Meet our Grower of the Month for April, Carol Bowen Ball (@fromplot2pot2plate). In this blog post, Carol shares with us her gardening journey, what she loves to grow, and much more. Sharing tips with other gardeners/growers, she says to grow what you like rather than what everyone else is nurturing, and to make your own space ‘bespoke’ to you.
How and when did you start gardening/growing?
My earliest memories of gardening were somewhat predictably with my grandparents. My paternal grandfather was quite hands on when it came to showing his grandchildren his roses and I was always allocated the task of cutting the fresh mint for the sauce to accompany the roast lamb on Sundays. He also had an impressive number of daisies in his lawn which meant hours of daisy chain making. In contrast, my maternal grandfather, loved fuchsias (which I thought were flower ballerinas) but also had an impressive vegetable and greenhouse plot with beans, peas, tomatoes and cucumbers, which again I was tasked with picking. It is a little wonder I associate gardening or growing with food as much as flowers.
I didn’t have a garden of my own until after I was married, but because my job was as Household & Cookery Editor for Homes & Gardens magazine, I visited many, and soon began to have favourite styles I wanted to emulate. A love of structure meant that hedging and topiary appealed but I didn’t want over-restrictive formality so it has waxed and waned and adapted since those early formative years.
What I did develop however was a thirst for knowledge about plants as food and how to select, grow, cook and serve them. I was fortunate that a couple of books that I worked on helped to foster this (with the able and necessary help from experts who were early flag bearers for the organic movement). My own career took me into the recipe development sphere so I went on to write many recipe books (some specialising in salads, desserts, freezing food, eating for health and seasonal cooking), where so much of this found a wonderful audience.