My first garden was my grandmother's. I remember being around 5 or 6 years old and planting belenes (which I now understand are impatiens) and gallos in the chicken and swan shaped planters on her front porch. As my grandmother could no longer get down on her knees to reach the soil, she would sit next to me as I pulled out weeds in the backyard, "No not that one!" she would tell me in Spanish. I didn't find pulling out weeds a chore. It was more like an adventure. Although my grandparents only lived a few blocks away, it was like exploring an entirely new world full of different bugs and even strange rocks in the soil (which I now know were pieces of fossil wood known as jet).
My grandpa would put me to plant cucumbers, tomatoes which I didn't like at the time, jalapeΓ±os, and of course some cilantro (which still tastes of soap to me) for the guacamole and tacos. Although I didn't like or couldn't eat most of what I helped cultivate, it had a tremendous impact on me! I began to help out in my own garden, learning more and more every year and eventually taking over management of the garden entirely.
A manager I once worked with said, "I never made my kids pull out weeds because I didn't want to scare them away from gardening, and look now! They're still not interested!"
I think that was a mistake. You have to get in there and get your hands dirty! I am very grateful to my grandparents for introducing me to the world of gardening. I miss them.
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Oh I so agree @proto26, that IS the mistake. If a child experiences what we think is a chore as an adventure then it often becomes second nature and they will never see it as the chore. It is also important to understand that the fun comes with its challenges. Delicious veggies and beautiful flowers have their weeds that need to be pulled. I love your early childhood memory. So many of us have that with our grandparents. Special
I remember the first time my mother made me work in her garden, I was so frustrated and it was so hot, kept complaining till the end but look at me now, enjoying it.
Also, It's normal to miss your grandparents, thankfully you have gardening as a bond always.
The bond is and will always be the possibility of developing an affective intelligence, because it is our relationship with ourselves and with everything around us. We always learn. Thank you for sharing, this beautiful family memory
Thank you so much.
Pulling out endless weeds on a hot day can feel pretty miserable sometimes, I agree.
Thank you, I will never forget where my gardening roots came from.
That is good, remembering is always important.
Gosh, the similiarities between your story, @deeanndmathews and my own - all grandparent stories - made me tear up a little. How we live on through our grandchildren! It strikes me that they had time to garden with us in our formative years, unlike our parents who were busy working and raising the family, and it was that that enabled them to pass those good memories attached to gardening that meant they - intentionally or not - handed it down to the younger generation before they died.
To be hoonest, I forced Jarrah (my son) to garden, and he vowed if he had a backyard he'd fill it with concrete. Lol. But as he gets older he sees the value - if not for the love of labouring in nature, for the trees that bear fruit for his belly! His fiance loves it so he'll be drawn in eventually!
I miss my Nana too, and am grateful to her. I feel she lives on each year I garden - I feel her presence with me all the time, particularly with the calendulas.
Sometimes I fear that I'm forgetting my grandma. But you're right, they live on each year in our gardens.
It's up to us to pass down the knowledge now. I hope I do it right when the time comes!
Yes I think that's really the true meaning of immortality!
It sounds like a tale into a magical forest with a wise goddess inducing without intending to induce but planting in you that which you call an adventure. Each of your ancestors did their own, what a great way to connect with nature.... It must be very beautiful in your garden.
The metaphors of the bad ones always have their interpretations, I agree with you in that of "getting your hands dirty".
I sure think my garden is beautiful! Despite others calling it a "weed garden".
Getting children to love gardening is the best gift ever. And your grandparents did hand you that gift. I am happy you received it with your whole heart. β€οΈ
I still have memories of sitting on the porch and admiring the impatiens I planted and gently touching their seed pods, making them explode!
That's a lovely memory @proto26. I hope you'll pass some of that to your children too. π₯°
Oh yes, you have! Definitely! And I am telling this being totally on the other side. Being brought up in a flat with minimum experience of nature in my everyday life! Maybe that's why I left everything behind and became a farmer out of nowhere at my 30's. My passion for getting my hands dirty was too strong at the end, haha!
I love reading to these happy memories!!!
I feel for you. I probably would have done the same. Or at least tried to have a massive garden indoors and on the balcony!
It is amazing how things work to come in balance eventually someday!