Gardening and women's rights?

What is this?

My allotment is messy round the edges (sometimes in the middle too) but I like to leave spaces for wildlife and I always plant flowers for bees and other pollinators and let some plants bolt so they flower.
I used to spend a lot of time with my Grandad on his allotment as a child, but my own interest only really blossomed after I had a child. I wanted to show her about nature and growing, and to not be alarmed by a bit of dirt or a worm. I like the ebb and flow of the seasons too. Plus I have finally learnt how to make jam. Luckily one of the few things that grows well her is soft fruit, I have plenty of blackcurrants every year.,

Terf your forest garden sounds amazing!

But yes, as someone touched on earlier the thing about allotments is they want them to be tidy and proper and sometimes a little bit of wildness is good for everything!

Lastgirlontheleft... ive always had a little interest but never had any space apart from pots... i would say i dont really know much tbh haha but like others say you can just learn as you go... buy some seeds or plants and give it a go!

Peas are a pretty easy quick crop.

Id also reccomend going to a community garden if there is around too! Often filled with likeminded.. but all different types.. of people!

LastGirlOnTheLeft
Always- it seems like anyway! When i was little i used to help my dad. The sight of those beautiful white new potatos peeping up through the dark soil as we dug them up is one that stays with me. Both parents and my gran loved growing flowers like roses too. I feel close to them when I garden and the smells sights and sounds bring back lovely childhood memories.

Terf I know I have done that before!!🤭

top tip for newbies - plants need water but not too much!

So either water every day and let the water drain away; or sit all your pots in trays and add half an inch of water when the pots get light, let the plants soak that up and anything left after 30 mins, tip it away. Don't leave them in standing water unless they are celery.

Thanks blue - and that sounds so right! I adore nature...I love how clear my mind feels and how peaceful my soul feels when I am in the midst of it so I think gardening would be a wonderful hobby for me. And my children too.

girlontheleft the beautiful thing about gardening is, that you don't make mistakes, you learn from life

most plants come with basic instructions and if in doubt you can look up more info on www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-Form (for example) or ask neigbours or park rangers.

watch gardener's world, beechgrove garden, listen to gqt - it's nice, gentle, funny, positive

Ok Terf - I will do that! Thank you. 😃 That sounds doable, even for me with black thumbs. My children are starting to show a little interest in growing herbs - Lidl was doing tiny little pots and that started their interest. I'd really like to develop that.

It is difficult to follow permaculture principles on an allotment as most of them involve perennials...aka permanent culture...putting the crops over to perennials as much as possible. Whereas allotments tend to be annual or biennial crops with a few fruit trees bunged in for good measure. I'd love to; but we aren't allowed fruit trees over 2m tall; and the lack of care in neighbour's allotments means that we are forever firefighting new and interesting weeds that other people don't seem able to control.

I practice permaculture at home; I have a forest garden and many fruit trees and bushes; even though it is a smallish garden. My rule of thumb is to keep the trees manageable; and if it isn't doing what I need it to do then out it comes. I grow on different layers - tree, shrub, lower and ground level and roots; and I have a windy path going through the trees and shrubs, down to the canal; which is grass and so I mow it every week and either use the mowings as mulch or add to the composters.

I also do no dig where I can - and have covered all my beds with woodchip at the allotment [a permaculture method] to increase the organic matter in the soil, keep moisture in and I also have a Hugel bed there which I made around 8 years ago; but it is now quite couch grassy so we have covered it with fabric to reduce the power of the couch grass, and I'll dig it all out in the autumn ready for next spring. I also grow licorice and other crops in the pea family, to add nitrogen to the soil and just chop it back and compost the tops.

I wouldn't worry about the difference between hydrangeas and rhododendrons; I teach hort and I can never remember what either are called. I focus on edibles. If you want to make a start, I recommend a few herbs in pots in the sun outside the back door. Plus a Lemon Verbena for the smell - it is heavenly. Then just adapt to the space you have. There is still time to buy a tomato or two; or a chilli pepper, which you can tend this year and start to learn about plants.

Can I ask...when did you all become interested in gardening? It is something I feel I would LIKE to do but don't know anything at all about it...I couldn't tell you the difference in hydrangeas and rhododendrons! Does it take long to learn? That will probably sound like a really stupid question!☺️

I have an allotment. It's in a rather blustery spot and I share it with deer, pheasants, rabbits and many many slugs!
Have to admit I don't really know much about permaculture. Some of my fellow allotmenteers follow 'no dig' principles - is that related?

Just wanted to share this bee on my the borage from seed!
Its lovely to witness the flowes serving their actual purpose in the natural world, other than lookin beaut and being edible!

Is anyone on here into permaculture?

A lot of what people have said about watchin their land and letting the land take the lead reminds me much of that... mind you, before i even knew what permaculture was i beleived and practiced many of the principles (it seemed like common sense)

Yes yes yes. I love this.. so lovely to hear about your green spaces!

I have a small concrete yard in rented house so cant do much to it but i have grown a few different flowers and peas from seed this year! My dream is a big garden or an allotment!

Its so lovely to experience the journey from seed to flower!! I find it magic!

I was involved in a community garden in the city i used to live in and one of my favourite things about that is hanging out with other women.. conversing and getting stuff done!

Great thread.

I love my garden, and have accepted that I will never be able to make it bend to my will, instead I have to bend to it. It's a new experience for a lifelong control freak, but one that brings real joy and magic to my life.

From each winter, spring emerges with something new I've never noticed before, and seeing life come from 'nothing' is like the world's best trick.

Being out there makes me endlessly happy and calm. My husband sees it as a chore, with a definite beginning and end whereas I see it as a continuum...

I love that there is no pressure, some things go well, others not so much but you learn a little more each year.

Could wang on all day so I'll stop but this has been a lovely thread to read, thank you OP

puddock
Sorry just seen this. Yes it was.I was on a work pc so thats maybe why but still cant see how its inapropriate

I just came inside from feeding, watering and verbally encouraging plants in our small inner city back yard, which my lovely DP manages to make very beautiful. In summer I go out there first thing every day. There are lots of birds including a blackbird that pipes up at 3.30am on the dot.

Oops, it wasn't OP who mentioned parsley was it . I'd better get some sleep.

Where I grew up, parsley would only grow in the household of a witch, so same thing really OP :-). My garden gets me through life, when the days are shortest and everything seems to have died, new life is already sprouting and life is beginning again.

I gave my lovely neighbour some broccoli plants, and felt like part of the gardening sisterhood. She gave me some strawberry plants last year. 'Tis nice

I planted a neglected corner of my garden today with (English sourced) wildflower seeds and thought of you all.

If anyone feels like getting academic about women and gardening, there is also this coming up in Oxford in October: torch.ox.ac.uk/call-papers-study-day-women-gardeners-c1500-2000

Inconstant, was it my link to the Sissinghurst thing that got blocked? How weird if so. This is some of the text:
"By the middle of the 19th century, there was growing awareness of women’s lack of rights in property, marriage, work, and especially, suffrage. Alongside the fight for the vote, attitudes were shifting towards the acceptance of - particularly middle-class - women’s right to train for careers. This exhibition follows the evolution of women’s horticultural education, the establishment of training schools and colleges that ran parallel to, and involved women gardeners in, the suffrage movement. These pioneering establishments laid the foundation for the wealth of professional opportunities for women in horticulture today, something reflected across the National Trust’s properties – including in the history of Sissinghurst.

Although middle-class women in the 19th Century were unable to become professional gardeners, many were keen amateur botanists studying plants in their gardens and the surrounding countryside. This was an acceptable accomplishment even for married women. Lydia Becker (1827–1890) went further than most in her studies, winning a Gold Medal from the Horticultural Society (later the RHS) for her collection of dried plants. In 1864, she published Botany for Novices. Two years later, she became interested in suffrage after John Stuart Mill presented his first petition on it to the House of Commons. After that, she devoted her life to the fight to get women the vote and is seen by most as the first female leader of the suffrage movement. However, her links with botany were never forgotten and she was frequently lampooned in the press where her large figure, plaited hair, and steel-rimmed glasses made her an easy target for cartoonists.

The Gardening Women exhibition runs from Sat 5 May - Sun 21 October and is open between 11am - 5.30pm, with last admission at 4.45pm. Normal admission charges apply.

We have an allotment and a garden, and I have a love hate relationship with gardening.
I do enjoy doing it, but it can be a chore.
DH usually blinks first in the spring and starts preparing and planting stuff, as I hate the cold, but once he's started I usually have a mad planting week and put a lot of work in.
I like the bit between planting and full on harvest where this just pottering and a bit of weeding and tidying to do.
After that, weeding, mowing and picking can become a bit of a chore.
We share the work, but there's a woman next to us who does everything alone and seems to love it, she has a perfect, pristine plot.
And a woman opposite who has a less cared for plot, but still keeps on top of it.
There's probably an even split between men, women and couples.

i just clicked on that link and it denied me access because 'inappropriate' eh???