Comments on: Why Do You Grow?

By: fohohatty

fohohatty — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 09:07:14 +0000

Greetings everyone! I am new here. Just want to greet you :)

By: Bobbi Reichtell

Bobbi Reichtell — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:24:17 +0000

My grandmother’s backyard garden right next to the giant Fisher Body Auto plant on East 140 St. in Cleveland, Ohio USA was a little oasis in a bit of a grimy neighborhood (because of the manufacturing going on there). My memory is of being small – 3 or 4 years old – standing in the garden, the factory in the background and is giving me cherry tomatoes to eat. I wasn’t sure I liked the taste at first, but because they were from her I ate them. My favorite gardening experience to this day is when I get home from work and walk the few feet to my garden and pick cherry tomatoes and eat them on the spot. Thank you gran for being my gardening hero.

By: tanja (2)

tanja (2) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:49:20 +0000

I just realize I left out a significant part.
When I was about 27 I lived on a farmhouse – I did nothing with the garden then I am afraid. But a dear friend nearby was a farmers’ daughter who only spend the summer in the beautiful neighbourhood along a river in a nature reserve. The rest of the year she was forced to live in Kuwait – without a garden. In the few months she had she grew veggies and potatoes amidst the flowers, nothing formal, in her very large garden. I was always welcome for dinner and loved the fact that before cooking she just went in the garden and picked her salad, carrots, potatoes etc.

This must be what set me off to start my own kitchen garden years later!

By: tanja

tanja — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:41:35 +0000

Dear Gillian,

From my birth I lived in a house with a rather large garden. My parents were/are anything but gardeners, alas. But: when I was 6 or 7 we had to grow something in class. I watched with amazement when the white bean put on wet cotton balls in a saucer grew and grew and grew. We never got to the stage when the plant started to make beans by itself, but it was a miracle for me. It is one of my most vivid childhood memories.
There was only one person in my family who liked gardening: ny grandmother, which unfortunately I saw very rarely, was an avid gardener. I remember visiting her when I was about 14, and still know the name of the flower she then showed me: thunbergia alata (in Dutch: Suzanne with the brown eyes). From the moment that I lived by myself, I bought the nicest bouquets, and later loved cutting wild flowers. Only around my 30th I started gardening. One of the extra’s I recognised in the man which later became my husband was that he also liked gardening. When we moved into a farmhouse with 1500 m2 of garden, we made a near profession of it. We later moved to an estate where we have a second job tending the 30,000m2, and4 years ago started a nice kitchen garden which is now our favourtite spot. With the help of a few volunteers we try to achieve the 100 varieties mark, and believe that with a bit of planning (not my strongest point)we can achieve this next year.

(Btw: you are most welcome to visit us and look at a continental kitchen garden, and are invited to stay if that suits you!)

By: Lindsey N.

Lindsey N. — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:51:02 +0000

I am 24, and I have only very recently begun gardening. Growing up, my parents always spent a great deal of time working on the landscaping around our various homes and taking weekend trips to local nurseries. I had absolutely no interest in it. None. The flowers attracted bugs, occasionally my father made me weed – which was the worse crime known to man – , and I thought marigolds smelled horrible. The one time I tried growing something – radishes – raccoons ate them.

And then I went to college, joined the service, and ended up stationed in the UK. I’m now living in my first house, with my first yard. And as soon as the warm weather hit I started planting and weeding like there was no tomorrow. There is nothing I enjoy more than puttering around in my garden. I look forward to weeding in the hot sun and the way my fingers smell of marigolds after I deadhead them.

By: mtp

mtp — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:18:18 +0000

It’s so great to hear how people got into growing. There seems to be a definite theme running through most stories where someone introduced you to gardening quite early on, either as an onlooker or an active participant. It’s so important to share our passion with others to keep the growing alive!

By: Caz

Caz — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:58:56 +0000

My Grandpa grew all his own veg and herbs and when I was tiny when I went to visit, it was my job to pick the mint and chop it for lunch. I had a special tiny knife with a beautiful little wooden handle and my Grandma knew I loved chopping the mint so she always tried to cook lamb when I visited. I also used to shell the peas and pick gooseberries & blackcurrants for puddings. Every time I pick mint or blackcurrants in my own garden I think of them and the happy memories. It is amazing how the fragrance of food can stir the images of childhood. I was also the one who skipped down to the bottom of the garden to put the peelings etc into the compost heap which I remember so vividly that composting now for me is probably one of my most rewarding parts of veg gardening!!

By: Sky

Sky — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 08:06:49 +0000

I grow because being able to pop out to pick my dinner reminds me of my childhood days when my gran would pop out to to pick things like chayote and yard long beans for dinner, and hack down a stem of sugar cane as a treat for me.

I’ve always loved flowers and the first time we moved into a house with a garden was when I was 18. I helped my mum with the garden, and my dad dallied with growing a few toms and peas here and there.

When I bought my first place, the first thing I did was to put in a mini veggie patch (only 1m2). This year we’ve moved into a house with a *slightly* bigger garden and I have a whole 5m2 to play with(!).

By: Soilman

Soilman — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:48:09 +0000

Grew a row of carrots aged 11 and thought it was neat. Then had 24 years of educating myself, growing up and working, which rather precluded further horticultural experimentation. Have spent the last six years catching up where I left off…

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:01:43 +0000

I was 27 when I started gardening. It was purely by chance that I became interested in having an allotment but I have recently discovered that my family have a history of keen gardeners too. Must be in the blood!
I started working on my friend’s allotment in January 2006 after he received a letter from the committee telling him to sort out his plot or risk being kicked off. His gardening partner had moved to Bristol and he couldn’t cope with the plot on his own. I said I would help out for a while to see if I enjoyed it and I’m still there now, 4 years later. :)

We love it!!