died in the middle and they are just muddy messes. The soil will be used to fill the planted being built behind the pond, then any gravel remaining will be used to help fill in the around the hardcore for the patio. I like to try and recycle everything we can within in the garden, even if only as hardcore
Thanks Rouxbee, i still have a lot i want to do with it. The patio looks much better this year as we have the space elsewhere better organised, so we have mainly got the arids on the patio, although also quite a few bamboos for screening arround the edge (slightly odd combination I know)
I must be honest Gaz when I got to the photo of 'how it used to be', I liked that anyway. But what an improvement you have made. And to get the plants in you really wanted is great. Lovely garden. You'll definately have to post some pics. cheers
