Hi, I’m Julietta and this is my blog, Gardenwilde
It has quite literally grown out of lockdown.
I can’t say I always had a passion for gardening.
My parents were botanists and biologists and had an allotment. So, I grew up eating runner beans, looking for bugs, going to agricultural shows and begrudgingly learning the names of every tree on loooong nature walks. All I want to do was watch TV. We didn’t have one back then. I now realize what a blessing this was, but at the time being able to watch Friends or Bloosom or play the Nintendo was my only interest.
Nature, plants, gardening was something my parents did. It felt like a chore. No one else was doing it. I grew into a helpful but unfortunately non-nature loving teenager.
Now, I really wish I could claim that I’ve been gardening for umpteen years and that my fingers are as green as monty dons celery, but sadly no.
In 2001, after university, I had no idea what I was interested in or what I wanted to do. So armed with a History degree, I took my knapsack and CV and went to a recruitment agency on Oxford Street in London. My CV wasn’t interesting to them, but the fact I could type quickly was. So after 15 minutes I was offered 10 interviews. Six of them looked interesting and might I add – utterly bonkers. 1. An aide to the Ambassador of South Korea, 2. Manager of the kitchens in the House of Parliaments, 3. Secretary at the Marriot Group, 4. Assistant for a Wedding Planner, 5. Telesales, 6. Editorial Sales at a Radio Marketing Company. After some very interesting interviews, I took the latter and had a pretty miserable year.
After that, I moved up to Manchester to be closer to my then boyfriend and took a string of temp jobs.
I then interviewed for a scholarship to study overseas and won! I spent a great year in Philadelphia studying Political Science, working in Independence Hall Visitor’s Centre, cycling round the city causing havoc and partying.
I thought I wanted to try and save the world working for an NGO or the UN. I did a brief stint at one NGO before getting a job as a BBC Researcher back home.
I worked in TV for many years before switching into Management Consultancy. That was hard work, eye opening and utterly draining. I travelled A LOT and then got pregnant.
After that we moved to Melbourne for half a year where my little girl and I spent our time in the Botanical Gardens, the huge parks and museums.
Then a job opened up for my husband back in his home country of Northern Ireland.
That was a tough move, London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Melbourne and now the middle of the countryside in Northern Ireland!
We moved into a lovely cottage surrounded by trees and wildlife. I also didn’t realize that I had inherited quite a large garden, all with different aspects and soil types.
After years of dealing with city problems like kids burning our mail, noisy neighbours, dodgy rental properties – suddenly we were in our own home dealing with very new problems. Noisy owls, magpies, bats, cutting the lawn, weeding!
We also discovered a 20m x 2m strip of garden that had raised beds in. Although we didn’t know it was there as it was full of 10ft weeds!!!
We’ve now been here nearly 4 years and I have fallen in love with gardening.
But, when I started, all l wanted was a manicured lawn, easy to manage shrubs, a few pretty flowers and everything else SUPER TIDY. So I weeded, swept, shredded, removed, smothered and did quite a lot of damage with chemical pesticides and fertilizers in those first years.
After a lot of Gardener’s World and reading about permaculture, organic gardening and soil health – I have FINALLY found what I am passionate about. It’s the SOIL. It’s PLANTS. It’s GARDENING. But gardening in harmony with nature – both above and below the ground.
Gardening in harmony with nature, both above and below the ground.
I want to help others learn about organic gardening, soil health and growing wild! 🌻 I want to make it easy and fun and help inspire people.
In just 3 months, I’ve come to look at the environment around me in a completely different way and I want to learn all about it, preserve it and help it. â €
I’m a city girl who’s found her roots, quite literally in the soil.
I am a latecomer, but I’m re-tracing my past, reconnecting with my roots and hopefully rewilding my garden.
I’m not an expert, but what I learn I’m going to share. I’m hoping the expertise will come.