On 31/5/04 5:35 pm, in article , "mich"
wrote:


"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 31 May 2004 11:07:55 +0100, Sacha
wrote:

Got chatting to the Head Gardener, Graham Bachman (I think) and he was
talking about the TV presenters who have been there. He said R de T
was a real gardener, knew her plant names and could hold a
conversation.

Maybe this brings us back to the point of what defines a "real gardener" ( I
never said *real gardener*, I said gardener, but that might be splitting
hairs)

I too know my plant names and can hold a conversation ( I even have a few
horticultural certificates of the City and Guilds Level 3 kind with
distinctions to "prove" it g) but I am not what I would consider a
"gardener".

A gardener is someone who can get down and do the job. I just teach! g I
can teach almost anything to anyone.

We saw Sarah raven get down and dirty in the ground. The way she weilds a
spade shows she can do ( you should see me with a spade - or maybe not) .
That in my book is what makes a gardener. R de T simply doesnt have that get
down and dirty look.



Sorry but I can't agree with this. While many gardeners get down and get
their hands dirty, this doesn't mean that those who can't or don't aren't
real gardeners. I have quite a back problem - my physio describes it as
'fragile - and while I do as much as I can, pain just stops me in the end.
I have two choices, stop for some days, or be useless for a lot longer,
maybe always. So - while Ray does most of the digging and so forth, and I
do what I can on a 'good back day' I am NO less interested in or passionate
about plants, our garden they grow in and so forth. Heavens, the other day
I even had to ask him to put 4 pelargoniums into a slightly raised bed
because the stooping and reaching required was beyond me on that particular
day.
Before I met Ray, I had help in the garden nearly all my adult life, because
I have had back trouble since adolescence. I had to have help or have no
garden but dirty hands alone do not a gardener make.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds after garden to email me)