Dad's Garden...................

I think I got my love of the garden from my Dad. When we first moved into our (council) house on Bidwell Hill it was wild to say the least. The front was all blackberry brambles and the back was all Gooseberry bushes. I remember Dad looking out the front window to see a small boy picking blackberries. Dad says "what do you think your doing?" and the reply was "I'm getting berries for me mums pie ain't I".......well it was not long before the brambles were gone and the bushes. A lawn was started and a hedge. Later on two beech trees were planted out the front. It didn't take long for the privet hedge to grow to about chest high and that was where he let it grow. He kept it trimmed and shaped. After awhile he exchanged the lawn for crazy paving with a rose garden in the middle. Mr Miller down the road also loved his garden and I think there was a little competition going on. Mr Miller would walk by and look over the hedge to see how Harry's roses were doing. In order to do the same Dad had to take the dog for a walk down that end of the road so he could assess the situation.


He put in a gate to the back garden when we got Poppett the poodle. He also grew the hedge in an arch over the gate, it was very pretty. The Forsythia grew up the front of the house and was a real picture in the Spring. That is until the Sparrows kept nesting under the bedroom window. After a while the Forsythia was cut down so he could sleep. The dawn chorus comes early in the Spring time. We had a very nice big Lilac bush and the Blackbirds liked that and so did the Thrush for nesting. The back garden was a riot of colour. Flox, wallflowers, chrysanthemums, Peonies, pansies and well just about everything imaginable that he could get his hands on. Most came from other gardeners in those days. His garden bloomed from Spring to Autumn and the first Snowdrops and primroses fought for space with the Daffodils and Tulips.
His garden shed was covered in Japanese Quince and was just wonderful when in bloom. The side of the house was covered in Honeysuckle that he had got from Ashridge woods one year. An estate close to home, all woodlands.



We had one apple tree at the very back, I have no idea what kind of apple it was but it never got ripe. I picked and ate them all long before they ever got to that point, Mum may have managed a couple of pies but I think those apples were the best I ever had. He also kept one lone Gooseberry bush from those that were there in the beginning. As I got older I wanted to know more and I asked for my own garden. He dug up the side for me by the fence to next door. I was so proud of "my" garden. I know he was the one who did most of the work but I felt like I did my share at the time. I remember planting pansies that grew so he must have gone along later and made sure they were OK. I loved being in the garden with him and later on my daughter did too. She was quite small when we left England but there were a few pictures taken of her and her Granddad in the garden



The pictures are not my Dad's garden but pictures found on the web. If anyone claims them I will be happy to credit them or remove. I do not have my own pictures on the computer yet. This is just to illustrate or give an idea of what I am saying.