Gardening

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04300640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Elephant" ><B>Welcome To My Den</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |  </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome To My Den"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Me"><U><B>About Me</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id183.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Search Site"><U><B>Search Site</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Interests"><U><B>My Interests</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Software"><U><B>My Software</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jokes"><U><B>Jokes</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id347.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id177.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Guest Book"><U><B> Guest Book</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Column"><U><B>My Column</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Diary"><U><B>Diary</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U><B>Contact Me</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=140 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id84.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tropical Fish"><U><B>Tropical Fish</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Gardening</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Walking"><U><B>Walking</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 1"><U><B>Mice 1</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 2"><U><B>Mice 2</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cats"><U><B>Cats</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id293.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stamps"><U><B>Stamps</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id291.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Model Railways"><U><B>Model Railways</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id362.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Music"><U><B>Music</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id364.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reading"><U><B>Reading</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="1c654483.gif"> <div> <I>Gardening</I></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#336600" FACE="Comic Sans MS" ><I>                   </I></FONT><I><B>  </B></I><A HREF="id299.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Garden Links"><U><I><B>Click For Gardening Links</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <I><B>                         </B></I><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>  </B></I></FONT></div> <div> <I><B>I was married with two young children before I had a garden of my own. I don't count various married quarter segments of ground in the service. I say garden advisedly, because what I had was four borders, each about  eight feet wide and growing a variety of England's natural flora, i.e. weeds. This condition may well have continued if I had not met a most charming and intelligent lady who lived just a few doors away. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>She was the keenest of gardeners and knew all the Latin names for the plants she grew. This particularly impressed me because I had childhood memories of a very patient teacher trying to instill in me the same pleasure she  received from conjugating Latin verbs. A task  at which she failed miserably, through no fault of hers, I hasten to add.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Well, to cut a long story short, she took me under her wing, my neighbour that is, not the fondly remembered teacher and I was introduced to the magical world of amateur gardening. I had free access to her library of books and being an avid reader I was soon soaking up details of how to become a gardener. The cream on the cake was when she introduced me to our local Garden Centre owner. Here was a man that grew plants, not just for profit but  also for the pleasure it gave both him and his customers. He always found the time to chat and was ever ready with help and answers to my questions. He had a lifetimes experience to draw upon and was ever generous in imparting that experience to others. A great chap.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>The bug finally bit and bit deep that first spring when the shrubs I had so carefully planted the previous autumn performed their annual miracle and began to produce the leaves and flowers of a new year. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>To Be Continued:</B></I></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B>                            </B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Times New Roman" ><I><B><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>></B></I></FONT><I><B> <A NAME="links"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></I></div> <div> <I>   <p align="center"><A HREF="http://rd1.hitbox.com/rd?acct=WQ510413H0NE81EN0&p=s"> <IMG SRC="http://hg1.hitbox.com/HG?hc=wf171&l=y&hb=WQ510413H0NE81EN0&cd=1&n=Welcome To My Den" height=62 width=88 ALT="Click Here!" border=0></A></p>    </I></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=25 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id87_m.htm" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Gardening"><U><B>Back to Top</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>                                                                                    </B></div> </td> </tr></table></body>