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When did it start?

GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
in Plants
Monty Don spoke yesterday of the moment you realise you are interested in gardening. 

Aged seven I was given a packet of mixed flower seed to plant under my garden swing. On the back of the packet there was a competition to try and identify as many of the flowers as possible. That was it I was hooked, I watered them and weeded them. Seem to recall most of them were Candytuft and Nigella. From there on I helped with the rest of the garden and never looked back. 
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    Mine began when I was probably about 7.  My parents owned a small village shop and we had an acre of ground including a Dell and stream- perfect to poke around in and hide from parents ;)
    Also neighbouring farmers - arable and dairy - who accepted my "help" with good grace. It was a first step towards my long term interest in gardening/nature.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    We had roses growing in the garden when I was little  - dark red roses - with which I was fascinated. I loved the little garden and remember  many of the plants we grew, the saxigraga, montana, perennial conflowers, plum tree, wide ivy. The garden as a metaphor and a type of heaven is one of my earliest remembered experiences. Sun, blooms, the smells of grass and water on paving, bonfires, plum blossom.

    My aunt, in France, had a veg patch and I remember her plot of curly parsley and potatoes. She would harvest them and we that family would have them for dinner, sitting around the long wooden table. Above all, I remember the scents.

    When I moved into my first own house, I couldn't wait to get going on my own garden. First there were bulbs. I've tried out lots of plants from my childhood garden. I don't have many now; but I do have roses. 
  • UffUff Posts: 3,199
    I was about the same age and wanting to earn pocket money from my dad so he suggested that I do some weeding in the veg patch which was in the allotment at the bottom of our garden, four plots joined into one including two huge glass houses joined in the middle to create a space for the big boiler that heated them both with massive pipes running round the inside walls. 

    I started with weeding, progressed to stoking the boiler during the winter and spring mornings and then side shooting the tomatoes. He paid me 6d (yes pennies not pence) per square yard for weeding and 2/6d per week for stoking the boiler. I used to get quite excited when he made a show of going down the garden and measuring my efforts and then totting up how much he owed me. 

    It taught me a lot about gardening and a lot about work ethics and finances which stayed with me throughout my life. He knew exactly what he was doing. 
    SW SCOTLAND but born in Derbyshire
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I am a late comer. Played a lot of competitive sports in my younger days, so didn't get into gardening until my early 30's.
    When we bought our current house, there was no real garden, just grass, brambles and a few straggly Geraniums. Then gardening took over my life.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • Alan Clark2 in LiverpoolAlan Clark2 in Liverpool Posts: 2,190
    Mine was when I saw some Lithops as a child. They were hard to believe.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    edited August 2022
    @philippasmith2 As a child my husband who is retired, played for hours in the local meadows. No concerns from his parents as long as he was back for tea.

    @Fire Something I have mentioned before rose petal purfume made from Ena Hakness petals.

    @Uff I went from the bottom of the class in cookery to the top, as my father promised me a ten bob  if I did. Sadly I still hate cooking would much rather grow things. Happy days.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Perhaps there are some forum members who have just discovered gardening and think they are hooked? If so I applaud you, it's a very difficult hobby to have right now but once hooked it will never leave you!
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    GardenerSuze said:

    @Fire Something I have mentioned before rose petal purfume made from Ena Hakness petals.


    So many urggg attempts to make perfume from rose petals from the age of six. The Flower Fairy series, dwarves and elves also drew me on into the garden and the woods. This is me, aged six.



  • Simone_in_WiltshireSimone_in_Wiltshire Posts: 1,073
    Mine when I had to take out the weeds in our garden. We didn’t have a lawnmower but a scythe which was to big for me. We have a black and white picture in our family album where I was raking the lawn in my grandma’s garden when I was 6 in 1970.  
    My dad showed and taught me everything especially how to work as hard as possible. Gave me a big advantage in life. Never avoided any work. 

    I ♥ my garden.

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    @Fire Oh the flower fairies I had forgotten, spent hours looking at the photos in a book. My daughter had I think it was the violet fairy on her wall when she was little.

    @Simone_in_Wiltshire Gardening is such a wonderful education, a child at the local school showed me a cucumber and exclaimed 'it's a courgette!' Lots to learn.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
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