Gardens and gardening

I am 77 and loved gardening since I was 7 and grew a daffodil in a pot...the pleasure in seeing that bright yellow flower appear! Over the years I have carried on both here and abroad, from tiny town patches to an acre with a wallet veg garden.

I now just have a couple of courtyards but am planning to make them wonderful for the spring and summer. It's a wonderful addiction. 

Well done you,I admire your grit!

Big heart to you picpoule

I remember when I was just 3, my Dad showed me a piece of soil that he said was going to be for my garden. He said we were going to sow some seeds. I was confused, I couldn't work out why someone would want to sew seeds, into what and how, I wondered, they are so small for a needle to get through.

I might have grown calendulas that year, I remember them flowering.

Like you, I first learnt as a child.

Hi Sarah 49 , yes, you're definitely a gardener! I have ten golden willow hardwood cuttings along with 10 other hardwood cuttings each of 4 other colours making 50 in total. The recommendation from the nursery is to let them grow for 2 years and then coppice them 5 cm above ground level for a thousand years or more lol. 

I originally began planting willow cuttings to grow (a) as long term wood harvesting for my central heating and (b) as a windbreak for my 14ftx25ft polytunnel which was completely destroyed during a winter storm. I claimed on my buildings insurance and was sent a replacement. 

However, before I could erect it, I was diagnosed with an incurable bone marrow cancer and then just 4 months later I was in so much pain from a severe spinal stenosis condition that was developing. Eventually I needed a wheelchair, and still do, to get around outside of the house. 

In the same field (my nice mother in law allowed me to use it, she had inherited the farm from my equally nice father in law following his death), I also had 16 large raised beds as well as 6 raised beds and a greenhouse in my own garden. 

My main interest was growing and showing veg especially onions. I was Northern Ireland champion onion grower for 3 years running. I had a few flowers scattered around the garden. One year I was growing 22 varieties of potato, as well as other veg of course. 

I still love gardening but I'm greatly limited. I'll post a photo when the veg are growing. 

Take care Sarah

Tvman xx 

Oh wow tvman, just wow. the storm, the claim, the new polytunnel. Did you find a way of putting it up in the end?

You really have got the bug badly growing so many varieties of potato, my great friend often grows about 8 varieties just for fun and I've begged her to seek therapy for this (in jest).She ignores my advice of course.  But 20 varieties is definitely an enthusiasm. I'm so glad for you that you can still get out and do. I think soil warmed in the spring sunshine is so sweet to get my hands into, always makes me feel like I can live for ever, and there's always a robin hopping about and landing on the spade.

It's coming back toon tvman! Can't wait to see your veg growing.

Sarah

The therapists are queuing up around the house Sarah 49  lol  

I'm in the process of erecting the new polytunnel up in my veg plot which is surrounded on all sides by hedging and an arch. However the ground slopes from north to south which is fine but it also slopes from east to west which is not acceptable so every now and again I dig some soil from the east side and deposit it in the west side and once I have both sides level I can begin to dig the founds for the hoops. So it's 25ft long and the hoops are 5ft apart, that means 6 founds either side, 12 founds in total. The transferred soil will have to settle so that will take time also.

During Covid in March 2019 when schools were closed, Mrs Tvman and I constructed 5 raised beds with space between for a wheelchair and the polytunnel will be erected over the top. I also have an 8x6 greenhouse for tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers and another raised bed beside it.

At the other end, I have raspberries, strawberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants and rhubarb. Think that's it for fruit and veg. Also parts of the garden are devoted to flowers and shubs.

That's my garden in a nutshell Sarah and Picpoule  

Tvman xx 

I am loving hearing about it and in awe of what you have achieved. That Mrs.tvman sounds like a proper good un too. And I like the idea of using time as a tool to take up the slack where legwork can't do everything, there's a great moral in that.

Wow that's huge!

Thinking of you today tvman as we were out gardening on the most beautiful day we've had for some time. The honeysuckle is getting ready for spring 

Yes Sarah, I can see the green shoots which is the promise of spring on the way. I've just watched the weather forecast on TV and for Friday we're promised 12°C in Northern Ireland. The soil though is still cold but won't be long warming up and the frantic sowing of seeds will begin.  

Bring it on!

Tvman xx 

Hi all gardeners and non gardeners alike, I'm getting my grandson growing at an early age. We planted seed potatoes, 3 varieties. He loves it especially the bit when he gets his hands dirty!

Tvman xx