What got you into Gardening?

What got you into gardening?

When I was a young lad people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. My reply was to be wise. People asking were expecting me to say an exciting job like fireman but for me being able to say the right thing at the right time to someone was my aspiration. 

Before my teenage years I actually thought that anyone over the age of about twenty were automatically wise and had not only the answers to all of life’s problems but also didn’t make mistakes as they had done them all before the end of their teenage years. There was a part of me that was directionless and unambitious and this came into play because I thought the only think I had to do to be full of worldly wisdom, advice and answers, was to come out of my teenage years and have an easy ride the other side. 

It wasn’t too long before I realised that to be good at anything you have to put in a lot of time and energy and to in a position of worldly wisdom you have to keep making mistakes and learning from them as well as being caring and a good listener. 

I eventually concentrated my time and energy to growing plants, and maybe after spending thousands of hours doing gardeny things, I might have developed a bit of plant wisdom, but certainly not when it comes to people, that’s  different thing altogether. 

If anyone comes for life tips and advice I tend to laugh at inappropriate times, keep a silly grin on my face, come out with totally unrelated topics and suggest they talk to Julie as I slowly walk backwards to the door. If I can’t change the conversation to plants then I’m lost. After saying that not all of my words of wisdom are of any use in the garden either, there was that time I told someone to put garden slugs in the bin (about 100 of them). They did just that, putting them alive in their kitchen bin (not the wheelie bin outside) only to be greeted with them all over the house for the next few weeks. I’ll stick to gardening and leave the wisdom bits to Julie, she’s a better listener than me, I just usually wait for the other person to stop taking so I can talk about vegetables. 

And talking of vegetables….

Garden Influences

I was asking a few people about what got them started in a lifelong love of gardening, it could be something as simple as rooting a cutting in a jam jar. I asked if there was a particular person that influenced them in this wonderful hobby.

 Here are a few of their answers:

Lona:  My mother loves to grow flowers, but I'm more practical...I like a "reward" for my efforts! Mam and I live together so the compromise was I would keep planting the flowers she loves (She's almost 84) if she would share her knowledge of vegetables.

Eric Beuning: When I was growing up my mam worked a lot of double shifts. So I was essentially raised by an old Italian woman next door. She taught me the garden to plate philosophy she grew up with in Naples. She also ran a restaurant during her working life so she taught me how to do a lot of things in the kitchen. She had no children of her own. So I'm the only keeper of her heirloom seeds and recipes. Now I teach these things to my two and a half years old daughter.

Ramona :  My mother always had a huge garden and when I was young, she would have me help her. Although I grouched about helping her, I did like the one-on-one time with her. 

Paul : I remember going to my mams parents as a kid and they always had a nice garden.

Elaine: My dad. Some of my best times with him were planting seeds and pulling weeds. He was my inspiration and I always think of him when I am 'playing' in my garden.

Linda:  It was my mam. I was a bit of a surprise baby and the other kids were older. I had a delightful first 5 years when all the others were off at school I had her to myself. I remember many hours spent in the garden, planting seeds, picking raspberries to have on my cereal in the morning.

Jeff: My influence is my grandfather. It's actually my father who tells the stories about how they grew up gardening and living off the land. My grandmother preserved hundreds of jars of food before fridges. The stories I've been told and what I saw when we visited over the holidays, really sparked my interest. I picked it up as a young teenager and still going at it 43 years later. I hope one of my grandchildren inherited this gene and I become that person in their lives someday. If I was doing a scientific study, I bet our gardens keep us emotionally tied to these people, giving us a much healthier outlook on life.