Grow Your Own Magazine

Just out of curiosity, what started off your interest in gardening? Did you start doing it as a hobby or for more practical reasons?

My interest in gardening is a bit of a family legacy. My father and grandfather (on my mother's side) were very keen gardener. Grandad got me one of my first Christmas presents (a pine tree) and my father planted it in the garden. It's still here to this day. Ever since I was little, I used to help my father in the garden. We tried our hand at lots of things: raspberries, strawberries (also still there), roses etc. His favourite was kidney beans. Every summer we used to grow them and eat the pods. My grandfather used to grow potatoes and keep chickens for their eggs.

Sadly, both my father and my grandfather have passed away. It's thanks to them I got my interest in gardening. I'm hoping to create a memorial garden for them, just to thank them for being in my life.

I got into gardening at an early age as well, but don't really remember what I did when I was younger apart from help the elderly neighbours out with their weeding for a bit of extra cash. I've looked through some of the old family photo albums and there are a lot of pictures of my dad's vegetable plot - he grew a lot of potatoes and we helped him harvest them, though I don't really remember doing it, there are photo's to prove it. He gre a lot of sweet peas as well, but not sure if he grew any other vegetables apart from potatoes.

I got my first garden when I moved inwith my OH several years ago and gre my own vegetables for the first time. I've always dreamed to be self sufficient and so that was me getting onto the first rung of the ladder, despite having a tiny tiny patch only 1m x 3m.

Since then we've moved to Fife and I've got my first real garden and 2/3rds of it are devoted to vegetables and the like and I love it. Still not self succient but working on it.

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Two tiny tomato plants got me hooked.

I'd never touched gardening until I got my house 9 years ago. First I made a few small flower borders as you do, then I discovered that I could grow things from seed, so the borders got bigger and bigger and the grass area just got smaller.

Then my mum gave me 2 tomato plants. That was it! I was hooked. I began growing veg in pots but soon made the decision to dig up up the bottom half of the garden (unfortunately, some of the flowers had to go) and made a vegetable plot. I just can't get enough of it.

I still enjoy the flower garden but with vegetables it's double bubble, you grow it from a tiny seed which costs next to nothing, look after it, it looks good then you eat it! What more could you want!

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Lilli M

I only really got into gardening this year - Ive always had a couple of tomato plants on the go - but this is the 1st home I've owned & felt I could dig up half the front lawn for a patch..!! (my landlady in London would've flipped if I'd even touched her beloved lawn!!) I decided to grow my own as I am an avid cook and get fed up with the poor quality veggies I get at the supermaket... my broccoli tasted completely different from that I bought in the store - it was a million times more tastey even though it had started to bolt!

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How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.”

I blame it on my mum and step nan who are both into gardening

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Rachel

Trying to tame the mad thing called a garden and failing

My Garden Mayhem...inspirational blog for me I hope!

My Dad was a keen gardener (flowers fruit & veg) had 2 lotties & about 3 gardens he did for old ladies plus ours. Plus 4 greenhouses (one with 300 varieties of Fuchsia's in & one with his Cacti collection in)

But I hate gardening well I did until a few years ago. My wife complained that here arms were getting wet when she hung out the washing cos the lawn was that tall sooo I did our back garden then got interested from there & now have a 160' garden at home & a lottie plot! My wife now moans that she never see's me!!


Woman eh, you can't live with 'em & you can't live with 'em

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

My grandad(maternal side)lived with our family,and he grew vegs and fruit,and did most of the gardening,and we were occasionally allowed to 'help'.My nan(paternal side) grew vegs and flowers,and again on visits I was always encouraged to 'help'.Nan was only sayinga few days ago about how her love of growing veg skipped a generation to me, cos my dad hated gardening and my aunt hasn't got a clue .Now it's my turn to encourage my grandchildren to 'help' me,and suddenly my daughter has got the bug as well must be catching!.The runner beans we grow have been handed down through several generations(at least the seeds have )and we now cannot remember what they are called.

I have always loved the countryside, bird watching etc. then I discovered River Cottage and Cook on the Wild Side by Hugh F-W. My back garden was a wilderness, so I finally took the plunge earlier on this year. best thing I ever did! I'm learning as I go along, and thanks to everyone on the grapeviine and their useful advice, I'm learning quickly. I love being able to nip out first thing in a morning and see what progress my plants are making, then spending an hour or so, pottering about when I get home from work. My first crop was some new potatoes - super! Cant wait for everything else to be ready for eating! Happy days! dexterdog

Mum and Dad had a small greengrocery shop, at the back of which was a fabulous 45' x 15' greenhouse, with wonderful coldframes. The greenhouse was heated by a coke boiler, with iron pipes going round the edge. (What I wouldn't give to have that greenhouse now!!)

I used to love to be in there with dad and grandad. It is so difficult to explain the 'grow your own' bug. but I seem to be the only member of the family that has caught it.

To go out into the garden and pick the very 'fresh' fruit and veg is the biggest reward for all your efforts earlier on.

We have good years and bad years, but whatever crop we get it is more than worthwhile, don't ya think????

valmarg

Gardening has always been in our family on both sides. My fathers father specialised in growing celery. At a very early age myself and my sister were handed a watering can to help during the dry weather.
My father worked in The Agricultural Institute which is a semi state body and when he was there they were experimenting with cucumbers ,trying to grow seedless varieties and also grow year round tomatoes and lots of other things including Fuschias. My dad also grew roses in his spare time and imported bud wood from holland and bred his own roses. We also had all our fruit and veg home grown, so i knew at an early age that i was going to do the same. I don't think i could have inherited a greater or fulfilling gift.

My mom had real green fingers but she grew mostly flowers. I started growing veg because we seem to live in a bit of a 'food desert' and I was really struggling to get decent organic veg, and a decent range. I get really enthusiastic about being able to grow veg that are different from bought ones, hence purple and yellow beans and black tomatoes. Unfortunately the flower sections of our garden are a complete mess as I don't find them nearly as interesting.

My grandad was a very keen gardener and veg grower as was my own dad. He used to have a huge garden when I was born and grew mainly veg. I am not sure if it was bringing up me and sisters or several house moves after I was born but he has no interest in it now. Given his interest all those years ago I would have thought that now retired and with all his kids left home he would own a plot and get back into it, I guess I was wrong. So as with everyone my fondess for gardening runs in my family. However I owe getting started in gardening to my wife parents. Both keen gardeners it's them who encouarged me and helped me (from finding a greenhouse for me and helping putting it up to taking me along to their gardenshow visits) and now 3 years on here I am and determined to not follow in my dads footsteps.

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http://gardenfan.blogspot.com

I used to live next door to an elderly man who was very much into his gardening (his Dad had been head gardener at Kew gardens so he really enjoyed it). He used to give us cuttings, and then one day he gave me some lavatera seeds to try.... well, I was amazed at how easy this 'growing' lark could be - and I think that was the point I got hooked!

I was into flowers for ages, and got a little green house (4' x 6'), and Dad used to grow veg in the other next door neighbour's garden (she was an elderly lady and appreciated the garden being looked after - Dad appreciated a 'free' allotment!!). It's a shame he still doesn't do it now - but that's time constraints - and new neighbours for you!

I always loved picking the veg that Dad grew and I think that's what eventually got me into growing veg. I've only been into growing veg for the last 2 years as I was always a flower person. The idea of growing and eating your own produce is great though - and now I'm hooked!

My Dad has an allotment when I was a kid - it must have sunk in - when we moved into our first house (which is the present one), we only had a front garden which was a car space, I put a fence up and put in some new top soil etc. It started with tomatoes and beans, I already had a herb bed, and it sort of spread from there but what amazes me is how much that time on my Dad's allotment sunk, how much I remembered about plants - it's either that or inherited memory!

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Andrewo
www.andrewoldham.co.uk

Never interested in gardening as a kid, though my mum used to spend ages tending the garden, though purely ornamental.
I've only started this year as it's the first time years I've had a garden. I am renting but we're allowed to do what we want with the space. The gardening bug is a natural progression from trying to be green and ethical really - we had a compost bin and I started filling it with food waste and then I started to think of growing my own food and thus eliminate more rubbish. I can't say it's saving me any money, I keep finding new things to buy for the garden. You also learn just how many plants you need to provide a decent harvest, and i haven't really practiced successional crops this year. 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.
Plus my Mum loves the fact she finally has someone else to discuss gardens with.

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!!

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ntg

Never be afraid to try something new.
Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark.
A large group of professionals built the Titanic

http://grief-encounters.blogspot.com/

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

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.

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!!!!

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Yo an' Bob
Walk lightly on the earth
take only what you need
give all you can
and your produce will be bountifull

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!

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