Green Fingers

What do you get for a little boy who has two Christmases?

With a Christmas in Northern Ireland when would the children get their presents from Nanny?

It would need to be either small or wait until their return..With a recent birthday full of gifts maybe Christmas would be a smaller celebration?

I managed to make Alexander a Mr Stickman and he told me that it would be perfect to guard his seeds and to keep the birds away.

That gave me an idea!

Of course, he loves growing seeds, so why not some seeds to come back and plant? Children love planting seeds.

I wrote him a little story with photos, I hope he enjoys it.

Green Fingers

Do you know what green fingers mean. Alexander?

If someone has green fingers, they are very good at gardening and their plants grow well.

My grandad George had green fingers.

He loved growing lots of plants and was very good growing rhubarb too.

I remember helping to dig out a big dandelion and we had to dig deep to get its long root out. I was so keen to do the digging that I almost stabbed my grandad with my spade.

One day grandad took me to see the beautiful flowers growing in his garden. “Look at those lovely flowers he said, they are called lilies, and they smell very nice. Why not put your nose in and give them a big sniff.”

So, I did. The lilies did smell very good.

“Those Lilies are as beautiful as your grandma, her name is Lillian,” grandad told me, “but, don’t tell your grandma about the lilies, I bet she will guess.”

We walked back into the kitchen where grandma was cooking.

“Oh, I see your grandad has taken you to smell the lilies,” she said with a laugh.

“Yes, how did you know?”

“You have yellow pollen on your nose,” and she showed me in the mirror.

Grandad was smiling mischievously.

Grandad’s green fingers went on to my mummy, she has green fingers too.

She loves her garden and is always pottering around, pruning and cutting and moving her pots of plants around. When we were little I remember my grandad would often bring my mum special plants for her garden such as geraniums and dahlias and lots more. He taught her how to grow runner beans up a trellis and I would love to make mud pies under the trellis.

Our garden was always pretty and full of lots of beautiful flowers and grandad taught my mummy how to look after them.

My mummy gave us each a little bit of garden to look after and to grow our own flowers. My garden was behind the garage and just by the water butt. I could always make sure my plants were well watered.

I grew seeds in my garden, but I was also very good hatching tadpoles in the water butt. The frogs would disappear off to the local pond but would always come back each year to lay their frogspawn.

I love my garden too and I like to sit out in the sunshine. When your daddy was little, we would sit out on our bench and read lots of books, especially when baby (Aunty) Elly was sleeping.

Your Grandad’s dad, Robert Riddick, has green fingers too. In fact his grandad helped to build a very special garden in Somerset called Stourton. We went to see the beautiful garden once and it was a lovely garden with a big pond.

Grandad Bob and Grandma Elsie loved their garden very much. Grandad grew lots of plants and won lots of special silver cups in flower shows.

Grandad Bob learnt how to take cutting to grow even more plants. Grandad had a very special greenhouse at the end of his garden, this was where he looked after the little cuttings helping them to grow big and strong.

He would water them and talk to them every day.

Grandma and Grandad Riddick sometimes liked to go and stay in my mummy’s special holiday home in Moraira, Spain. When they went away grandad would fill up lots of wine bottles with water and turn them upside down in his pots, he knew that his plants would have plenty to drink until he came back.

The wine bottles were filled with water of course or else he might have had a lot of tipsy plants,

Grandad Riddick also make his own fruit wine and your daddy and Aunty Elly would help us to go and pick lots and lots of fruit for grandad, but, that’s another story.

Every year we would got to see grandma and grandad Riddick and we would come home with a car full of cuttings:-  geraniums; trailing geraniums; fuchsias; begonias; lobelias; bizzy Lizzy’s and lots more. Your daddy and Aunty Elly would often come home with trays of plants on their laps.

I would make macrame hanging baskets for some of the plants to hang up in the garden, our garden was always full of beautiful flowers too.

So, you see I think you must have green fingers. I think your grandads; great grandads; and even great, great grandads (and grandmas) would be pleased to hear that you love planting seeds too.

They would love to know that your ‘Mr Stickman’ is on guard to watch over your planting.

So grandad and I thought you might enjoy a special gardening set and greenhouse of your own. We know you will enjoy these special gardening sets because you see, you have ‘Green Fingers’ too. 

{Your mummy’s Daddy, Paul, must have green fingers too. He has often come, from Ireland, to help in your mummy’s garden. He likes climbing ladders and pruning hedges]