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Post by andy on Feb 14, 2007 19:15:40 GMT
I was very fortunate to have a good chat with a young lad that came into my garden at work yesterday. Usually, i see them stamp all over the beds and screes and i chuck them out. But this you lad....who was around 13/14 years old came up to me and said "excuse me....do you know much about ponds and wildlife ?" I ended up sitting on the grass with him for over an hour talking about ponds, wildlife and the gardens in general. It was a breath of fresh air that a young lad was so keen on gardening (as indeed i was at his age) and wanted to spend time chatting to the "parky" about his garden and my garden. It kinda restored my faith in the younger generation....well some of them, and hopefully, he'll carry on with his dreams and become a gardener.  Andy |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2007 19:25:10 GMT
It's very easy to tar all kids with the same brush - "they're all drunken, drug-taking thugs" kinda thing - but I still think that's a minority and most kids are essentially good.
Maybe you've inspired him to become a professional gardener Andy. Who knows, he may even be the next Alan Titchmarsh or Monty Don !
FA
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Post by andy on Feb 14, 2007 19:45:08 GMT
Nah....i put him off becoming a gardener ;D
No....he said that he'd love to do a job like i did....and i told him you'll never be rich if you do what i do.
But...to the lads credit, he said that money wasn't everything....although i explained about raising a family, mortgages etc when he was older.
I did say that i don't have any regrets and i'd do it all again if i had my time....the thought of working indoors fills me with terror.
Viva le youth !!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Rosefriend on Feb 15, 2007 12:39:09 GMT
Hi Andy,
Reading your thread, starting me wondering when I first started getting interested in gardening.
I remember my father giving me a tiny bit of garden when I was 10 or so and I remember him taking it back about 2 years later full of weeds.
I was already in Germany when I really started to become interested in Gardening. We used to live in rented accomodation years ago on a farm and they had vegetable gardens etc which I never got the hang of, so I used to look after the plants and then started to become interested in them.
To start with anything that was green used to disappear but in time I learned and am still doing to this day.
Nowadays it is fun though - even in Spring when my back is killing me after a day enjoying myself in the garden.
When did the rest of you start - and you Andy - when did you realise that you wanted to become a gardener?
RF
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2007 12:46:54 GMT
He was a lucky lad to meet you Andy! Here in Dublin there's a small group campaigning for, and working in, community gardens; some of the participants are boys in their very late teens/early twenties - perhaps it's a rebellion against the consumerism of Celtic Tiger Ireland, but whatever the reason it's very encouraging. Cheers ...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2007 13:00:07 GMT
I only got interested in the garden 2 years ago, but am now a garden bore! I read books about roses in bed and have a stack of catalogues to drool over (hubby calls them garden porn ;D). My garden has gone from being lawn with a few pots, to beds with a bit of lawn! Early days, and I'm learning all the time. The garden is my sanity, what with 2 small children and being at home.
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Post by Chuckles on Feb 15, 2007 13:06:55 GMT
I can remember helping my Nan as a toddler she had a little covered area outside her back door, it was an old zinc roof affair and you looked onto a small border edged with old rocks. Her neighbour had a much bigger gdn with a veg area one side and a flower border the other, a path split the two areas. I used to play and try and help. At home we always had a veg gdn, chucks, rabbits and flower borders. The flower gdn was always a square of lawn edged with borders, again I used to potter and help. I first started proper gardening on my own when I lived with my Nan, she then lived in a bungalow and was a lot older. I was 18yrs old and used to do the lawns, then I dug small borders around the edges, like we had when I was at home, and planted them for her, can't remember what with now it's 31 yrs ago now  I lived with her for nearly 5 yrs then married and moved here. Then I really got the bug for gardening and it has progressed from there really. |
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Post by Spruance on Feb 15, 2007 14:51:20 GMT
I think I have probably posted along these lines before. Anyway... Mr Grandma used to have two allotments and to a five year old, these seemed like almost a farmer's field. I remember 'helping' like Chuckles, although I think that it was my Mum and Grandma who did all the work. I particularly remember 'helping' to pick the raspberries! ;D At the time we lived in a terraced house and so had only a small rear yard with very little 'garden' as such, although I was allowed a small section to myself, not that I did much with it. It was just always referred to as my garden. We moved house in August 1964, and although the garden at the new house was rather small too, it did have a lawn and borders, so again I was able to have my own allocated area. I mainly grew flowers - can't remember what now - but as I got older I did plant some strawberries which were quite successful. When I was 14, the neighbour, knowing that I was a budding gardener, asked if I would like to 'do' her garden, which was quite large, but completely lost. Like a jungle in fact. Thinking back, it was perhaps a 'cunning plan' by the neighbour to get her garden maintained for nothing, but I enjoyed having my own plot for the very first time. When I was house hunting in 1993, one of the main criteria was a large garden. No large garden - No deal! I knew the moment that I clapped eyes on the garden of my present house that it was the one for me, and it was quite a struggle not to give the game away to the seller, so as not to limit my bargaining options. Essentially I have always been involved in some way with gardening. I distinctly remember a visit to Compton Acres in Dorset in June 1968 when I was nine and a half. We were on a family holiday to Bournemouth at the time so were able to spend a good half day there, even so, I don't remember being at all bored. I couldn't imagine life without gardening now. So I hope that young lad that Andy spent time with, does take up gardening, if only as a hobby. There aren't many pastimes that are quite so satisfying and for so long.  |
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Post by 4pygmies on Feb 15, 2007 20:05:10 GMT
That's really great Andy! I bet he really enjoyed talking to someone who showed an interest in him too. There are some great kids out there but so may of them don't get much encouragement to do anything but follow the herd. That's why I am so passionate about my gardening club at school - if adults don't show any faith or enthusiasm, why should the younger generation? Under those hoodies might be some really lovely people...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2007 20:08:15 GMT
Under those hoodies might be some really lovely people... Perhaps you ought to hug one and find out  FA x |
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Post by paul r82 on Feb 15, 2007 21:02:38 GMT
Its good to here a story like that Andy, i think there is a stereotype with gardening amongst the young, i know when i first started gardening seriously when i was about 12-13 i had it ripped out of me by schoolmates, but i never let it bother me.
When i was at college doing horticulture i was 22 and the next youngest person was 34....worrying.
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Post by owainglyndwr on Feb 15, 2007 21:24:38 GMT
Tonight my 8 yr old daughter asked me if she could start collecting Cacti. I'll have to do a lot of 'Googling' later as I haven't got the faintest how to care for them. She's always had a healthy interest in gardening ( :-[calling me a murderer last year when I didn't pot her Sun Flowers on  ) Just had a thought ... I'll have to ask MickTheCactus for some pointers ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2007 7:29:39 GMT
Tonight my 8 yr old daughter asked me if she could start collecting Cacti. I started at about that age with cacti, i was given an Observer book of Cacti and haven't stopped since then ;D I found cacti very easy to look after so i don't think your daughter will have any problems P.S. Buy her some tweezers, she'll need them |
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Post by JennyWrenn on Feb 16, 2007 7:40:41 GMT
My Grandparents were wonderful gardeners and also my Mum - I had a little garden at the age of 8 and kept it until I got fed up when hit my teens Christine Walkden mentioned that hardly any kids turn up for the Hortitcultural Society meets and it is such a pity- I joined one last year and I can perhaps see why Most of the members are quite old and they like it to stay that way. Their newsletters are very boring and need updating with some interesting graphics I am the youngest and took my g.friend who is 42 and her two children with me to a meeting last month - but there was nothing for them to relate to, the kids that is There was a raffle but the prizes were for adults  Some of the older members nodded off There was only tea and biscuits and no juice for the kids I do think that if they had been made to feel more involved and part of this group they would have returned again One of the boys is growing his own vegs (to sell to neighbours I mentioned that they should have just 15 mins at each meeting especially dedicated to young gardeners where they could swap seeds plants etc etc I was given "a look" by the Chairman (who is a woman) and kept quiet  Well done to those you try to involve their kids Plocket for eg has had a raised bed built especially for LP j w x |
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Post by Chuckles on Feb 16, 2007 11:06:09 GMT
Do any of the secondary Schools or any schools still do classes these days that include growing plants and the like. We obviously know about the fab work that 4P does, she's a star. When I was at school we had a class called Rural Studies. There was an area in the school grounds were we had a small holding sort of set up. There was an idoor area were we kept a couple of small goats and other small animals, an outdoor area for growing veg and flower etc and an outdoor pen for the animals. We had a rota for looking after them and used to go into school 15 minutes early to let the goats out and clean up etc. Everything else was covered in class time. It was fab. Children do need to learn these things, I guess things have changed a lot since I was at school |
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Post by Spruance on Feb 16, 2007 15:45:44 GMT
There wasn't anything at all like that at my secondary school, even though they had plenty of space.
In contrast, there was a proper 'School Garden' at my primary school, and the two final year classes took turns to maintain it. We grew just basic veg like carrots and beetroot etc, and the veg was sold off at something like 3d for a pound of carrots. Just enough to cover the cost of the seed for the following year I suppose, thinking back.
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Post by andy on Feb 16, 2007 17:40:16 GMT
I was lucky enough to have a superb rural science dept at my school. It was that which got me interested...plus a next door neighbour who used to grow all these wonderfull bedding plants from seed.
The school had a couple of greenhouses and it was in these that i took, and rooted, my first cutting....a fuchsia magelanica 'gracilis' which was rooted in pearlite under the mist.
My school arranged two lots of work experience for me....one at a local market garden nursery and the other at Brighton parks....where i later joined and i'm still there today.
So i owe my school lots of thanks. My daughters little primary school has a small garden section and i supply plenty of plants to them and help out when i can.
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