The story of how I got into gardening is too long to post on here. We lived in a terrace house. The only greenery was the privet hedge along the tiny front of the house and the grass growing on the bomb site opposite. So, after being dreadfully carsick, I made a garden in the back yard.
I will try and find a link to the story if folks are interested.
i love blue moon, even tough i don't usually go for hybrid teas, they have bred a 'twice in a blue moon' now, which i would have gone for, but got given blue moon by a friend who doesn't like roses(?!!!!!!???!!!)
I've just had another memory of our first garden reading through the thread again, particularly the way times have changed.
We use to have 'bombs' under boxes in the garden!
My Dad was the village Bobby when I was very young and people use to bring round what I guess were left over ammunition from WWII that had been dug up in gardens or fields (I think it was common practice for allied bombers to drop unused munitions in open fields before landing during the war and there was also whatever the Germans dropped too). These were placed under wooden boxes in the back garden until the bomb disposal people came around!
I remember on several occasions checking with my sister that they were not 'ticking' This was totally unsupervised as Mum and Dad were often out and we were left at home to look after ourselves a lot as kids. Imagine if that happened today
The perfume of roses take me back to the house my mum was born in. The front garden had a wooden gate with metal fencing either side and then behind that and down to the house was a low privet hedge. Either side of the path in a square were different standard roses in lots of different colours. In the summer we always had a bunch to take home. Most of the back garden grew cabbage, carrots, potatoes and rhubarb. We also used to go blackberry picking and mum or me would make some pies.
The smell of roses and Marigolds (bought from Woolworths), Busy-Lizzie flowers that we rooted in water, spider plants and digging in the garden. My parents garden was loamy soil that was like perfect compost, so as a youngster I could dig with just a plastic spade. Like all memories it was all sunshine and care free.
The house had a verandah so you could go outside in all weather and watch storms and rain without getting soaked...ah the smell of warm rain on warm stone outside.
When I got my garden it was a shock to have heavy clay and pests - I have no memory of slugs, Vine weevils, Spreading buttercups, Clover, or any plant or animal pests!
We lived with my grandparents till I was 5 and they had a long skinny garden with a path down the middle. One side was all flower bed, and the other was all veg, so I used to go and pick gooseberries for a pie. I hated that bit because of the prickles, but loved picking the peas as I ate most of them before they reached the pot!
Granddad also had an allotment which was behind the abattoir. I didn't like going there with him as I hated the noises that came from that place. He would get me busy finding the potatoes he'd dug up in the rich soil, and picking the caterpillars off the cabbages to take my mind off the noises.
Memories that are still so clear in my mind 60years later! Shucks, now I've given away my age!
When i was little, i was convinced confetti was made from hydrangeas!
Did the "perfume" thing too ...was a beautician for 10 years, so you may be on to something RM!
Not my earliest memory, but one of my favorite is blackberry picking with the entire family, found out at an early age that blackberries help nettle stings!
I remember age 4-5 following my Dad everywhere with my plastic lawn mower while he mowed the lawn. And I did have a habit of growing little apple trees from the seeds I collected, they germinated but never made it through the winter.
I did get a bare root apple tree in a card board box ( I remember it like it was yesterday) as a gift when I was about 6 from Mum / Dad still got the apple tree today I don't know what variety it is but it was twin variety but neighbour dog broke one side off, that side never really recoverd
I've always loved gardening and used to follow my Dad around every time he went into the garden. When I was 4, he decided I was old enough to have my own little plot. It was about 3 foot by 2 foot and he edged it with bricks. No one was allowed to touch it. I remember being given some flower seeds which I planted (they turned out to be bedding begonias) and Dad also gave me a couple of lettuce plants. As I grew older I helped out with the main garden but still grew flowers in my little plot right up until I left home to get married!
Oh and I remember soaking rose petals in water to make 'perfume' for my Mum. Such innocent days
Posts
The story of how I got into gardening is too long to post on here. We lived in a terrace house. The only greenery was the privet hedge along the tiny front of the house and the grass growing on the bomb site opposite. So, after being dreadfully carsick, I made a garden in the back yard.
I will try and find a link to the story if folks are interested.
i love blue moon, even tough i don't usually go for hybrid teas, they have bred a 'twice in a blue moon' now, which i would have gone for, but got given blue moon by a friend who doesn't like roses(?!!!!!!???!!!)
I've just had another memory of our first garden reading through the thread again, particularly the way times have changed.
We use to have 'bombs' under boxes in the garden!
My Dad was the village Bobby when I was very young and people use to bring round what I guess were left over ammunition from WWII that had been dug up in gardens or fields (I think it was common practice for allied bombers to drop unused munitions in open fields before landing during the war and there was also whatever the Germans dropped too). These were placed under wooden boxes in the back garden until the bomb disposal people came around!
I remember on several occasions checking with my sister that they were not 'ticking'
This was totally unsupervised as Mum and Dad were often out and we were left at home to look after ourselves a lot as kids. Imagine if that happened today 
The perfume of roses take me back to the house my mum was born in. The front garden had a wooden gate with metal fencing either side and then behind that and down to the house was a low privet hedge. Either side of the path in a square were different standard roses in lots of different colours. In the summer we always had a bunch to take home. Most of the back garden grew cabbage, carrots, potatoes and rhubarb. We also used to go blackberry picking and mum or me would make some pies.
The smell of roses and Marigolds (bought from Woolworths), Busy-Lizzie flowers that we rooted in water, spider plants and digging in the garden. My parents garden was loamy soil that was like perfect compost, so as a youngster I could dig with just a plastic spade. Like all memories it was all sunshine and care free.
The house had a verandah so you could go outside in all weather and watch storms and rain without getting soaked...ah the smell of warm rain on warm stone outside.
When I got my garden it was a shock to have heavy clay and pests - I have no memory of slugs, Vine weevils, Spreading buttercups, Clover, or any plant or animal pests!
We lived with my grandparents till I was 5 and they had a long skinny garden with a path down the middle. One side was all flower bed, and the other was all veg, so I used to go and pick gooseberries for a pie. I hated that bit because of the prickles, but loved picking the peas as I ate most of them before they reached the pot!
Granddad also had an allotment which was behind the abattoir. I didn't like going there with him as I hated the noises that came from that place. He would get me busy finding the potatoes he'd dug up in the rich soil, and picking the caterpillars off the cabbages to take my mind off the noises.
Memories that are still so clear in my mind 60years later! Shucks, now I've given away my age!
blairs that verandah sounds lovely, I remember watching thunderstorms as a child but sat on a concrete doorstep.
diggingdoris our peas don't make it as far as the kitchen never mind the pot
Did the "perfume" thing too ...was a beautician for 10 years, so you may be on to something RM!
Not my earliest memory, but one of my favorite is blackberry picking with the entire family, found out at an early age that blackberries help nettle stings!
I remember age 4-5 following my Dad everywhere with my plastic lawn mower while he mowed the lawn. And I did have a habit of growing little apple trees from the seeds I collected, they germinated but never made it through the winter.
I did get a bare root apple tree in a card board box ( I remember it like it was yesterday) as a gift when I was about 6 from Mum / Dad still got the apple tree today
I don't know what variety it is but it was twin variety but neighbour dog broke one side off, that side never really recoverd
I've always loved gardening and used to follow my Dad around every time he went into the garden. When I was 4, he decided I was old enough to have my own little plot. It was about 3 foot by 2 foot and he edged it with bricks. No one was allowed to touch it. I remember being given some flower seeds which I planted (they turned out to be bedding begonias) and Dad also gave me a couple of lettuce plants. As I grew older I helped out with the main garden but still grew flowers in my little plot right up until I left home to get married!
Oh and I remember soaking rose petals in water to make 'perfume' for my Mum. Such innocent days