Green Fingered Legacy

I'm feeling a bit emotional today so I thought I'd share with you a little bit about the Grandad I never knew. My Grandad Jack, my mum's dad was a miner, a hard worker and a true Yorkshireman. He would leave the curtains open until the last glimmer of daylight had gone from the sky as he valued it so highly after his time in the pits.

I never knew Jack as he died of a heart attack 2 years before I was born while my mum and dad were on honeymoon in Southport so all I have is photos (he liked photos) and what mum and Grandma (who's memory is very quickly fading) tell me. I know he was a gentle and quiet man, he kept pigs and loved dogs and he loved his garden, veggies above all else.

My mum always said he had his priorities right, the beans, the dog, his daughter, his wife. Lol.

When I started growing I didn't have much of a thought about my Grandad it was just a natural progression that came from a love of nature, wildlife and free tasty food. But over the last year or 2 I've been hearing more and more of "oh your Grandad would've loved you he would've loved helping with that" from Mum and Gran.

So yeah green fingers must run in families and I feel very regretful that I never got to meet and chat to my Grandad, to ask him what feed is best for garlic? Where would be best to plant potatoes? What's the tastiest breed of tomato? I'm not a spiritual person anyone who knows me will tell you but I don't have alot of garden mishaps so maybe he's there tending to the herb bed, checking on the veggies and giving some love to the fruit bushes, I dunno maybe it's just blind luck, it's a nice thought though.

Through gardening it has brought me closer to a man I never met and I feel like I know him, like we're working to the same goals.

I specially picked these photos below because I love how they illustrate his character.

                                                                                                        Feeding mum to the Mary the Horse.