Gardening memories.

I remember gardening with my mom, and we would go out in the garden everyday waiting for her favorite poppy to bloom, when it finally did she had tears in her eyes, it must of had a special meaning to her. My mom died when I was very young, but now every spring I check my poppies everyday waiting for them to bloom because they always remind me of her.
What are your special garden memories
becky

My Grandpa was a vegetable gardener mostly. I lived with my grandparents when I was little and I was Grandpa's helper. The rows of peas and poles with climbing green beans were great places to play peekaboo, and I remember picking berries, shelling peas on the porch, pulling up carrots and beets... how good it all tasted. Grandpa turned the whole garden with a digging fork every spring and fall, added compost and turned it all again. Of course it seemed like a huge place when I was little, and after I grew up I was surprised how small it really was. The amount of fruit and vegetables that he grew on that little patch of land was amazing. As I work in my vegetable garden I think of Grandpa often and I think he would like my garden. This year I am growing some Savoy cabbages, I remember that he grew those. He gave me a little corner for my own garden and helped me plant seeds and take care of the baby plants.

We grew almost all of our food here on the ranch when I was a kid, so the garden plot was pretty big ~ big enough we had to use a tractor to till it. I remember riding on the plow, sitting in Mom's lap, to give it that extra weight so it could dig deep. Then we'd plant and water with big black 2" hoses, making irrigation dams to divert the water where we wanted it to go. Once, when one of us kids fell, we had a mudfight ~ THAT was a sight to see, even three weeks later when there was a rather bare spot in the middle of the garden with a few bean plants sticking out of the sides of the rows at odd angles. ;)

I remember finding a really big watermelon once. Daddy told me if I could get that thing up to the house, I could have it. Everything looks bigger when you're a kid, so I recently asked Mom about that ~ she said it really was that big, must have weighed twice what my six-year-old self did. It took me the better part of all day, but I got it to the house! That was the best watermelon I've ever tasted.

When I was about 5, near the end of WWII, a bunch of us in my family lived in a large rented house across the street from the Orange Bowl in Miami. My beloved grandfather helped me plant a mango seed and an avocado seed in the tiny garden strip by the back door. Later that year, he started to build his own house, and mother and I went to Califiornia. I remember coming back to his 'new' house when I was 15, for high school. There, in the back yard, were 2 tall (and bearing!) fruit trees, my mango and my avocado he transplanted when he moved into his new house. I am still touched today by that memory.

Becky,

It's so neat that you bring this up right now. A friend of mine and I went to Callaway Gardens yesterday with our children (4 ages 2-10). On Monday's everything at the Gardens is free. It's their 50th anniversary and they are doing this beacause a friend of the Callaways once said that he cherished the memory of his mother for her love of 6 red geraniums that she tended to until her death. He was 6 years old when she died, but his love of flowers, and geraniums in particular, has lasted his whole lifetime. Callaway will let a carload of people in the gardens (lakes, butterfly house and all) for free as long as there is one child under the age of 5 inside. They want to share Nature's beauty with little ones while they are still impressionable so that their love of all things beautiful will last a lifetime.

Thank you for starting this thread. Makes me quite emotional just thinking about it.

I remeber all the weeds i had to pull and the sweat-Why am I doing this again-without complaining!?!;]

Here's the funniest one: when I was young, I lived in NYC. Besides Central park, the only plants I saw much were potted palms in hotel lobbies (my dad was a hotel manager). I was walking to school one day and passed some municipal workers using a jack hammer to tear up the pavement. I was scared to death of those loud things that vibrated the ground all around it. But I still remember when he stopped and another worker cleared away the pavement and started digging! I couldn't believe there was dirt under there! I had no idea Manhattan actually was an island. I guess I thought it was all pavement and concrete.
Now, my earliest and most touching memory. I had an aunt and uncle who lived in Connecticut. I got to go stay with them and get out of the city. They had trees, and lawns and a swing haning from a tree and they fed the birds; it was all wonderful to me. And out back, a beautiful vegetable garden. Of course, she canned and froze lots of stuff too. But the highlight was the dahlias. My uncle raised them for show and won many, many ribbons. A few years ago, my cousin sent me a bunch of slides, so old that they were enclosed in glass. There were all the dahlias....now mine forever. I named my daughter after that aunt, Laura. She lived to be 98. If she had lived 3 more years, she would have seen life in 3 different centuries.......

This message was edited Tuesday, Aug 6th 10:16 PM

Becky, When I recall garden memories, I have to say it would be my dad's garden. http://davesgarden.com/showthread/206124.html He grew lots of veggies, but always left room for flowers... glads, marigolds, zinnias, and Old Fashioned Garden Mix, to name a few. He loved to cut flowers, wrap them in newspaper, then take them downtown to the local coffee shop to give to the waitresses. His flowers always brought a smile.

I've lived in Alaska for 28 years, and I love to garden, though I can't grow many of my dad's old favorites. A friend back in Indiana said when she visits her husband's grave in my old home town, she often passes my dad's grave and there are always fresh flowers. Maybe some of those old gals are returning the favor.