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Indianapolis,Indiana

I feel like hearin some stories how some of you growers started gardening. for my I got inspired from when I was little I used to go to my granpas and he would have 3 tomato plants grown in the back. Is there anyone that cares to share a story?

2/21/2006 6:18:12 PM

Romney West By God Virginia

My Grandpa had a garden about 1 acre in size. From age 5 to 12 I helped him in the garden every year. My Dad gardened too but Grandpa's garden was awesome. He grew everything. Corn, maters, taters, snap peas, pole limas, bush green beans, peppers, watermelons, cabbages, and strawberries. He had 4 pecan, 3 peach, 2 apple, 2 cherry and a plum tree on his property too.

2/21/2006 7:03:59 PM

Utah, brysterz11@hotmail.com

when i was in second grade i planted pumpkins, my class planted seeds and i got a plant and grew a 50 lb pumpkin and been growing all sorts of pumpkins sence like red blue and i grew a pumpkin that was pinkish and this year i am going to try to grow AG's
Bryson Ensign

2/21/2006 11:02:46 PM

addison Il

my sister becky started gardening on her own when she was 13 she calls it her have no life yrs. Well i saw just one of many yrs go by and then she grew a pumpkin and i was like i want in on this and so i joined her in growing we grew a couple of 20pds pumpkins and then last yr decided to grow giants for the first time after reading a newspaper article about a guy near us growing a giant. We have been hooked ever since i now grow giant pumpkin tomatoes and watermelons with my son, becks grows corn sunflowers and giant pumpkins.

2/22/2006 11:04:14 AM

canal winchester ohio

I first started gardening as a 4-H project ( vine crops) when I was around 9 years old ( 32 years ago,...ouch!!!). I still remember growing that cucumber in a Coke bottle & making a huge poster of the whole process. Good times, gooood times.....Paul

2/22/2006 12:51:28 PM

Indiana

Josh
If you want to get involved with a gardening group in Indy you might try a Google search to Indianapolis master gardeners or Indianapolis garden clubs, also calling the Purdue extension office for Marion county (or whatever county Indy is in)or any Purdue extension office should get you headed in the right track. also this Sunday the IPGA is having a meeting in Noblesville you can get the directions on www.ipga.ws

Steve

2/22/2006 7:30:58 PM

ordinary,VA

My father got me hooked on gardening.
ever since i could remember he had a garden.
corn,peppers,cukes you name it Dad could grow it.
I know somewhere out there Dad is watching and having as much fun as I am with these pumpkins.
Before he passed i grew 125lb bigmax he really got kick out of that pumpkin!
my story simple Love & family tradition.

2/22/2006 8:32:35 PM

Massillon, Ohio

"no work no eat" was our family motto (well at least grandma's). so i guess i had no choice but to be out there planting potatoes, etc when i was little. but it grew on me and now i do it by choice.

2/22/2006 9:19:06 PM

Follansbee, Wv

My mother's family is Pennsylvania Dutch. As long as I can remember, my grandparents had a farm near Spiceland, Indiana. Every summer when I was little, we would go over there on the weekends and help. My grandfather would show me things and teach me. He was one of the old timers of the garden. No soil tests, no fancy chemicals. He could actually taste the soil and tell if it needed lime.
When my family moved to Texas, I tried to keep a garden. The sandy soil and baking heat made it very hard to do, so I started reading everything I could find in the library (heh, no internet back then). Since then, I have kept a garden every year that space and work allowed it. Since I got out of the Navy in 1991, I have been able to have some sort of garden every year. So I guess for me, gardening is a sort of tribute to my grandfather.

2/23/2006 8:25:42 AM

Owensboro, Ky.

Granmpa's seem to be the key. I spent a month or so here in Kentucky at my mom's parents farm,every summer when I was growing up. Grampa grew a little of everything...tobacco (for cash)...sugar cane (to make sorghum...molasses), all kinds of veggies, strawberries, fruit trees, etc, etc, etc...chickens, cows, pigs...I was in heaven. Always kept tropical plants in whatever house I lived in for the last 30 years...now I am back on the farm and can stretch my (gardening) legs. Silly me, got hooked on AG's...LOL I also help with a veggie garden that provides enough for 10-20 people for a year. The best part of the veggie patch is giving it to folks who need it. Peace, Wayne

2/23/2006 8:20:59 PM

Netherlands

I was brought up in a rather poor family and we raised our own vegetables and meat. I sold sweet corn and pumpkins along the side of the road ever since I was able to count money.
I then got interested in giant veg and entered sunflower heads, beets, squash and pumpkins at a local agricultural fair (Ancaster, Ontario).
In the first year I won second place with a 200 lb pumpkin (about 1988) and first place with a red beet (about the size of a football). I also won first prize with a 50lb Hungarian squash.
We also grew turnips up to 23/24 lbs but there was no competition for them.
When I moved to Holland in 1992 I had no opportunity to grow anything. But I'm back into the game.

3/2/2006 1:01:47 PM