Whats you fondest gardening memory?

[Dorothy rouse]

My dad used to grow beautiful huge dahlias.

He then bought a house with a greenhouse,and started growing tomatoes,he would water them every day,and pick them every day, he'd weigh the and record amount I little book, one year he grew 100lbs!

He also 'as an experiment ',grew courgettes, (long time ago), and was v pleased when they grew, then my mum, refused to cook them!

[Greenleaves]

I think its super that gardening also allows us to harvest memories. Simple things sometimes transport me back, as a child when it started to rain, pops and I sheltered in the greenhouse and we would each pick a rain drop on the glass andsee which one ran down first, my reward for winning would be a lifesavers mint......oh happy days

[Noosner]

I used to spend hours in my grandma's garden when I was 7 making 'salads' for Dad to eat. Goodness knows what was in them because she didn't grow any vegetables! But he still used to pretend to eat them.

The other thing I did at that age was make 'houses' for blackberry maggots in shoeboxes. I used to carpet the box and stick wallpaper in it. Then I'd add a few bramble cuttings for the lucky maggots.

I remember snapdragons too! My grandma's garden was full of them.

[veggiechicken]

At the end of the year, when there are green tomatoes to ripen, I remember my Grampy who would store all his green tomatoes in a battered brown fibreboard suitcase lined with a scrap of Welsh wool blanket (it was a bit prickly and offwhite). The suitcase was kept under the bed - probably alongside the Po but I don't remember that!.
To keep me quiet, my Nana would let me open the suitcase and turn every tomato. If there was a red one (and there always was ) I could eat it.
The smell of tomatoes still reminds me of those magical moments when I lifted the lid of the suitcase, never knowing what colour they would be.

[Veggiemama]

I remember visiting my grandad and eating his peas.

My mum grew all our own veg and i used to help her in the garden. I used to pick the bugs off the cabbages etc. but i refused to eat any as i saw the caterpillars on them. At dinner time my mum told me she had gone to the shop and bought my vegetables just for me. I ate them all up. I actually believed this until i was in my late 20's when she told me the truth, that it was her veg i had eaten :-) Everyone in our family knew this except me.

I once, when little, asked my mum what caused the ringing in my ear. I used to get this from time to time and still do. She told me it was the holy souls (from people who had just passed away) asking me to pray for them and i had to say 3 little prayers and the ringing would stop. So, i always did and the ringing would stop.

I have no idea if this is true, but i still do this today :-)


My mum passed away about 2 years ago and i have her seeds. I planted some spring cabbages a while back. The seeds were from 1990 and 1985. They have germinated. If they survive, they are gonna be the best cabbages ever.

When i am in the garden i feel close to my mum and really appreciate all the hard work she did to provide food for us.

ISince i started growing my own, I love the look on Mr VM's face when he eats the first produce of the season. In fact, every time he eats something i have grown. It makes it all worth while. He had never eaten anything homegrown until he met me. So, more memorys are being made every year with all the things i grow.

[veggiechicken]

What wonderful memories VM - thank you, and everyone, for sharing them
Keep on posting them - I love reading these.

[Feral007]

My first thought was of spending summer evenings when we lived in Sydney, in the garden. We used to spent lots of time in the front garden (front and side) where there was a seat for moi, a couple of trees for some shade, and the front flower garden. KIds would be pottering around climbing things, digging, running, and with the baby sister (about 2 yo) putting her in the square plastic garden pull along.
The boys 8 yo, would let her sit in it, and then pile in all the weeds I'd pulled, and bits of bark etc. Then fill it up with water.
She'd sit there in toddler bliss - water and small children and summer....then the boys would say -- baby soup! She never knew whether to be worried then or not? Could be why she is more fond of the animals than the plants these day

[Nannysally99]

I don't have any memories of gardens when I was growing up. I have heard the story hundreds of times about how I picked lots of red flowers from Grandads runner beans and used to fill my pockets with his green tomatoes.
This is why I involve little Marnie in our veggie plot, which really is our whole garden. When she visits now, her first thought is a garden inspection. I always leave harvesting on a day when she's coming over, until she's ready to help us. The photos we have are priceless

[Hans Mum]

Mine is smell of tomatoes foliage, when I was younger I didnt like it my dad grew loads.........now i love it funny how things change.....he'll be in the great greenhouse in the sky chuckling at me now.

Also got sent to the shops when i was probably 8ish for a small cabbage came home with a single sprout I do now know the difference

[Rocketron]

I remember visiting my grandad and eating his peas.

My mum grew all our own veg and i used to help her in the garden. I used to pick the bugs off the cabbages etc. but i refused to eat any as i saw the caterpillars on them. At dinner time my mum told me she had gone to the shop and bought my vegetables just for me. I ate them all up. I actually believed this until i was in my late 20's when she told me the truth, that it was her veg i had eaten :-) Everyone in our family knew this except me.

I once, when little, asked my mum what caused the ringing in my ear. I used to get this from time to time and still do. She told me it was the holy souls (from people who had just passed away) asking me to pray for them and i had to say 3 little prayers and the ringing would stop. So, i always did and the ringing would stop.

I have no idea if this is true, but i still do this today :-)


My mum passed away about 2 years ago and i have her seeds. I planted some spring cabbages a while back. The seeds were from 1990 and 1985. They have germinated. If they survive, they are gonna be the best cabbages ever.

When i am in the garden i feel close to my mum and really appreciate all the hard work she did to provide food for us.

ISince i started growing my own, I love the look on Mr VM's face when he eats the first produce of the season. In fact, every time he eats something i have grown. It makes it all worth while. He had never eaten anything homegrown until he met me. So, more memorys are being made every year with all the things i grow.

This is how I got into GYO veg.
My parents were greengrocers so had plenty of fresh veggies but my Mum was a rubbish cook.
When we first had a house with a back yard, my wife grew spuds, french beans, courgettes and Toms.
I was astounded at how much better they tasted.
I didn't even realise that the fruit of the plant grew through the flowers !

[noviceveggrower]

I remember being about 4 and being at my nan and granddads farm and being up the garden in their ploy tunnel. There was a frog trapped by some pots and I remember my granddad freeing it and taking it to their garden pond to release it.
Then I helped dig some new potatoes up with him. He was a good gardener but a rubbish DIYer. He use to sort everything out with a piece of sting or a nail.

[out in the cold]

Like VC my own fondest memories of gardening are of my Granda.

I remember him patiently explaining which crop was which, how to till the soil, how to set a drill for carrots and letting me "help".

I must have been about 3, as my Granny and Granda moved from that house when I was about 4ish.