This is me, with my Nana and Grandpa, in Yarraville, Melbourne, in 1972. My Nana was instrumental in me becoming an avid gardener for two reasons: one, because of lovely childhood memories of her garden and all that came from it, and two, because of her fierce strength and independence. Gardeners, you see, have the ability to feed themselves, despite poverty, supply chain crisis, or poor nutrition from intensive farming practices.
Nana's garden in Yarraville was full of dark corners and rotting plant matter, particularly along the neighbours fenceline where her compost bays were and a fig tree filtered the sunlight. It was a long way for us children to walk, although it was only a standard Aussie quarter acre, but there was a kid's tool set down there and we'd enjoy cutting logs for no good reason but to saw. Three turtles were hidden amongst the humus, painted with red, white and blue to alert us of their presence. Part of the garden was a fishpond and concrete - we'd use sawn off bottles to stare into the murk like above water divers, and draw racetracks in chalk for match box cars. A huge apricot tree was decorated with plastic bags to frighten birds, and we would also eat Nana's stewed apricots when she'd defrost them from margarine containers in the microwave. Parsley was everywhere, and it made it's way to her kartoffelpuffer, crispy edged potato pancakes fried to perfection, and her pauper's macroni, topped with breadcrumbs and butter, and a light smattering of cheese.
I think of Nana a lot, in my garden. She was odd to us - her accent was thick and her habits foreign, and she had strange things in her medicine cabinet like tiger balm and turtle oil and calendula cream made with lard. She didn't have a sense of smell - I remember telling her that her huge wisteria vine smelt how a passionfruit would taste. I never forgot the time she washed her hair in the rain in the garden. Now I know it was to entertain us - she may have been undemonstrative, but she loved us and showed us in funny ways, like with 'brown cheese' (chocolate) and 'midnight movies' (at 8pm). Grandparents have time for grandchildren when parents are busy working or having a weekend away.
The responses to the #gardenjournal challenge this week were a lot about grandparents, and our (mostly) fond memories of their gardens and how it shaped their own love of nature, the wild, and growing flowers, vegetables and more. It was a case of me setting a question without really realising the importance of such a question, as it sent people to their childhoods. For some, grandparents provided a garden as a saviour from the brutal environment around them, like @deeanndmathews:
What I didn't know was that in the front of the house, the neighborhood was descending into the horrors of the crack cocaine epidemic. This was Grandmother's contribution to us needing to have an outdoor life that was sheltered from the foolishness that would destroy the lives of nearly all of my peers. Instead, we grew up growing nasturtiums, geraniums, roses, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, strawberries, blackberries, apples, and even the occasional bell pepper.
@artemislives too shared her Dutch childhood, post war, where an allotment was about survival:
In post war Holland with still severe food shortages, gardening was not a hobby, but a serious business to optimize every inch of ground during the incredibly short growing season. Each family had a tiny plot, and the focus was on edible results.
Yet a militant garden upbringing caused some, like @artemislives and @traisto, to reject the order of a planned and meticulously rowed garden to something else:
Writing this today, I marvel at how much I love wild gardens and food forests, and how some part of that is sheer rebellion to how I was raised, and the other part is exactly what I was raised to think and do - @artemislives
The garden is split in two parts. The left one is where the roses and my grandmother rule. But they rule in such an order that similar you can find in the army. Soldier-roses. They are all aligned and no branch should stand out. The disobedient ones were immediately cut. But they all had such a magic smell!I like chaotic gardens, all plants mixed together. Is this a reaction to my grandmother? A therapist could say, but I am quite sure it has something to do with this :) - @traisto
)
Little snippets of people's joy were present in all of the comments, like @jmis101 eating the vegetables of their labour:
I could always hum while eating the maize it was delicious.
0r @buckaroobaby and @craigcryptoking eating ginger biscuits in the garden with their Grandfather:
Grandpa whistled for the wild birds. He had a particular whistle just for them. And they would come at 11am sharp twittering in response as they pecked at the food he put out for them.
And little details like @ligayagardener with the trains audible from the garden in Plymouth, England:
Within sight of the garden was a railway bridge where the kids used to gather and the train drivers would unleash a cloud of steam and a long whistle as they drove underneath, covering us kids in steam, soot and fun.
Some of the gardens had spiritual significance. @rosahidalgo wrote of her grandparents garden in Venuzuela:
from that courtyard there was a beautiful tree and you know what? It was there where the people gathered during the main week of the year to burn Judas Iscariot, it was one of the largest trees in town, emblematic and that is why the custom of worshiping religion that mounts us to punish betrayal. This was an amazing garden, with roses, stones, lots of grass and shrubs, she always took care of it and watered it, it was part of her life, it was very natural to find roses wherever she went and take them with her to show off their splendor in that sacred temple, built by her love for plants.
@sanjeevm too began gardening because the flowers he bought for religious offerings were expensive:
I started my roof top garden to get some fresh flowers for our daily worship to God.
For @itsostylish, it was a backyard full of their imaginative joy, creating a world that, according to grandfather, was missing flowers and trees:
My grandfather, who is still my best-ever-person-in-the-universe (even though he's long departed), said.
“Where are the flowers, where are the trees, my girl. Where?”
…and that’s how it began - my mystical, magical, initiation into the world of green.
I spent hours, days, really, “landscaping” my door, and planting a variety of seeds and cuttings all over the damn place. It was mud-streaking joy, I’ll tell you that.
But, when the first tiny, fragile leaves began poking their noses out of that soil, true wonder took root, the exhilarating excitement of true love…of a purpose found.
It seems timely that I am looking to becoming a grandmother in some seven months, if the goddesses are willing, and I cannot wait to lead my grandchild through my own garden, feeding them plants and chasing him around the hidden corners, allowing them to collect the eggs from the chickens or hide in the branches of the gums.
This is what it means to live beyond this mortal coil - we somehow pass a little of ourselves onto the next generation. I remember Nana when I am wearing the most unattractive clothes in the garden - her frocks were awful - and when I pick calendula, parsley and potatoes. I remember how badass she was, raising three boys with an alcholic husband, trying to make a living fresh off the boats from Germany after the second world war.
The sentiment is simple, as @proto26 says - there's a gratitude to grandparents for passing down something to us that we love:
I am very grateful to my grandparents for introducing me to the world of gardening. I miss them.
I hope you enjoyed reading the comments as much as I did - thanks to all those who joined in, it was noticed! Engagement is important on HIVE, so whether I mentioned you here or not (this post is very long!) know that you were heard and valued!
The winner of 5 HIVE this time goes to @artemislives, with a bonus 2 HIVE to @deanndmatthews and @itsostylish.
Keep up the #gardenjournals through the month - the next challenge will be run by @minismallholding in April as I'll be away in Tassie!
Beneficiaries of this post are @gardenhive and delegator @ligayagardener. Each #gardenjournal post by me gets a small beneficiary to a delegator to @gardenhive - pretty good odds at the moment! So if you have enjoyed being part of this community, please can you spare a little HIVEto delegate to @gardenhive to help our gardens grow!
With Love,
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Thank you, and congratulations to @artemislives and @itsostylish!
Such an inspiring story! Would love to see more of your garden in the monthly challenges - love your writing!
Thank you ... with the time change, I will be doing gardening evenings soon!
Oh yes, the weather will be warming up for gardening for you guys! I"m in the colder part of Australia, but it still doesn't snow and we garden all year around...
Thank you so much @riverflows and congratulations to the winner @artemislives, and to @deanndmatthews. I enjoyed reading all the comments ❤️💕🤗
You guys write so well, and your stories were SO good - you deserved the prize. As we all know, everyone here is a winner, just because they are awesome. I'll send HIVE over tomorrow xx Night!
🌸💕💓
Such a beautiful post, my love. So full of loving memories. And your writing is so descriptive it allows us to join you. Thank you. *Bows deeply with gratitude. Sending !LUV and have a wonderful trip around Tassie!
Oh it was such an amazing challenge, my HIVE heart is full!
❤️🌿😃
A childhood garden sets the tone for the rest of one's life
It does. Do you have children? I think I have a big responsibility now to brainwash a grandchild to garden!
Definitely - get some dirt under their fingernails asap!
What a heartfelt blog intro, the emotions, and sweet memories are so joyous to reminisce. The collection of comments is amazing as the commenters were brought back to their childhood and in turn, makes me feel some of their old feelings and old memories while I am reading their comments.
It was one of those challenges that I didnt' really think much of it when I set it, but the responses just were incredible. REally made me think a lot about how important a garden, and family, can be!
Nice conten, i like it👍👍👍
What do you like about it?
Congratulations to the winners! So many strong sentiments aroused with the prompt you chose, River. Good one! Hope you have fun in Tassie. By coincidence I learned today what that is short for (due to reading a scientific article about bringing the Tasmanian wolf back into this world)!
Oh the thylacine? There's a whole belief that thinks it still exists... Fascinating and sad story about it's demise.
Yes, the thylacine! It could be true. Apparently its (former?) habitat remains mostly unchanged.
YES!!! Like this guy though - he was convinced but every one thinks it was something else
https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/wildlife-rediscovery-of-the-century-flagged-in-bombshell-tassie-tiger-find-claim/news-story/3c496cdc5f85ec1dcffc07222f820d0d
And there's that famous movie 'The Hunter' - don't watch this if you intend on watching it though, bit of a plot spoiler...
I read the book actually...
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Oh I loved this post @riverflows! What a wonderful tribute to so many special and unique grandparents. So could your Nana really not smell? What I remember of my Nana is all her baking. And her house was always filled with the delicious sugary smell of whatever cake she had whipped up. But gardening? Nope. It was immaculate but she had a gardener for that.
Lucky her!
I wish I had one! 😂
No, she couldn't smell. I forget why. I didn't even know til I was an adult!
🤣🤣🤣
Gracias por tu comentario @riverflows ... inspirador ntu concurso. Te abrazo
I didn't really have a specific memory to share for this, but reading through these now, I realise grandparents were certainly a part of my early gardening experiences. I was surrounded by gardeners, so I guess it all felt part of normal life. I didn't always enjoy it, my sister did even less, but we both enjoy gardening now, myself in particular. My parents and maternal grandmother had an allotment together, which we'd often go to on weekends, but my sister and I mostly just played there and felt it was a chore. Years of damson and strawberry jam put me off jam. 😅 To this day I can only face strawberries fresh.
I remember gardening tips from my paternal grandfather when we visited the grandparents in Wales, lemombalm in my maternal grandmother's back garden and planting flowers in my mum's garden. It's funny how you don't realise it at the time, but it all instilled that love for plants and the miracle of growing even if you didn't realise it.
That's so true, about it feeling like a chore. I can just imagine the damsons, howe I miss them. And strawberries in a British summer...I think Jarrah hated gardening for a long time - probably still does - because of being forced to pull his weight out there when he was young. Still, he doesn't get tired of the fruit that feeds his belly! And I think one day he'll have more of an appreciation, especially if he ever moves out of the city. It might just take him a while.
How nice to have those memories.
And she did not mention my post 🥺😔
By 'she', I presume you meant me, @iskafan? I can only apologise. There was a lot of good content and I struggled to acknowledge everyone in the way I wanted to. Please don't be upset - I did comment on, and upvote your post with both accounts, so please accept that I am only human and can only try my best. Sometimes things get missed :( :(
I completely understand ma'am. Apology accepted. I appreciate your comment and the upvotes.
Have a lovely week 💞💞
You too xx
THANK you!! I'm still smiling about this challenge despite being feverish in my sickbed. Working up to my detox post finally (if its still open) but posting it nevertheless.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the contribution migrants have made through their gardens. A few zealous expats have brought their love of FIGS to Chiang Mai and it's now not uncommon to see figs for sale locally. 😋
Lovely post @riverflows!
The photo is amazing! Your grandfather looks like Robert De Niro or am I the only one who sees the resemblance? :)
It turned out to be an AMAZING contest! Brilliant idea!