This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Gardening Forums ... what do my garden and I get out of them?
Dovefromabove
Posts: 88,147
Recent discussions have raised this question, and not for the first time ... so I thought I'd try to rationalise why I enjoy visiting this forum and how my garden and I have benefitted over the years, and ask the question ... what do you get out of the forum?
I gardened for many years on heavy clay, and then moved here where we're on very free-draining gritty 'soil' (terminal moraine) so I joined this forum and asked questions about gardening in quite different conditions to those I was used to ... and other members were so generous with their knowledge and experiences. As well as receiving help, I found that I was able to help answer some queries too, and it felt good to be able to give as well as to receive.
It was then, as it is now, a friendly forum on the whole, and as well as answering my queries, kind fellow gardeners sent me seeds and plants for my garden ... @nutcutlet who lives near my OH's family suggested that I might like to visit and pick up a carload of plants, so I did ... the first of many happy visits to her lovely garden ... @fidgetbones sent me a well-grown Rosa glauca to mark my retirement (she'd remembered that I'd previously expressed a wish for one) ... so kind ... and there were others
A few of us met up (rather tentatively at first) to visit some open gardens ... great fun was had and real friendships started (as well as loads of plants being swapped out of our car boots) and experiences and tips exchanged as we looked together at the plants in the various gardens. Before the lockdowns there were several such visits each year ... hopefully the summer of '23 will see some more.
When I mentioned that we regularly visit Cornwall each year, a gardener near our usual overnight stay offered hospitality ... at first just for a meal, but before long we no longer booked a hotel, and stayed overnight as the guests of our 'forum friend' who, over the years, has become a very special friend in the 'real world' too. And needless to say, our garden has benefitted as each year he has filled our car with hostas and grasses until there was hardly room for our luggage.
These are just a few of the many instances of the real friendships that can be kindled by the sharing of an interest/enthusiasm/obsession if you have an open heart and mind.
I was welcomed to the forum with kindness and generosity by established members, and my garden and I have gained so much in so many ways from the 13ish years I've been a member ... the membership here is now much larger than it was when I joined, with both regulars, those that pop in and out, and also folk who just pop in with one question and are never seen again and I hope that I've been able to pass on some of the knowledge and experience that I've gained over the years, and also repay some of the generosity and kindness which has been shown to me.
I gardened for many years on heavy clay, and then moved here where we're on very free-draining gritty 'soil' (terminal moraine) so I joined this forum and asked questions about gardening in quite different conditions to those I was used to ... and other members were so generous with their knowledge and experiences. As well as receiving help, I found that I was able to help answer some queries too, and it felt good to be able to give as well as to receive.
It was then, as it is now, a friendly forum on the whole, and as well as answering my queries, kind fellow gardeners sent me seeds and plants for my garden ... @nutcutlet who lives near my OH's family suggested that I might like to visit and pick up a carload of plants, so I did ... the first of many happy visits to her lovely garden ... @fidgetbones sent me a well-grown Rosa glauca to mark my retirement (she'd remembered that I'd previously expressed a wish for one) ... so kind ... and there were others
A few of us met up (rather tentatively at first) to visit some open gardens ... great fun was had and real friendships started (as well as loads of plants being swapped out of our car boots) and experiences and tips exchanged as we looked together at the plants in the various gardens. Before the lockdowns there were several such visits each year ... hopefully the summer of '23 will see some more.
When I mentioned that we regularly visit Cornwall each year, a gardener near our usual overnight stay offered hospitality ... at first just for a meal, but before long we no longer booked a hotel, and stayed overnight as the guests of our 'forum friend' who, over the years, has become a very special friend in the 'real world' too. And needless to say, our garden has benefitted as each year he has filled our car with hostas and grasses until there was hardly room for our luggage.
These are just a few of the many instances of the real friendships that can be kindled by the sharing of an interest/enthusiasm/obsession if you have an open heart and mind.
I was welcomed to the forum with kindness and generosity by established members, and my garden and I have gained so much in so many ways from the 13ish years I've been a member ... the membership here is now much larger than it was when I joined, with both regulars, those that pop in and out, and also folk who just pop in with one question and are never seen again and I hope that I've been able to pass on some of the knowledge and experience that I've gained over the years, and also repay some of the generosity and kindness which has been shown to me.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
29
Posts
In the sticks near Peterborough
Someone in a recent thread said they wouldn't grow things they didn't know would do well. How can you know that unless [like me] you have a magic wand.
Without either asking someone else, visiting a forum [the best modern day solution] or reading books [the only alternative when I started gardening] or watching something like Gardeners' World - [and that can be limiting if you don't have the conditions the presenters have] you can't know if something will grow or thrive.
This forum has been wonderful for me. I was in a very bad place, physically and mentally, when I joined. The people here - the 'regulars'- were fantastic, and continue to be. The breadth of knowledge some contributors have is astonishing, and I've personally learned a huge amount, as well as having some much needed laughs along the way. I hope I've managed to help a few people too with my limited experience.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I have made friends on here, have been helped through some very difficult times, and hope I might have helped some people in return.
Every so often we get the odd trouble maker, which can be upsetting, but in the end they are removed and we get back to what is a wonderful place to be.
Thank you.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
As a relative newcomer, i've enjoyed the forum. I've learned a lot, and hopefully contributed a little.
I can be a bit passionate at times, so i hope i haven't upset too many folk.