Why did you all start gardening? - Page 2

These are fscinating stories. What an idea for a book. I just love the way gardening has rescued people in so many ways. It rescued me.

It is the joy, I think, that comes across in reminiscence of gardening adventures past.

Bjay

Must just add that I too watched GW, in the Geoff Hamilton days, and he was a brill mentor  with his relaxed style and DIY attitude I felt anything I imagined was possible.I also have a vast collection of books Vita Sackville West is my fave.  Nothing beats wandering outside and getting my hands full of fresh soil,  I look at the shoots, bulbs, plants, flowers etc and thank God, the universe, whoever that it's all here  doing well for me to enjoy. I feel privileged to be the custodian for my time here.   

I have just ordered DVD set of Geoff Hamilton progs - £9.50 from Amazon. Should come this week

Felt I needed his realistic approach

Agree with your philosophy there Bud. 

I was travel sick. Beat that for a reason!

http://palustris.blogspot.co.uk/2007/05/chapter3.html

tells the whole story. University intervened eventually and began again when we bought our first house. Have not been able to grow Sweet peas since though!

I was born in africa, so when i was young we always planted veg like peppers, corn, tomatoes and we had a lot of fruit trees like guava, mangoes,pears, pawpaw, bananna and plantain. when i first moved to the uk i only lived in flats till i got my own house and garden in 2006. it was just rubbish, brambles and a diseased apple and pear tree. over the years the garden has been transformed into my place of solace and oasis from the hussle and bussle of city life. my kids and OH always say i talk to my plants and give the plants more love than them. lol. I have tried to get them interested with no luck, so i have let them be. I am a plantaholic and always keep buying plants on the hoof so there is always winging of the garden being full of plants with no where to play.lol. i have definately caught the bug and get withdrawal syndrome around this time of year. The first thing i do every morning, is draw the curtains and gaze at my bare paradise with yearning and anticipation for the coming season. roll on spring, just cant wait to get out there and be one with nature again. I am sure my neighbours think i am bonkers or a pervert when i am standing still watching a garden which is virtually bare soil now, but in my mind i know how the garden looks in its full glory.Even as i watch the bare soil, i smile to myself knowing the beauty of what is hidden in the soil and what to expect in the coming season. lol, maybe i am just mad like my neighbours think. lol

Thoughly enjoyed reading that Berghill. Would that sort of thing be able to happen now. I doubt it. Reading it makes we realise what we as a people have lost

Thank you so much for writing it.

lol Berghill great memories

Got DVDs on my wishlist now Tink book idea is great too

Franco, my neighbours would probably favour you as I'm out in garden every morning in p.j.s and old coat whatever the weather. I often pull up a few weeds before showering.  If it's dry I eat cereal outside and gaze.

oh yes not slippers but wellies or crocs on feet too! Anyone else got favoured dress sense for gardening?

Me An ancient bright yellow fleece and 'backdoor shoes' Bit like crocks wthout the holes. Usually with a lilac seaside bucket, small enough to pop in odd weed/ dead flower etc. 

Lovely story Berghill

I think I was influenced by watching my mother doing her garden and her love of plants,I started my first garden in 1971  and it just grew from there.I just love being able to be outside creating my own bit of land ,failings and all,and I have to thank all those who inspired me and gave advice and all those that still do.

What a wonderful story Berghill and written so beautifully. It sounds a bit severe for travel sickness though, sure it wasn't gastro-enteritis? Anyway, what a result, very enterprising.

Franco, whenever I look at a bare bed in winter I don't see it like that - I see it how it will be when all the flowers are coming out.

I have read all your lovely stories and wish I had a good one to tell but, like Nutcutlet, it just sneaked up on me once we bought our own house and since then I haven't stopped.  The main thing that drives me on is to see how much wildlife I can provide for and encourage.  I don't try too hard to "tame nature" - just try to grow whatever is happiest there and "go with the flow". 

Definitely travel sickness. I still get it exactly the same now when I am not the driver.

Fascinating how many folks were led into gardening by their parent/s. My Father did not like gardening at all and my Mother was always far too busy to do it.

I will confess, that I actually do not like 'gardening' I like messing with plants, propagating, potting up, growing on and even once upon a time showing them. But the nitty-gritty of weeding, pruning,  grass cutting and so on, leaves me cold. I do it becuase I like the place to look nice for my wife, but if I could afford a gardener.....................

I share your thoughts on gardening Berghill, it's growing plants that I enjoy. Don't mind a bit of pruning. Hate the clearing up afterwards though. 

I got my 1st garden when i moved in with my boyfriend we have now been married 25 years. As my health as got worse and was unable to work i looked to the garden. I cant put into words how much enjoyment i get from it. On a morbid note all my cats are buried in the gaden and i always have a chat when im out there.Last year i got a greenhouse and on sunny days during the winter i take a chair and a cup of tea and sit in the sun. I get to this time of year and im itching to get out there again. Vring on the spring i say.

Back in 1967, I was only a Bearn! at the time we lived in a typical  Bradfordeon council house! Parents had split!

3 young lad's, Mouths to feed, Money short! n a single Mum!

Back then council house gardens were huge! n probably still are! n remember my old dear setting up a veg patch!  n it served us for years! 

We Grew to eat! or she did!  n i'll alway's remember the advise given! 

Time moved on! n n she got a garden where it needn't serve a purpose, but display! n what an absolute dream she made of it! 

Then she fell ill in 2008! I really tried! n didn't do a bad job to be fair!  n proper got bit by the bug!  now an allotmenteer! n love it!!!!  Happy New year all!!! 

Ok-

I think I was still at school and weekends were precious-one Saturday morning-I was told I had to dig a trench for runner beans-might have been around 14 or so-so rather reluctantly did what I was told-then I was told to put the bean sticks up

A few weeks later I was amazed than one seed produced all that growth and a bean to eat- and some seed

That was it -this was magic-had my own little patch-nurtured a potato by feeding it near bio-baby ever day as I thought it would make it grow better-twit

Married-then we got our first place-small flat -it had a tiny patch-used to sit in the bath and watch Percy Thrower on a Friday evening on GW-so nurtured my tiny patch-doing stupid things like feeding tomato plants in the rain-because it said you must feed them once a week

Then ended up here have an even bigger garden,greenhouse etc- and still grow runner beans

So I blame my Mother -gawd bless her-for this obsession

My mum was a very keen gardener and my childhood memories were of our backgarden filled with dahlias, roses, and lots of bedding plants in the summer.  My dad always loved the lawn to look prestine and we had a beautiful large pond filled with koi carp.  Our front garden was very long it it was planted with white alison, red salvias and blue lobelia.  I also remember we had burning bushes which I think were also annuals.   I did not really get into gardening until I had my own garden when I got married in 1986 and it was just a very small patch.  Sadly my mum passed away when she was in her early 40's but so many plants remind me of her.  We had moved to a new family home and she had planted a flowering cherry tree but sadly she never lived long enough to see it flower.  Therefore I always plant a flowering cherry in my gardens as a memory to my mum and obviously its a very dear tree to me.  I love every aspect of gardening.  I too remember my mum watching GW Percy Thrower but I have to admit in those days I found it all so boring.  It is not until you get your own little bit of garden and you want to turn it into something beautiful and you realise what all the fuss was about.  It saddens me when I think of all the happy gardening times I could have had with my mum.  My sister and I visited Chelsea Flower Show last year and both said how lovely it would have been to have taken our mum with us.  So looking forward to 2013 and the new gardening year, cannot wait for spring to arrive.