Lyn what a lovely garden! Marion, my foster son just brought home some cress he had planted at Beavers a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend I made some egg mayonnaise and he and his sister had the cress in sandwiches with that, which I am assured, was delicious! I hate egg mayonnaise myself, but I felt certain that it was exactly the right filling choice to do the cress justice!!
Can't say it inspired me greatly, but I remember in the infants class, sprouting bean seeds in a jam jar.
The idea was to line the jar with blotting paper, then place a couple of bean seeds between the blotting paper the inside of the glass, then add a little water to the jar.
Fascinating to watch the roots & stem emerge from the seed, sustained by nothing but damp blotting paper.
I didn't get even remotely interested in growing things until I was about 35. My father and my brother were keen and semi-professional gardeners (in that they wrote about it) and as a child I felt bullied into helping, but I loathed worms and other creepy crawlies. So the ONLY job I would do in the garden was trim the edges of the lawn with a long handled clipper. That kept me a safe distance from the 'nasties'.
i worked in a garden nursery when I was in my twenties. This job was on a part time basis as I was training to be a quantity surveyor.
The nursery gave me an appreciation of the care and devotion that was given by the people that worked there.That experience working there never left me and gave me a hobby at first. When my wife and I brought our first house I wanted it to have a good size garden so that's I could learn my gardening education.
The inspiration to get in to gardening came from my love of the out doors and the love of seeing something grow by giving it the right conditions and care. Gardening is no longer a hobby, but has become a life experience that i now enjoy at every givem moment
I love the opportunity to work in any garden, not just my own - that inspires me
My Nanna and her relatives. They lived nr Durham, somewhere, her Mum (my great-Grandma, Nanna's auntie Laura and Uncle Bob, And Mum's Auntie Lorna and Uncle Alf. They all had friut and veg gardens. One of my earliest memories is of going out with Auntie Laura to pick veg. One of them had one of those piano things with a paper roll inside, that played by itself. I really thought it was magic or a ghost!
Mum once got lost on the way, and Uncle Alf told us he had painted white lines down all the rds to help us find our way home. And that we couldn't kiss him, as he was really the Frog Prince, and he didn't much like being a frog, which kissing made him become. Lost my first tooth there, too, in an apple!
And I remember Dad's Stepfather putting me on his shoulders to pick apples in his orchard. (but also remember a motorcyclist hitting the car and breaking both his legs)
Nanna never had a garden in my memory, but had the most fantastic deep southfacing windowsill in her flat. She grew loads of plants there, Azaleas, sanseveria, African violets, Christmas cactus, etc. She was always giving me new plants, but they never survived. After she died, I inherited them all, and all of a sudden, they grew for me. I'm sure she watches over my garden now, and my boys, who she never lived to see.
I eat very few veg, but I'm sure those early memories are what make me want to grow them for my boys.
lovely to read all these,sorry lizzie didn't mean to steal your thread, just had a few minutes and had been looking at blue moon so was remembering childhood in nana and papa's garden
You didn't steal my thread, Louise, it was an out of date thread. I just thought it might be interesting to read more stories about why people start gardening. I love reading these stories. Yours is the "now" thread.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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Lyn what a lovely garden! Marion, my foster son just brought home some cress he had planted at Beavers a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend I made some egg mayonnaise and he and his sister had the cress in sandwiches with that, which I am assured, was delicious! I hate egg mayonnaise myself, but I felt certain that it was exactly the right filling choice to do the cress justice!!
Can't say it inspired me greatly, but I remember in the infants class, sprouting bean seeds in a jam jar.
The idea was to line the jar with blotting paper, then place a couple of bean seeds between the blotting paper the inside of the glass, then add a little water to the jar.
Fascinating to watch the roots & stem emerge from the seed, sustained by nothing but damp blotting paper.
I didn't get even remotely interested in growing things until I was about 35. My father and my brother were keen and semi-professional gardeners (in that they wrote about it) and as a child I felt bullied into helping, but I loathed worms and other creepy crawlies. So the ONLY job I would do in the garden was trim the edges of the lawn with a long handled clipper. That kept me a safe distance from the 'nasties'.
Hi Louise
i worked in a garden nursery when I was in my twenties. This job was on a part time basis as I was training to be a quantity surveyor.
The nursery gave me an appreciation of the care and devotion that was given by the people that worked there.That experience working there never left me and gave me a hobby at first. When my wife and I brought our first house I wanted it to have a good size garden so that's I could learn my gardening education.
The inspiration to get in to gardening came from my love of the out doors and the love of seeing something grow by giving it the right conditions and care. Gardening is no longer a hobby, but has become a life experience that i now enjoy at every givem moment
I love the opportunity to work in any garden, not just my own - that inspires me
My Nanna and her relatives. They lived nr Durham, somewhere, her Mum (my great-Grandma, Nanna's auntie Laura and Uncle Bob, And Mum's Auntie Lorna and Uncle Alf. They all had friut and veg gardens. One of my earliest memories is of going out with Auntie Laura to pick veg. One of them had one of those piano things with a paper roll inside, that played by itself. I really thought it was magic or a ghost!
Mum once got lost on the way, and Uncle Alf told us he had painted white lines down all the rds to help us find our way home. And that we couldn't kiss him, as he was really the Frog Prince, and he didn't much like being a frog, which kissing made him become. Lost my first tooth there, too, in an apple!
And I remember Dad's Stepfather putting me on his shoulders to pick apples in his orchard. (but also remember a motorcyclist hitting the car and breaking both his legs
)
Nanna never had a garden in my memory, but had the most fantastic deep southfacing windowsill in her flat. She grew loads of plants there, Azaleas, sanseveria, African violets, Christmas cactus, etc. She was always giving me new plants, but they never survived. After she died, I inherited them all, and all of a sudden, they grew for me
. I'm sure she watches over my garden now, and my boys, who she never lived to see.
I eat very few veg, but I'm sure those early memories are what make me want to grow them for my boys.
lovely to read all these,sorry lizzie didn't mean to steal your thread, just had a few minutes and had been looking at blue moon so was remembering childhood in nana and papa's garden
You didn't steal my thread, Louise, it was an out of date thread. I just thought it might be interesting to read more stories about why people start gardening. I love reading these stories. Yours is the "now" thread.
thanks.. not co 'now' though!!
What a beautiful garden, Lyn, well done.
What are those lovely blue flowers at the front in the first pic?
Lovely stories, everyone, am enjoying reading them all!