Grandad had a greenhouse. He grew Tomatoes, then Crysanthemums. I had a little patch outside where I grew seeds. When we moved to the bungalow that we are now in, we only, well, I only decided that I wanted to buy it because there was a large tree at the bottom of the garden. I love seeds, bulbs, Dahlias, and yes, Tomatoes and Crysanthemums!!
My primary school encouraged us. Once, we were each given a Daffodil bulb to take home , I think they may also have supplied pots and bulb fibre, and when they flowered we took them back to school. Mine was one of the best (thanks, Dad) and I received a lovely certificate. Another year, it was candytuft and nasturtium seeds.
I-Spy books were another inspiration. I learned to identify trees, wild flowers, birds, insects, dog breeds .... My dad and several of his workmates collected Brooke Bond tea cards, swapping their duplicates at the office. Many of those were also about the natural world, and I still have some of the albums.
I've really enjoyed reading all these nostalgic and heartwarming stories! Thank you Dogwooddays for starting the thread. This one, as they say, will run and run!
My grandmother was a really keen gardener and I used to spend each weekend with her in the garden. She would talk non-stop as she worked, explaining all the things she was doing and why. Each week, she would show me a different thing to do and would encourage me to read in her books about the plants and weeds we found. In summer, we would take time off to go and visit gardens so she could get ideas. She seemed to have an endless knowledge of plants and gardening which, at the time, I was in awe of. Her garden was a sight to behold in the summertime. She always had a philosophy that no piece of ground was unworkable and every garden given love and attention would reward you tenfold for your efforts. When I left home I moved around a lot and always felt an obligation to leave the garden in a better condition than I had found it in. I have finally reached my forever home (at 50) and have 1.5 acres of rather wild peat-laden, slightly boggy Perthshire hillside to try and tame. The estate agent said that the size and terrible condition of the "garden" put a lot of people off but myself and my partner are excited by the challenges it will bring!
My mum had a lovely garden when we were wee but i don't think i really appreciated it's beauty and all the work she did. I loved playing in it. Apparantly i always loved bees and spiders too.
There is a national trust place on the southside of Glasgow called greenbank gardens which has the best bee garden. You have to round a corner to get in there and as soon as you do: buzz buzz buzz. So loud. It is heavenly. That garden was my inspiration to begin gardening.
At my last place i tried gardening but can't say it was anything but a chore. That garden was awful. My life was pretty awful too so i eventually sold up and moved to start a new one. The garden here was a bit neglected but truly wonderful underneath it all. What began as a bit of a tidy up quickly became an obsession. Gardening is so good for the mind and soul. I love the way you forget your worries. Id gotten into the habit of being tense and anxious all the time but since i found gardening my mental health is brilliant. I hadn't even realised i had problems until they started going away.
I planted flowers that bees love and on one glorious day a few weeks ago i had a garden that was buzzing like Greenbank. I am hooked!
My love of allotments began nearly eighty years ago in 1938 when as a five year old i first entered the wonderous kingdom of the allotment but it really took off later in the war when with my father i started spending more and more of my time on our plot and was befriended by a German p.o.w who worked on the strawberry field next to the allotment site who showed me with great patience and knowledge nearly everything i needed to know about,not only how to grow things but how to love growing them,he was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful man and, looking back, i found out that he was the real German and Germany and not the thugs that ruled in Germany at the time.
All through my life i have had allotments, where ever i have lived, the one i am now i have had for some thirty years, and although there has been one or two bad moments the good times far out way the bad .
Not only do i garden on my plot i have come to the age when to sit and watch our own small wildlife going about their daily lives is as good as it gets and the phase bird brain applies more to us humans than any bird.
i have had some wonderful moments down on my plot but i think the greatest moment was when my grand daughter brought her son (my great grandson)down to my plot and showed him where she herself had spent so many happy hours with me.
14 years ago I lost my beautiful niece to cancer. We were really close, and she always said that after she died she would love to come back as a butterfly. On the day of her passing at home a butterfly flew through her bedroom window. And on the day of her funeral a butterfly flew into the church. My family and I were devastated by her loss. Gardening helped me cope immensely, and so I aim to have a beautiful garden, and grow some beautiful flowers, so that every butterfly that comes into visit it will be my beautiful niece. Nature can be difficult and hard, but so rewarding, emotional and inspirational to those that care.
I was born in the basement flat of a large Victorian house (with a cellar for the coalman!) and because we were the only ones with access we enjoyed a very large garden. Mum was the gardener of the family and kept the borders neat and colourful. Then one day she tackled the end of the garden which was full of blackberry bushes, overgrown weeds and all sorts. “That” she said “is yours”. My love of gardening began. My way of gardening was to try everything – higgledy piggledy mess, but it was my higgledy, piggledy mess! My parents moved to the Isle of Wight and my mum then commenced on that garden. My mum is no longer with me, she lived for 93 years and had various jobs for me to do each time I visited. I now have a portion of my garden with every flower that mum loved (mainly azaleas, camellias etc… had to be ericaceous plants didn’t it – I had to build a brick built planting area!!) but with it’s little stone saying “mum’s garden”, the various stone frogs I bought her and the fairy solar lamps (yes I know, but they are pretty) whenever it is in bloom I like to think she is sitting there watching me.
Hi Guernsey Donkey 2 - thanks for sharing. I think it's so important for kids to have a little bit of land of their own, even if it's just a container. That experience of nurturing your own plants is never forgotten. Imagine having a tree to look after as a child - what a wonderful thing! Sounds like a lovely place to be as a child
Hi LindaTaylor2 - I so know the feeling! My house was chosen entirely for its garden too! I think the garden, for me, establishes the tone of a house, a home and roots me in the community and landscape in a really important way
Posts
Grandad had a greenhouse. He grew Tomatoes, then Crysanthemums. I had a little patch outside where I grew seeds. When we moved to the bungalow that we are now in, we only, well, I only decided that I wanted to buy it because there was a large tree at the bottom of the garden. I love seeds, bulbs, Dahlias, and yes, Tomatoes and Crysanthemums!!
My primary school encouraged us. Once, we were each given a Daffodil bulb to take home , I think they may also have supplied pots and bulb fibre, and when they flowered we took them back to school. Mine was one of the best (thanks, Dad) and I received a lovely certificate. Another year, it was candytuft and nasturtium seeds.
I-Spy books were another inspiration. I learned to identify trees, wild flowers, birds, insects, dog breeds .... My dad and several of his workmates collected Brooke Bond tea cards, swapping their duplicates at the office. Many of those were also about the natural world, and I still have some of the albums.
I've really enjoyed reading all these nostalgic and heartwarming stories! Thank you Dogwooddays for starting the thread. This one, as they say, will run and run!
Last edited: 01 October 2017 05:13:23
My grandmother was a really keen gardener and I used to spend each weekend with her in the garden. She would talk non-stop as she worked, explaining all the things she was doing and why. Each week, she would show me a different thing to do and would encourage me to read in her books about the plants and weeds we found. In summer, we would take time off to go and visit gardens so she could get ideas. She seemed to have an endless knowledge of plants and gardening which, at the time, I was in awe of. Her garden was a sight to behold in the summertime. She always had a philosophy that no piece of ground was unworkable and every garden given love and attention would reward you tenfold for your efforts. When I left home I moved around a lot and always felt an obligation to leave the garden in a better condition than I had found it in. I have finally reached my forever home (at 50) and have 1.5 acres of rather wild peat-laden, slightly boggy Perthshire hillside to try and tame. The estate agent said that the size and terrible condition of the "garden" put a lot of people off but myself and my partner are excited by the challenges it will bring!
My mum had a lovely garden when we were wee but i don't think i really appreciated it's beauty and all the work she did. I loved playing in it. Apparantly i always loved bees and spiders too.
There is a national trust place on the southside of Glasgow called greenbank gardens which has the best bee garden. You have to round a corner to get in there and as soon as you do: buzz buzz buzz. So loud. It is heavenly. That garden was my inspiration to begin gardening.
At my last place i tried gardening but can't say it was anything but a chore. That garden was awful. My life was pretty awful too so i eventually sold up and moved to start a new one. The garden here was a bit neglected but truly wonderful underneath it all. What began as a bit of a tidy up quickly became an obsession. Gardening is so good for the mind and soul. I love the way you forget your worries. Id gotten into the habit of being tense and anxious all the time but since i found gardening my mental health is brilliant. I hadn't even realised i had problems until they started going away.
I planted flowers that bees love and on one glorious day a few weeks ago i had a garden that was buzzing like Greenbank. I am hooked!
Oooft - so glad to hear you've found your Innisfree
There is no doubt that gardening heals the gardener
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
My love of allotments began nearly eighty years ago in 1938 when as a five year old i first entered the wonderous kingdom of the allotment but it really took off later in the war when with my father i started spending more and more of my time on our plot and was befriended by a German p.o.w who worked on the strawberry field next to the allotment site who showed me with great patience and knowledge nearly everything i needed to know about,not only how to grow things but how to love growing them,he was a wonderful teacher and a wonderful man and, looking back, i found out that he was the real German and Germany and not the thugs that ruled in Germany at the time.
All through my life i have had allotments, where ever i have lived, the one i am now i have had for some thirty years, and although there has been one or two bad moments the good times far out way the bad .
Not only do i garden on my plot i have come to the age when to sit and watch our own small wildlife going about their daily lives is as good as it gets and the phase bird brain applies more to us humans than any bird.
i have had some wonderful moments down on my plot but i think the greatest moment was when my grand daughter brought her son (my great grandson)down to my plot and showed him where she herself had spent so many happy hours with me.
At that moment life could not have got better
14 years ago I lost my beautiful niece to cancer. We were really close, and she always said that after she died she would love to come back as a butterfly. On the day of her passing at home a butterfly flew through her bedroom window. And on the day of her funeral a butterfly flew into the church. My family and I were devastated by her loss. Gardening helped me cope immensely, and so I aim to have a beautiful garden, and grow some beautiful flowers, so that every butterfly that comes into visit it will be my beautiful niece. Nature can be difficult and hard, but so rewarding, emotional and inspirational to those that care.
I was born in the basement flat of a large Victorian house (with a cellar for the coalman!) and because we were the only ones with access we enjoyed a very large garden. Mum was the gardener of the family and kept the borders neat and colourful. Then one day she tackled the end of the garden which was full of blackberry bushes, overgrown weeds and all sorts. “That” she said “is yours”. My love of gardening began. My way of gardening was to try everything – higgledy piggledy mess, but it was my higgledy, piggledy mess! My parents moved to the Isle of Wight and my mum then commenced on that garden. My mum is no longer with me, she lived for 93 years and had various jobs for me to do each time I visited. I now have a portion of my garden with every flower that mum loved (mainly azaleas, camellias etc… had to be ericaceous plants didn’t it – I had to build a brick built planting area!!) but with it’s little stone saying “mum’s garden”, the various stone frogs I bought her and the fairy solar lamps (yes I know, but they are pretty) whenever it is in bloom I like to think she is sitting there watching me.
Hi Guernsey Donkey 2 - thanks for sharing. I think it's so important for kids to have a little bit of land of their own, even if it's just a container. That experience of nurturing your own plants is never forgotten. Imagine having a tree to look after as a child - what a wonderful thing! Sounds like a lovely place to be as a child
Hi LindaTaylor2 - I so know the feeling! My house was chosen entirely for its garden too! I think the garden, for me, establishes the tone of a house, a home and roots me in the community and landscape in a really important way