First ever crops

[macmac]

Yesterday i was fortunate to witness a newbie harvesting her first carrots,she was thrilled While I think we all look forward to the firsts of the season potatoes,beans asparagus e.t.c. to see someone with their first ever crop was lovely.Reminded me of why we do it.Our family think we're mad when you can buy stuff washed and bagged at the supermarket,they don't get the "not the same".That said they never turn down fresh strawbs,spuds or runner beans
'

[alan refail]

I remember the same thrill with our first egg nine years ago - we even took a picture for posterity



Mind you I still get a bit of the old tingle when I cut the first spring cabbage, dig the first new potatoes, bring in the first tomatoes, pick the first strawberries and raspberries each year - etc etc

[oldherbaceous]

I can still remember the first tomatoes i picked when i was a lad, i grew them in the greenhouse, that i had saved six months for out of my weekend jobs money, now they were special.
I felt really proud taking them to my Mum in the kitchen.

[WestHamRon]

I can still remember the first tomatoes i picked when i was a lad, i grew them in the greenhouse, that i had saved six months for out of my weekend jobs money, now they were special.
I felt really proud taking them to my Mum in the kitchen.

Pretty good weekend job to buy a greenhouse with 6 months wages.
Bookies runner (or worse) ?

[oldherbaceous]

Dear WestHamRon, it was over to the pub early in the morning to do the bottling up and sorting out the open fires, then on to the Manor for gardening duties, and then to the farm for any job that needed doing.
This was every weekend and school holiday, and i loved every minute of it.

[donedigging]

I can remember the first thing I grew was curly parsley,
My Dad could never get it to germinate, so being newly married and still a newie at growing things ,my first attempt they grew like weeds, Dad was quiet jealous.
I grew up with my Grandad growing veg and loved helping him when we went to vist. His garden was amazing.

[The Mouse]

I still get a bit of the old tingle when I cut the first spring cabbage, dig the first new potatoes, bring in the first tomatoes, pick the first strawberries and raspberries each year - etc etc

I know exactly what you mean.
But if there's one veg in particular that still gets me grinning like a Cheshire cat when I harvest it, it's a cauliflower

[The Grock in the Frock]

Peas out of the pod mmmmmmm,i was a child when my dad and myself first planted them and i could not belive how fab they taste when just picked.
My children love to plant sweetcorn,they eat it raw after being picked

[pongeroon]

I still get a buzz when a row or tray of seeds germinate.

And I get mighty cross if they don't...

[Primrose]

Every year when you harvest your first crop there's still a new bit of magic all over again, isn't there?
I always recall the first tomato crop I grew in our tiny garden after we were married , digging out a huge compost heap we found behind the shed. I grew a border of the best & biggest tomato plants I've ever grown. My father-in-law came to stay overnight for the first time, was amazed and congratulated my husband on his efforts. "Never knew he had it in him" he said. "He's never had the slightest interest in gardening". He obviously thought it beyond the skill of a woman to do anything well!
But if we could only get all the depressed people in this country on medication off their pills and into their allotments or vegetable patches, I'm sure the drug bill for the NHS would be drastically reduced. There's nothing more uplifting than being creative and positive and watching new life appear, in whatever form it takes.

[FelixLeiter]

Every year when you harvest your first crop there's still a new bit of magic all over again, isn't there?

Absolutely. The thrill never wears off, no matter how many springs we witness.

My first vegetable was a marrow, grow from a packet of Carter's seeds, the old ones with the watercolour illustrations on the packet. I pollinated the flowers with a camel-hair brush, with the help of my Gran, using the illustrations on the packet for guidance. Of course I let it grow too big, and it was in truth quite inedible, but we managed to make some passable jam from it.

[Parsons Jack]

The excitement never dims does it The thrill of the seeds germinating, calculating how many days before you can cut the first courgette etc.

I first grew courgettes back in the mid 70s just after we got married. I think 12 plants was a bit too many for just the two of us.
Inundated didn't quite cover it

[Compo]

Yes we are now picking the first new tatties, mange tout salad and carrots, back in March you never think it will come but it does. Then if you are lucky it keeps going till the last leaves have fallen off. Great feeling, the smell of newly harvested carrots, walking down the road with a bag of produce, you feel like a very proud man (or woman). Kids love it too, one of the few feelings in life that has no guilt or price attached. It pairs up with walking on wet grass in Midsummer or drinking from a highland stream.

The best things in life are free that is for sure!!

CoMpO

[pongeroon]

But if we could only get all the depressed people in this country on medication off their pills and into their allotments or vegetable patches, I'm sure the drug bill for the NHS would be drastically reduced. There's nothing more uplifting than being creative and positive and watching new life appear, in whatever form it takes.

I'm sure you are right Primrose. I find a few hours at the allotment one of the most calming things to do, even when there is a lot of work to be done.

I remember hearing a radio programme years ago about gardening therapy for displaced people and refugees who had been through terrible experiences and seen dreadful things....and to hear them talk of how much it helped them to get their hands in the soil on a patch of their own and start producing stuff was...well, very moving and uplifting.