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How did you get into gardening?
...I would have a shared experience with some of the above that you write about...but little nostalgia for the olden days.... being just a little younger than you... I recall those times as being pretty horrid to tell the truth... long gone...best gone...
...I think most people get into gardening when they buy a house for the first time... as we did in the early 1980's.... prior to that had zero interest in it...in fact I would have found the subject completely boring with a capital B... but strangely once you get the bug....it's like a virus that takes hold and from then on you never shake it off....do you...?
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I started a thread on this subject some time ago. Here are all the answers then http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/the-potting-shed/why-did-you-all-start-gardening/69612.html There are some interesting tales there, but there are people who have arrived since then so it would be nice to here their stories.
Lovely post!
Afraid my experience far less poetic.. my new neighbours took out all their trees from the garden a few years ago leaving us with zero privacy and I had to learn about gardening quick smart! Had no interest before this but was bitten by the bug as a result and never looked back - made lots of mistakes along the way but given me so much pleasure to see my garden emerge from scratch!
We had bees in the garden. Our garden was just a lot of scruffy grass and no flowers. I thought gardening was mowing the grass, sometimes. Then I realised that perhaps it would be kind to grow something for the bees. The grass is even scruffier but at least there are lots of flower beds now and even a few veg. I love being outside & having bees around me.
Before I met Mrs Fish I saw gardening as something boring,middle aged people did. Apart from ponds though,we had a pond from an early age and being interested in animals/wildlife I was forever there with a net and jam jar.
But plants just sat there and did nothing,or so I thought but they couldn't compete with football,wildlife,fishing,fish keeping,rock bands and getting drunk with my mates.
Along came Mrs Fish. We moved in here and the back garden was a mass of old dead grass and brambles. My Dad,being a keen gardener all his life,offered to help me create a lawn. We dug it all over,sowed the grass seed and created the lawn.
Since then,with Mrs Fish becoming gradually less and less mobile and me being her carer,I've come to love gardening probably because its one thing I can do without having to leave her. One condition she has is epilepsy which requires me being on hand,so in the garden I'm within earshot. The fishing and boozing has had to bite the dust though,the latter probably for the best in respect of my own problems with anxiety/depression.
But now I've come to appreciate the beauty and wonder of plants and regret not starting sooner. I've discovered how integral they are to nature's grand plan. Without them,neither us nor the wildlife I so love would exist. But above all I find gardening relaxing,rewarding and the fact it has brought me into contact with all you wonderful people
Wow,I've rambled on a bit there haven't I
When I had my first home and a garden .
We had a huge garden as a child and my dad did wonders with it for a season or two, but he, as always moved onto a different hobby after that, shame really he excelled at whatever he did but never stayed with it - all or nothing kind of guy. Anyway, over that short period I was given a patch and sowed some lovely mixed annual seeds, I was about 9 or 10, I will never forget the thrill of them emerging and also the delight in seeing them flower; godetia, cornflower, love in a mist, marigolds and poppies. I remember too the lovely tomatoes, green beans, potatoes and onions we picked for those two summers - and the colorado beetle scare!
He built a fish pond and a rockery, gorgeous, we had the biggest and best fish in the neighbourhood (another brief interest, fish out lived his interest) and it something I have wanted to replicate ever since. When I married (1984) we had a postage stamp of a garden but I did my best with annuals again. 2nd house bigger garden more ambitious, but mostly containers as we worked away and had to rely on self watering system.
3rd house, mostly lawn but lots of containers and hanging baskets (deadheading and watering a daily chore, put me off petunias forever).
Last house mature garden with lots of rhododendrons and mature shrubs so built raised beds for first attempt at veggies - with some success!
Then arrived in France to a beautiful much cultivated and extremely well stocked garden and panicked, especially as we had to live in UK for the first three months of ownership (Feb/March/April), Still fighting with it, but absolutely addicted, thank goodness haven't got a 'proper job'.
Everyday I surprise myself with my background knowledge and stun myself with my ignorance - I have a dream and next year .....
Thank goodness for this forum though on so many levels!
Smokin Donkey - with the greatest respect,I believe forum users are free to give out as much or as little information as they see fit. I could give you all the details but they might not be suitable for a public forum such as this.
And yes I've climbed Snowdon via the less trodden paths (the Pyg Track) and I wasn't following any sheep as far as I know. Take care
I got a house with a fairly big garden (well big enough for a GH and veg patch anyway ) almost 5 years ago, spent the next 4 years renovating the house and this year started to focus properly on the garden. It's my first year with my new GH and doing 'proper' gardening as I would call it, i.e. nurturing plants and growing from seed, flowers and veg - I've made mistakes but I'll learn from them and next year will be better and so will every year after that