DirtMechanic, please don't tell your wife, but I for one am glad her hurt knee led you to gardening! I love your posts, and trust your judgement.
My family had gardens for all of the generations that I knew about, back into the 1880s at least. When I was around five years old, they had me hoeing and weeding and planting kid-friendly seeds like beans, corn, radishes, marigolds, zinnias. Saving seeds for the next year, too. For me asking why I started gardening is like asking why I started reading, or walking, or talking. It was there from my earliest memories. I don't think I could survive without it,
What kicked me off was when my parents moved into an house, where the front garden was full of a variety of roses around the lawn and fully matured roses and the back garden a total mess and i was 15yrs old at the time. I soon got the spade in with my dad and together we dug the lot all over, so he could have a green house and plot at the bottom for green beans etc and higher up by the house all that to be lawned and patio area. I asked if i could take over cutting the roses and doing the lawns, as i loved to see the achievement after doing the edgings as well and from there on gardens and plants i have admired even from a fare
Couldn’t stand the summer looking out around and all you see were the brown grass and the bare dirt trails around to and from by the horses in the pastures. Brown isn’t my fav color. There was just bare open spaces beggin for attention.
I remember seeing sedums growing on a neighbour's wall and thinking they were cacti, that must have been about 1968
Whatever inspired the gardens we all created and shared has been a source of beauty, learning and sharing. Luv all your pics of your gardens. Looking and talking with you all is like recharging my gardening batteries…it’s a good thing…
