About us

What pipped my

interest?…

I have been interested in gardening from a very young age. I remember going to my grandparents house and my grandad showing me around his garden and greenhouse. In fact, the rhubarb that I grow to this day, came from my grandads garden when I first left home and I have taken a piece with me whenever I have moved. My earliest memory of me gardening was in the tiny garden at the front of the terraced house where I grew up. Having watched Percy Thrower, on Blue Peter, create a pond, I then sent off for the instruction sheet that they were giving away. After this I tried to build a small pond using carrier bags. Surprise, surprise, this did not work but the idea of a pond stayed with me. When I was about 12 my family moved to a semi-detached house and my dad said that I could have the front garden. The first thing I did was to build a pond in this garden! This, in turn, got my dad interested in ponds. We then built bigger and bigger ponds over my teenage years, later adding a second pond, a waterfall and a filter. My parents both encouraged me to follow my interest in gardening as I grew up. Alongside the gardening I also picked up an interest in DIY, from my dad, and he taught me a lot of my basic DIY skills. After leaving school I did an apprenticeship in horticulture with the local council. I worked for the council for several years maintaining the parks and flower displays in the city centre. Following on from this I spent several more years working at various gardening and landscaping companies learning on the job. At one of these, I learnt a lot about working with stone, something that I very much enjoyed and I have put this knowledge to use in my own garden. I did eventually run my own landscape gardening business for a few years but finally decided to follow a different career route after struggling to get reliable staff. From here I left gardening to work in computers then the telecommunications industry. Now gardening is very much a hobby. The work I have done over the years has taught me a lot and I am often asked for advice and how I have have done things in the garden. I am hoping that by creating this website I can share with you some of this knowledge, so that you can put it to use in your garden.

A little about Pam my willing assistant

My earliest memories of gardening include my dad cutting the small back lawn and mum cutting the front hedge. I helped with these tasks as a teenager. From a young age I also helped my dad with DIY, largely handing tools and enjoying his company. Grandpa had a large well-kept garden and brought a few bedding plants for us occasionally. He encouraged me to tend a tiny bed next to the lawn, into which we planted Mesembryanthemum. My first garden came readymade but I created a bed along the edge of the lawn for more plants and grew a few veg and ornamentals in containers. I suspect this is when I started watching Gardeners World! Our current urban garden started off as my jungle of rosebay willow herb, bindweed etc. but this was tamed and made into a garden and veg plot with the help of my family, especially mum. It has subsequently been totally redesigned and landscaped by Graham and I. I enjoy being in the garden, as well as seeing and hearing the wildlife that visits it. We garden organically with our health, the wildlife, and the environment in mind! I also enjoy photography, although it is quite a challenge to document Graham's gardening and DIY activities because he is generally busy getting on with it rather than posing for the camera. We will post regular updates on Instagram for those who would like to follow what we doing.