How did you get into gardening?

[nick the grief]

............Next year, a whole new chunk of garden will be given over to vegetables and hopefully with more knowledge and confidence (and advice from this site) my harvest will be more impressive.........

You don't need to convert all the garden in one foul swoop JC. Have a go with a couple of sq foot beds & see how you get on with that first.

As to saving money, I've always wondered exactly how much I save. But one thing you can't buy is the freshness of your food plot to plate in minutes!!

That having been said, we never bought any spuds from October till about March I think it was. So if you reckon on 50p per week from the supermarket for spuds for 6 months thats £13 in spuds alone!!

[valmarg]

Blackkitty, you are from Burton on the beer. My mum and dad's greengrocery shop was in Winshill.

I must admit that life has changed a lot from when they were trading. Roughly 1936/1972.

I think the supermarkets have a lot to answer for. When I was little (born 1944) I used to go with my dad to 'old family friends' in the Ticknall/Melbourne area to get 'fresh, locally produced 'organic' veg. Dad also grew a lot in his greenhouse (45' x 15')/allotment and orchard.

Their crops were organic, insofaras there were no harmful chemicals sprayed on them.

I remember that the tomatoes, runner beans and raspberries were all homegrown.

In fact everything was seasonal. What was in the shop was locally produced, what was available at a particular time of year, not something that had been flown from halfway round the world. In a word FRESH!!

I quite often go over to Burton to shop, but apart from the market, for fresh fruit and veg you only have the choice of which supermarked you buy from!!!

Very sad.

valmarg

[Snadger]

My Dad was a very keen gardener but hated spending money. He wouldn't buy seed potatoes but salvaged any that had shoots on from the pantry (fridges were unheard of then, so were freezers come to think of it.) My uncle had a tied cottage with his job with a few acres as a smallholding. I built most of his hen houses (I must have been about twelve at the time) Built out of corugated tin sheeting with nothing to cut it, I just buried which ever portion was suplus to requirements and this stopped vermin getting in. He had geese, Ducks and Hens. Off he would go on a friday evening with my Gran to the local British Legion laden with eggs and produce. I remember them coming back three sheets to the wind without having to put their hand in their pocket all night...all drinks paid for with produce.

We always had bonfires going, burning the sods and these burned for weeks sometimes. At about this time I was given my own plot and I used to venture out onto moorland collecting sheeps carlings in a wheelbarrow. We even dragged in the odd dead sheep which had perished in the heavy snowdrifts and they went straight in the bottom of the leek trench!

We did gardening as a lesson at school and learned all the basics. I used to stay back after school to tend the greenhouse and do bits of jobs that needed doing. Looking back, I can still remember all the hardy annuals and half hardy annuals as the gardening teacher was also the maths teacher and taught us to remember them parrot fashion just like the maths tables. Pretty sad really, after 40 yrs I can still recite Larkspur-cosmos-lavatera-cornflower-calendula-eschaltsia-love lies bleeding nigella-visces etc which was the order they were planted and labeled
When I left school I never gave gardening a thought as a job. I came from a steel town and everyone went to the "Works" on leaving school
I served my time as an engineer and was there for 10 yrs when the works closed and I was made redundant. In this time I got married, had three kids and put some of my gardening skills to good use on the multitude of houses I lived in. I also used to do other peoples garden for pocket money. Mainly old people who couldn't manage their gardens and I didn't always charge them!
After having seven short term contracts over a period of two years I finally got a job cutting grass for the summer( the next door neighbor was the grounds supervisers secretary and put in a good word) I had an allotment right in front of her house and I think she was impressed with ts tidyness.
One thing led to another, I went back to college on day release in my thirties and came out with a distinction in Sports Turf Management I am pleased to say. I am now a resident Head Groundsman on a 43 acre site and have been here for the last 20 years. I love the outdoor life and my living accomodation has a wonderful outlook over the grounds. I have been lucky and wouldn't swap my job for any other.

[yoanbob]

i always loved being outside, and grew up in a farm house although the only thing my parents grew was lawn.
i used to forage for fruit and make pie, then i met an old man who showed me which mushrooms you can eat and i was hooked, used to go for walks and come home with enough food for dinner.
this is my first house but it had to have a garden, then we got the lottie.
i worked in catering for years and you just cant buy the same quality as what you grow, i love cooking so its important to have the right ingreadients.
grow your own, its the only way!!!!

[MissyMoo]

I love hearing everyone’s stories so I'll come clean as well.
I'm Australian. My husband is English and his family Italian so a bit of a mix when it comes to food...and everything else for that matter. I've only been here for four years and I'm yet to decide if it's permanent but I do love my life here.
In Oz my Grandparents were farmers before moving to the city for a 'better' life. My Aunt remained on the farm so my family still has strong ties to the land.
I was always keen on plants and growing things but never got into it on a larger scale until coming over here.
It was the food that did it. Sorry guys but in general the food quality here is appalling. (There are places you can get decent meat and veg but you have to look for them.) So it wasn't long after arriving that I started researching food and all it's issues.
Slowly we started to search out the farm shops and local stores but it was never enough. And finally this year we decided that growing our own was the only way to go.
Living with the MIL made it more awkward but we appropriated a section of the garden anyway and planted our veg hoping she wouldn't notice!!!!
We have a few friends with allotments whose advice and encouragement has been a godsend. And of course the library has helped no end!
Due to the size (or lack of) of the garden we're no where near self sufficient but that will come in time when we have a place of our own. This year we have used as a bit of an experimental stage. Seeing what grows well...what doesn't and different ways of growing things.
I'm totally hooked now. The only way is bigger and better from here on in. One day I'll have a massive veg patch, pigs, chickens...the lot. Here or in Oz, it's back to the land for me!

[Palustris]

Bet none of your interest started with being totally and utterly car sick!

[Squirrel]

So are you going to expand on that Palustris? You've tweaked my curiosity now!

[Palustris]

It is a long story and not sure if this is the place to put it all, so go here
http://palustris.blogspot.com/2005/0...road-gang.html
and read Chapter Three called Grandad's Sweet Peas.
Been gardening off and on ever since!

[Squirrel]

I was so intrigued that I am going back to read the rest of it! Hope you don't mind! Brilliiant! Well done Palustris!

[Nicos]

My first memory of gardening was helping my father collect all the Autumn cut back and making a bonfire each weekend until it was all burned up.
Just loved the smell of woodsmoke in my hair the next day at school!!

My OH has helped grow veg since a babe...so what a perfect match for me being a rural babe at heart!!!

[Palustris]

Hope you enjoy it Squirrel. Read the disclaimer at the beginning though!

[soobeth]

I got into gardening when my dad brought home a massives bag of seeds.
I told my dad i wanted to grow then so he got out a old farmhouse sink and tought me how to look after them as he was a hortculture teacher (just retired now!!) I was six then and now im nine and i've been growing ever since!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[skegblade]

I got into gardening when I was in my teens; a neighbour asked if we'd like some dahlia tubers; my dad said yes and I was given the job of looking after them; forty years on I'm still growing dahlias. It's only since getting my allotment though that I've stated growing vegetables.

[HappyMouffe]

My first garden memories are helping my Grandad pick raspberries. Well, more of eat than pick - he used to get us to whistle while we were picking, with the idea that if we were whistling, we couldn't be eating.

My mum was a great gardener, with a real sense of design for shrubs and perennials. I've always loved being in the garden, and as soon as I got my first garden I started redesigning them to fit more plants in.

My current garden is a work in progress, and now I have my eye on a half plot at the local allotments - I had a look at the vacant plots at the weekend and am desperate to get my hands on 97A. It's got a little shed, some carpet already down (although it's still pretty overgrown) and it's making me go all 'Gollum' like - I wantsss it, precioussss plot - its'ssss mine, preciousssss.

I expect when I ring the council tomorrow, it will have already gone..

[bootie]

Hi. Happy Mouffe, hope you are lucky with your quest!
I got into veg. gardening just 12 months ago when I retired, I didn't want to get bored, I grow flowers in my garden but I am on top of that and I cant afford to play golf every day. (My next door neighbour would if he had a chance)! So I applied for an allotment and I was lucky that a new field was being opened and I had a plot, albeit a half plot, within a couple of weeks. Having tasted the Good Life I am hoping to get another half(plot that is although beer is just as good)
Heres hoping