As a newcomer and an American, I appreciate that I was welcomed despite these shortcomings. I've searched closer to home and honestly cannot find a gardening forum that is as active, friendly, and knowledgeable as this one. Gardening seems to be part of the European culture much more so than here, where it's seen as more of a hobby. If you say "I have a garden", most people assume you grow a few vegetables. I am thoroughly in love with the way Europeans consider the entire yard to be the garden, rather than the garden being a small plot within the yard. My hope is to emulate this style on my own property, and reading old and new threads has opened my eyes to endless possibilities.
Lovely lovely that you feel so welcome here 🤗
Spent some of my teenage years in New Jersey, so “yard” is part of my bilingual lexicon ….. as is root beer, “wait up you guys”, eggplant and zucchini ……along with some very strange ways of pronouncing aluminium, oregano and herbs (which I still can’t adopt 🤷🏼♀️)
Love that you are embracing that gardening can consume an entire yard ….good luck on your cultural crusade xx
I spent years working with and for Americans so also got fairly used to the different vocabulary. One of the managers turned up one morning and exclaimed 'god I was pissed last night.' I asked him if he was feeling ok this morning, no headache or anything, to which he looked very confused. It took us ages for me to realise he meant pissed as in angry, and I meant drunk.
As a newcomer and an American, I appreciate that I was welcomed despite these shortcomings. I've searched closer to home and honestly cannot find a gardening forum that is as active, friendly, and knowledgeable as this one. Gardening seems to be part of the European culture much more so than here, where it's seen as more of a hobby. If you say "I have a garden", most people assume you grow a few vegetables. I am thoroughly in love with the way Europeans consider the entire yard to be the garden, rather than the garden being a small plot within the yard. My hope is to emulate this style on my own property, and reading old and new threads has opened my eyes to endless possibilities.
Lovely lovely that you feel so welcome here 🤗
Spent some of my teenage years in New Jersey, so “yard” is part of my bilingual lexicon ….. as is root beer, “wait up you guys”, eggplant and zucchini ……along with some very strange ways of pronouncing aluminium, oregano and herbs (which I still can’t adopt 🤷🏼♀️)
Love that you are embracing that gardening can consume an entire yard ….good luck on your cultural crusade xx
I'm guilty of using "guys" to refer to more than one person, no matter who they are. It's funny because the vocabulary differences just within the New England states vary widely, never mind across the country or worldwide.
When my mother and I first started watching Gardeners' World, we couldn't get over how much compost people used. Holy cow, they plant directly into compost?!?!? It was about a year later I discovered that particular compost is what we call potting soil, and it all started to make sense.
New England, USA
Metacomet soil with hints of Woodbridge and Pillsbury
Glad you feel so welcome @CrankyYankee. I too always envisage a concrete patch when Americans say 'yard' rather than garden. We might have a yard in a garden (I'm thinking a practical area, rather than a patio) and I suppose some might have gardens - in the form of raised beds - in a yard (to decorate a stable yard, maybe). I wonder if the term comes from the actual measurement?
"patch of ground around a house," Old English geard "fenced enclosure, garden, court; residence, house," from Proto-Germanic *gardan- (source also of Old Norse garðr "enclosure, garden, yard;" Old Frisian garda, Dutch gaard, Old High German garto, German Garten "garden;" Gothic gards "house," garda "stall"), of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE *ghor-to-, suffixed form of root *gher- (1) "to grasp, enclose," with derivatives meaning "enclosure."
Posts
Spent some of my teenage years in New Jersey, so “yard” is part of my bilingual lexicon ….. as is root beer, “wait up you guys”, eggplant and zucchini ……along with some very strange ways of pronouncing aluminium, oregano and herbs (which I still can’t adopt 🤷🏼♀️)
Love that you are embracing that gardening can consume an entire yard ….good luck on your cultural crusade xx
I wonder if the term comes from the actual measurement?
yard (n.1)
"patch of ground around a house," Old English geard "fenced enclosure, garden, court; residence, house," from Proto-Germanic *gardan- (source also of Old Norse garðr "enclosure, garden, yard;" Old Frisian garda, Dutch gaard, Old High German garto, German Garten "garden;" Gothic gards "house," garda "stall"), of uncertain origin, perhaps from PIE *ghor-to-, suffixed form of root *gher- (1) "to grasp, enclose," with derivatives meaning "enclosure."
Both come from the same root it seems