I’m not the only one, maybe there are many more of us?

When I run my charity plant sale I get all sorts of people coming to buy plants from experts to absolute beginners.
One person who has supported the sale for a couple of years always brings me very interesting and unusual varieties of plants to try. He is involved with producing mini potato tubers for commercial growers.
This year we got chatting and it transpires that neither of us actually like gardening! We both have little interest in creating a wonderfully designed garden, cutting the grass, edging same, weeding, pruning etc but really like plants and growing then from seed or cuttings.
I thought I was perhaps unusual in what I like and don’t. Perhaps I should call myself a plants person rather than a gardener.
Maybe there are lots of you on GC who are like minded?

 

What is gardening? For me, it’s a subject that encompasses botany, chemistry, aesthetics, meteorology, ornithology, entomology, physical fitness and exercise, plus a whole load of other things. Every gardener gives these things more or less importance over the years, according to their personal approach.

I like gardening but I know of at least one nearish neighbour who thinks my garden is a mess.

 

I like to tinker particularly if the task is a challenge. Gardening is the best for that. I like growing from seed. High germination rates are good goals. All of the facilities and equipment are fun to work out. Particularly on a small budget. And all my plants accept my apologies when I do something stupid. Very forgiving as a fitness/hobby/entertainment pastime.

I pretty much do gardening for dummies but have enjoyed learning from here, the web and trysies.

I don't know if I benefit most from the fitness side or the serenity that comes with this hobby.

 

I like plants and I also like thinking what could go with what, changing the borders, adding or removing features.. It keeps me entertained and it's certainly cheaper than remodeling the house!

But as for maintenance, I don't find that quite as exciting It's never a case of "oh, I am looking forward to some weeding tomorrow!"

 

My garden isn't neat and tidy, with a nicely manicured lawn and controlled borders around it, and a patio for entertaining - to me that is boring (although if boring is what you want that's fine)
I actually dislike lawns, grass belongs in a field. I prefer to see lots of plants, and what I've got is more a collection of plants than a 'garden'. I love plants, and if I see a plant I like, I buy it and stick it in the ground somewhere, or in a pot. It doesn't have to match whatever grows next to it, but if I like it I want it in my 'plant collection'.
I'm always looking for something unusual.

I enjoy taking cuttings, and I've got loads of them. I've got many trays of succulent cuttings and many trays of herbaceous cuttings and shrub cuttings, and I keep juggling them about, trying to fit them in to two perspex shelters on either side of my old 'garage' (which I've turned into a craft-making shed) and they are also scattered about the garden in various places and along the tops of walls.
Although I've got all these cuttings, I keep taking more - can't help myself. I enjoy sowing seeds too, although I haven't sown any this year yet. I try to find seeds of unusual things.

I also count the plants in my house and the 100 + cacti in my greenhouse as part of my garden - it's more than just the ground around the house.

Yes, like you I think I'm a plant person

 

It's possible to be both

 

I also have to admit I'm a plant person first. I don't have a beautiful well thought out set of beds ( though I massively admire those who do) but rather a collection of interesting plants. I'd rather be propagating than weeding...

 

You are not alone. I do not particularly like gardening per se, but I do like messing with plants (good job I read that back as I had missed out the 'l'). Very happy to grow things, but the lawn hoovering etc. is just not my scene. Fortunately my better half does, so betwixt us the homestead thrives.

 

Another vote for plants rather than garden. Until we moved here three years ago we had never had a lawn in 48 years of marriage. Luckily my hubby doesn't mind cutting the grass!

 

I like plants and I like gardening. I find it very satisfying. I like to see my beds and borders weeded and edged. I love to see the plants that I've planted growing and flowering.

I like to have a lawn as it sets off the borders. Green is a relaxing colour and the blackbirds enjoy pecking in the lawn. OH enjoys mowing it.

 

Plants make a garden, or rather the planter does . I like plants and gardening but I don’t have the space or patience to grow from seed or cuttings. Dividing is easy and quick, you know what you’re going to get and it responds quickly.

The challenges of location, weather, soil and availability add to the pleasure of gardening to create your own personal space. Who cares if the neighbours think it’s a mess or not to their taste?

Maintenance can be reduced with a routine check up every day to remove weeds before they become a problem and using groundcover plants or mulches to keep weeds away and retain moisture.

Researching which plants will suit your garden is important as is planning for their eventual size and shape and their effect on the rest of the garden both visually and physically. The time factor makes gardening interesting, planning for the future and seeing the results.

 

I got into gardening, growing food, but have always grown ornamental plants too. When I did the RHS course I was amazed at how many people said they had never grown anything edible. That said I have always felt each to their own. Fortunately as others have said me and Mrs AB both like gardening and she is better at combining, plants to pleasing effect. I do most of the seed sowing and propagating. Works for us.

 

I am very lucky as my garden is mainly paved and I have a lot of pots, so not a lot of weeding to do. The front garden has a lawn and hedges but my very kind neighbours mow the lawn regularly and cut the hedge when needed. Because of physical limitations I am not able to do these jobs myself.
I think if I didn't have such kind neighbours I wouldn't be able to cope, certainly with the front garden, and the whole thing would be a chore rather than a pleasure.
As it is, I love pottering and planting things, growing a few tomatoes and courgettes, a bit of fruit, nearly all in pots and tubs.
Planting is definitely my favourite part and the anticipation of waiting for buds to open etc. I don't really plan anything; I tend to just buy things I like and find somewhere to put them in. I said to a friend recently that my gardening plan is to just keep buying plants until I find ones that do well and look good!

 

I am someone who would rather learn through doing rather than reading. It means my interest generally comes in waves and the garden has to fit in (its a hodge podge of fruit, vegetables, ornamentals and wild flowers). I don't think our neighbour approves because she is a neat and tidy person that has to have perfectly manicured hedges and everything is cut back in the autumn so it doesn't look scruffy, whereas ours is pretty lax, more like a gardened wildlife area.
Recently I've been in growing edibles, mainly fruit, but propagation has always been my passion. I get neighbours ask me to "make more" of this and that and I normally end up with to many of things I have no real interest in. I've made hundreds of new, carpark, shrubs that then have to be moved on to fit new stuff in. It is good for charity plant sales but I need to cut back to leave some space for my own projects.