Gardening memories of 2012

Gardening memories of 2012

2012 was full of gardening memories, not least because of the almost never-ending rain and lack of sunshine. A while ago we asked our Twitter followers and Facebook fans to tweet and post their most memorable moments and got some great comments. We thought we’d turn it into a blog post with contributions from Thompson & Morgan’s web team.

What our Twitter followers said:

@ThorpeDave – not needing to water the garden once & receiving my pink lemonade blueberries

@eatmyflowers – getting a new polytunnel

@VegGrowingUK – trying new, colourful (purple cauliflower for example) and interesting varieties was my highlight

@graceandflavour – watching 7yr old son pulling leeks with a 70yr old fellow community garden member

@ShaunMum – growing a very rude shaped courgette on the allotment

@Claire_Leivers – winning T&M vouchers!

@TASallotment – committing mass murder every time I visited my allotment #SLUGS

@hollysmaid – fav memory was when a big warm yellow thing shone on my garden. Think it was back in March

@CelticCels – Rain, rain and more rain!

@Hertschick – the slugs won the battle of my garden this year, it was a disaster!

Our Facebook fans had a good year too:

Sarah Jackson – Growing Salad Blue potatoes…

Linda Anderson – Getting my first ever allotment. Still got lots to do to get it in usable condition but very exciting!

Paul Mathews – Digging the Parsnips, one of the few veg that did really well this year! And they were lovely with Christmas Dinner!

Steve Linden Wyatt – Bargain buys on david austin roses at gardeners world and my tulips that i brought from T&M

Margaret Bailey – Starting my very own tiny Garden Nursery!!

Sheila Smith – Got an allotment. Needs a lot of work before I can start growing veg. The rain hasn’t helped as it very waterlogged. I don’t have a garden so I’m thrilled to have my little plot.

Keith Wilson – I was lucky enough to get a job in gardening, and consider myself very fortunate to have turned a hobby into a job! Happy new year everybody!

Julie Pearce – Amazing results from my packet of mixed wildflower seeds!

Thompson & Morgan’s web team has some interesting gardening memories:

Cathy – So many to choose from… Getting my allotment and on the first visit discovering a forest of purple sprouting broccoli, a large rhubarb patch, gooseberry bushes, blackcurrant bushes and strawberries already growing there – amongst the weeds!

Martin – For me it would have to be when I was mowing my new back garden only to discover the power chord wasn’t long enough to reach the far end so had to pull up the grass with my bare hands.

Holly – I would probably say my favourite gardening moment was when we picked our first home-grown pea pods. We grew the variety Pea ‘Boogie’ and they were absolutely delicious!

Andrew – Mine would have to be successfully growing tomatoes and strawberries for the first time. I had a bumper crop of tomatoes, and several strawberries from only a couple of plants growing in a windowsill box.

Aimee – Probably growing my mini sunflowers from seed last year – really brightened up my borders! One of the few successes I had with seed growing as my carrot seedlings got scratched up by my feathered friends, tomatoes got blight and sweet peas didn’t really do much as it was too wet…!

Carly – A favourite gardening moment would be kneeling in the strawberry patch on one of the rare hot days! The smell was amazing and the crops were good despite the poor weather. I also enjoyed a prairie-style perennial border coming together in its second year – the plants had knitted together nicely and it looked really good all summer despite the rain.

Craig – I was convinced that the heavy snow had killed off a beautiful passion flower which adorned itself year after year up and over my pergola archway. Early spring came and still no signs of growth. Yet one late spring morning I was happily surprised to see shoots sprouting up from deep below the soil surface. Although this year’s growth and display wasn’t quite the feature it had previously been, the plant remains alive and kicking. Looking forward to another summer spectacle this year.

Paul – On the plus side, I managed to grow garlic after 4 years of trying (now have 4 years supply). On the downside, the blackbirds ate ALL my redcurrants (with the added insult of red droppings on the patio) and I also seem to have grown ready-made mashed potato…

Rebecca – Seeing the excitement on my 7-year old daughter’s face when there were some more strawberries to pick. Somehow they kept ‘falling’ into her mouth, so we had to take her word for how tasty they were! Another memorable moment was hearing a loud munching in my border one evening, only to find snails devouring my hellebore leaves – I think it was pay-back from when my husband decided to eat garden snails earlier in the year…

We’re all hoping for a better year this year, perhaps the chance to get out in the garden in the summer and without wellies!

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