What gardening project got you interested in this hobby?

[Ania]

Hi everyone!
I'm fairly new to gardening and I'm curious to know how other people got interested in this hobby. Was it a plant that surprised you by surviving, a family garden, growing vegetables for the first time... or something else entirely?
I'd love to hear your stories because it's always inspiring to learn what prompted others to embark on this adventure.
If you have any tips for begginers choosing their first "real" gardening project, I'd be grateful if you could share them!
Thanks in advance!

 

[Chuck]

Hoeing weeds in my parents truck farm 70 years ago. I wouldn't say that it got me interested but it was the way my parents made a living and I guess it kind of grew on me.

 

[Meadowlark]

Eating cherry tomatoes off the vine on my grandmother's farm some 75 years ago deep in the Ozarks and then asking her how to grow them...she showed me and the rest is history as they say.


p.s. welcome @Ania and hope you get a good response to your question.

p.s.s. tips...I've got a million of them from a lifetime of doing this and happy to offer any to anyone interested in a specific.

 

[Mike Allen]

Hello Ania, and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Like Chuck. I have many years under my belt

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Maybe 15 years ago I watched a guy on youtube who used to talk about wild reptiles and amphibians. At one point, he had a forum and on that forum he shared a project in his backyard. It was a small prairie restoration. A pocket prairie, no wider than 20 or 30 feet. I thought it was a cool idea. Eventually I learned that native gardening was starting to become a popular thing. That was my first time thinking about doing something like that, but I'd never gardened before and had no idea if I could do it.

One day while walking a recreational path, I saw asclepias tuberosa growing in a restored area. I didn't know what it was at the time but felt like it had to be native. I eventually looked it up and found out it was, and that it was a member of the milkweed family that supports monarch butterflies. I couldn't believe we had such a bright orange plant that grew native to this area. That summer I found a. tuberosa seeds at a local store and that was the very start of it all. I started with an 8' x 8' garden and expanded nearly every year since.

 

[Logan]

Hello @Ania and welcome to the forum.

I'm 68 now but when i was little my dad always grew cabbage and potatoes, we had a big back garden and in those days that's how they were.
When i was 11 i asked my dad if i could grow some vegetables on one small side of the garden. He asked if i was going to grow flowers but i said no, i want to grow sprouts, cauliflower and carrots. I sowed the seeds but only the sprouts did well, I did get a few cauliflower. My dad dug the ground for me and he told me to transplant the sprouts and they grew and got a good crop without having trouble with the cabbage white butterflies, I'd come home from school and watered them.
These days i grow mostly flowers.

My 2 older brothers do gardening as well.

 

[dirty hands]

I was maybe 2 in clinton Iowa when i asked mom where our food came from. She explained how it came from the ground how plants grew in dirt and we ate the plants.
In 3rd grade in Muskegon Mi our teacher taught us about how plants grow from seed. We had watermelon at home that summer and I collected and dried some seed. Planted it next to the house and got it to grow a foot or so when I forgot to water it and it died.
In highschool in mokena Illinois our school had a greenhouse that I worked in growing mums and selling them in the lunchroom. I was hooked but chose the military after highschool.
Ive had a lot of gardens since then but moved a lot. Been here 10 years now im 61 and thinking of putting in a veggie garden finally. Been focused on landscaping but have been dabbling with melons and squash from seeds that I saved from local fruits.

 

[roadrunner]

I retired from the navy and I had to start mowing the lawn.

I always had a connection with nature, so that's why I no long have turf grass in my yard

 

[DirtMechanic]

For me it was my wife having a knee surgery and tasking me with maintaining the garden she usually took care of in previous years. Following the entire internet advice group I managed to over water, over feed, over medicate, and over run myself with too much data and too little info. I spent the following winter reading about the difference between what was supposed to have happened and what did happen and why. It was on like Donkey Kong after that winter.

 

[Ania]

Hoeing weeds in my parents truck farm 70 years ago. I wouldn't say that it got me interested but it was the way my parents made a living and I guess it kind of grew on me.

Thank you! It often happens that something naturally grows within us and later becomes a part of our life.

 

[Ania]

Eating cherry tomatoes off the vine on my grandmother's farm some 75 years ago deep in the Ozarks and then asking her how to grow them...she showed me and the rest is history as they say.


p.s. welcome @Ania and hope you get a good response to your question.

p.s.s. tips...I've got a million of them from a lifetime of doing this and happy to offer any to anyone interested in a specific.

Thank you so much for sharing your story!

 

[Ania]

Hello Ania, and a very warm welcome to the forum.

Like Chuck. I have many years under my belt

Thank you very much!

 

[Ania]

Maybe 15 years ago I watched a guy on youtube who used to talk about wild reptiles and amphibians. At one point, he had a forum and on that forum he shared a project in his backyard. It was a small prairie restoration. A pocket prairie, no wider than 20 or 30 feet. I thought it was a cool idea. Eventually I learned that native gardening was starting to become a popular thing. That was my first time thinking about doing something like that, but I'd never gardened before and had no idea if I could do it.

One day while walking a recreational path, I saw asclepias tuberosa growing in a restored area. I didn't know what it was at the time but felt like it had to be native. I eventually looked it up and found out it was, and that it was a member of the milkweed family that supports monarch butterflies. I couldn't believe we had such a bright orange plant that grew native to this area. That summer I found a. tuberosa seeds at a local store and that was the very start of it all. I started with an 8' x 8' garden and expanded nearly every year since.

Thank you for sharing your story! It's amazing how one small moment, like seeing a beautiful native plant, can inspire a whole new hobby.

 

[Ania]

Hello @Ania and welcome to the forum.

I'm 68 now but when i was little my dad always grew cabbage and potatoes, we had a big back garden and in those days that's how they were.
When i was 11 i asked my dad if i could grow some vegetables on one small side of the garden. He asked if i was going to grow flowers but i said no, i want to grow sprouts, cauliflower and carrots. I sowed the seeds but only the sprouts did well, I did get a few cauliflower. My dad dug the ground for me and he told me to transplant the sprouts and they grew and got a good crop without having trouble with the cabbage white butterflies, I'd come home from school and watered them.
These days i grow mostly flowers.

My 2 older brothers do gardening as well.

Thank you. Your childhood gardening memories are really inspiring.

 

[Ania]

I was maybe 2 in clinton Iowa when i asked mom where our food came from. She explained how it came from the ground how plants grew in dirt and we ate the plants.
In 3rd grade in Muskegon Mi our teacher taught us about how plants grow from seed. We had watermelon at home that summer and I collected and dried some seed. Planted it next to the house and got it to grow a foot or so when I forgot to water it and it died.
In highschool in mokena Illinois our school had a greenhouse that I worked in growing mums and selling them in the lunchroom. I was hooked but chose the military after highschool.
Ive had a lot of gardens since then but moved a lot. Been here 10 years now im 61 and thinking of putting in a veggie garden finally. Been focused on landscaping but have been dabbling with melons and squash from seeds that I saved from local fruits.

Thank you! I love how your interest in plants started so early and stayed with you through so many stages of life. It's really encouraging to read.