Why are we members of GOY?

I came across goy when I googled a question about my cordyline australis and got some really helpful responses back. I like the blogs and photos and have got some great ideas from the photos. Everyone comes across as really friendly and it's nice to be able to talk about my garden which I proud of, even though I am new to gardening and as you say 'I do it in my own way' which probably isn't the right way. At first, I did get a couple of books thinking they would help me, but they are gathering dust on the the shelf as I prefer just to get stuck in and have learnt lots by myself and also through reading the GOY blogs.

However, I dared answer a question by another Goyer and received quite a sharp response from a different Goyer which made me realise I'd better not share my limited knowledge again. Suffice to say I haven't gone near the questions section since! I felt liked I'd been well and truly rapped over the knuckles and that I was back at school again.

It hasn't stopped me enjoying the blogs and photos though, I've just learnt not to give any advice! I agree, I would like to see smilies as well.

Hi Sarra ...

This is a smile :o)

This is a smile and a wink ;o)

This is sad :o(

This is very sad :o(((

This is a big smile :o)))

Terra. I know those but I like *cute* and they aren't. Also, I once used a smilie when I discovered I had to retire because I had a bowel condition and wanted to break the news to my friends on a forum. Nobody was offended by my personal info, because the smilie was funny, but how do you show somebody flushing a loo with these symbols? Sorry. Bad taste. (But funny). :-))))

:-))) ???
I guess your smile is for people with thin noses ? ;o)

I have a very thin smile. (But a really loud laugh).

Lol. and a kind heart, because you like "cute" :o)))

Goy to me is penfriends in all four corners of this beautiful world, australian summers when we are in the depths of cold, canadian cousins, americans with such an amazingly varied climate and here in britain as well I wellcan ask them questions see their photos, sympatise with sadness laugh at their jokes and look in awe at the weath of beauty and knowledge contained in Goy......

My dislike is the amount of times I burn the dinner, let my tea go cold giggle when others think I,m mad andI,d like smiley too......x

Lijemc.....think we have all had our knuckles well and truly rapped about answering a Q. 'our way' and that is what I dislike, being told that I do not know what I am doing! :~(
Otherwise, my likes are= Goy is a friendly, fun, loving, laughing, sharing, blog making website enjoyed by so many, especially also if folk cannot go out often and enjoy others gardens and can only share them on here, it has to be a treasure to behold.

Great comments Pam and Grandmage .. :o)

@Lijemc. You do it 'your way'. Excellent, brilliant. I'm not the perfect gardener either. My late father was head gardener with Lord ***** on his estate and was a stickler for the book. He tried to get me interested in gardening when I was a child but I found it so stultifying growing everything in neat rows, flowers in the front garden, vegetables in the back. Don't plant on the first of June if the packet says plant April/May, etc. It took me years after he died to actually develop my own interest in gardening and to lose plants by doing it wrong then recover by getting it right. I now plant vegetables in the flower beds and anything with anything. It doesn't always work but I did notice that, at Chelsea this year, there was a definite move towards 'jungle' gardening, also known as shoe-horn planting.

Cheers TT. :~))) even if any of us experience a bereavement, the love sent is phenomenal. x

Well, I wish I could say I was the perfect gardener - but I'm not either. I take shortcuts, and take chances, but the trouble with having been a professional is, I feel obliged to give out accurate information, even if I don't do what I'm saying myself and 'risk a biscuit' so to speak.
I'm on here for information, primarily - passing it on, collecting it, researching it, love it. Also I like problem solving, though definitely not of the maths variety. Also the humour, an unexpected treat - sometimes I've laughed till I've cried. And the support and sharing actually, there's a lot of that at times, as Grandmage says.
What don't I like? Well, I don't like the lack of moderation - there are times where a bit more intervention at an early stage by moderators would avoid a holocaust of apocalyptic proportions.

If I could just be serious (ME- serious??) for one posting can I just say that my worry about people giving false, pompous advice does not involve Bamboo in any way. I have always found her advice totally sound and if she is in any doubt, she says so. The sensible thing to do.

Thanks for the encouragement Sarra, I will carry on doing it my way. I'm glad there's a move towards jungle gardening, my garden will be very fashionable then. lol

Lol. Lijemc ..
On my latest blog, I could only think of "bungle" to rhyme with "jungle" .. Lol.
but, the truth is, jungle style can look fantastic :o)

Hey TT! Does that mean that when I thought I was way ahead of my time by jungle gardening, I was actually bungle gardening? :-D

thanks tt. I loved your poem, it certainly brought a smile to my face. Wish I was so talented!

Bungle gardening, nothing wrong with that, that's how I started - some happy accidental plantings occur that way too.

Lol. Sarra, Lijemc, Bamboo ...
Bungle gardening ... sounds great to me ...
I do it all the time :o)))

I'm a member of goy because not one single person I know in "real" life has any interest in gardening, apart from the folk I'm just meeting through community gardening. Oh, and the step mum in law. Who I can only handle in short doses...... I want to share and learn and talk to folk who appreciate gardening and nature who I can relate to.... Or learn from, or both!!! Only been around a matter of weeks but think I'm here for the long haul! No one I know is interested in hearing about my primulas or seedlings or attempts at landscaping , but on here I can share my passion with others who are genuinely interested in hearing and seeing my progress, I find that rather uplifting.

Well said, Magna ..
If I didn't show pics of my back garden on GoY, nobody would see it, other than my dogs .... Lol.
It is very nice to be able to exchange gardening ideas with such a variety of keen gardeners.

Another controversial blog where we can all learn to really open up to each other, learn about the way we all think and, ultimately, really, really hate each other. :o)) (Round nose courtesy of Terratoonie).

If I could just be serious again ('twice in one day' I hear you all say) can I just point out that I have, since 2008, only put up about 4 or 5 blogs, only one of those dealt with a serious topic, that of artificial light in hastening plant propagation. That one got two comments. All the frivolous, let's have some fun, topics have been inundated with replies. Does that tell us anything about the serious gardeners of GOY? Maybe that is another thing I like. We can laugh at ourselves.

Now I'm going to watch Gardeners' World to see if I can spot the professionals doing it all wrong. :-)

Glad you share your garden on here TT, I've enjoyed looking at it x

LOL! As for the 'round nose', I've been wondering for months what that little o was ...

Thanks Magna xxx

Sarra... I just checked out your "artificial light" blog.
I was relieved to find I had left a comment ;o)

When I first joined GoY, I noticed that Peter made his "smiles" like this :o) ...
... so I copied, thinking it must be the official GoY way ..Lol.

I agree Magna I am relatively new to the site but have been gardening for over 40 years and would just say that there is no right or wrong way to garden just your own way,whatever suits your purpose........and everyone I have encountered so far has been very friendly and helpful
so glad you gave us this blog Sarra thanks :o)))
Happy Gardening all :o)))

Thanks Niverdeen ... Happy Gardening to you too :o)

Yup, no right or wrong way but lots of tricks of the trade and tried and tested measures at your fingertips on here, if I hadn't joined I would still be trying to persuade my claggy soil to support plants with a handful of general purpose fertiliser and a pet on the leaf x Can see from pics on here what I could have after getting things right with the mud x

Ssshhh, don't tell anyone, Magnadoodle, but sometimes that approach works anyway...;-)

Here is another Goy sign,Sarraceniac...\0/ ..I am waving to you ! Lol.:o)..I endorse everything you say ,and at the end of the day,we have met many new friends,in this virtual world,through our love of gardening..whether we do it right or not..it doesn't matter,as we learn as we go
along..if we need to,or want to..it's our personal choice..but to have a lovely comment on a blog or pic,is uplifting to us all,and encourages us to have faith in ourselves in our efforts to be a half decent gardener...and to have fun,at the same time...yes,we go off tangent a lot too,but that's life...I don't want it to be any other way..:o)

Why do people object to looking up answers in books if its done with the honest intention of helping the enquirer to find an answer to their problem? Surely there's a difference between trying to be as helpful as possible and just showing off? If somebody has a book with the answer in it makes sense to share it?

I don't think that's what Sarraceniac means, Steragram - a genuine desire to research and help provide information is not what he's meaning at all... I know this because I asked him privately ...

I agree with magna, it's nice to be able to talk about my garden. no one i know is really that interested ;-(((

1 other minor thing I would like to change is when I'm looking at individual photos, I have to keep scrolling down to see the whole photo, which I find just a tiny bit irritating. Not sure if thats just my computer though.

when I first joined I got a 'slap too' but after a quick pm we are friends now. I explained why I had done what i had done and the member saw I was not dissing the comment but trying to expand on it.

But seriously there are times when I find the frivolous more of a distraction as I do enjoy the botany/biology [there are only 32 graduate botanists still working and few uni's offer the courses now] with other like minded people. When the boys introduced the blog categories it allowed many of us to select which we chose to read. that was a definite like for me. I do read some of the off plant ones and enjoy them.

I also enjoy how a question goes off on a tangent too sometimes.

my main like is the ability to catelogue the plants I grow with photos . not showing off [I was accused of this by a member who left ages ago] but a neat way of saving info with photos.

how is the helebore doing Sarra? hopefully enjoying all the wet.

Love the blog and the comments. My likes are the people. Pretty much everyone I have met on GoY has proven to be kind, caring, generous and knowledgable. I'm also very fond of the dare I call it madness. I love the fact that we can have a good chuckle over things we've said or done. Makes life so much more interesting.

Things I would change. Well proper smilies please. Also would like to be able to upload photos directly from my phone (since that's where I'm posting from now lol - appologies for any daft spelling mistakes I blame it on predictive text lol).

I think uploading from phones might be something they'll have to change on here - smart phones do everything these days, so not being able to upload pics from them must be really annoying, not to mention 'old style'. Gotta move with the times, whether we like it or not... not that I've got a smartphone, can't afford to have a contract phone, but I'm beginning to think they're very useful things to have for all the apps on them.

Spot on with that comment Bamboo. Before I had my smartphone I always thought they were a waste of time for me. I never used my phone for anything other than texting and phoning. Now I love it. An easy link to GoY (a necessity of course), comes in handy when I'm lost (which happens more often than I care to admit lol) is a great camera, great for playing music (comes in handy when I'm working in the lab - weights and measures not Chem) plus good for games when I'm bored lol. Wouldn't go back now I love my phone lol.

I was only struck by how useful they are by watching my son with his - he checks when the next bus is due before leaving, uses it as a map when we go round London, picks a recipe to cook for his dinner, has a compass on it which I've used, a spirit level, emails people and accesses the web all the time. He's a techie though - used to be in computer programming, now moved into mobile phone programming.

Uploading from phone would be the top of my list too x I would upload a ton more pix if i could do from phone

Im the queen of cramming them in sarra :)
I like GOY tonight john because your back..
I didn't like GOY when you were away hahaha...

Now Dee, sarcasm will not get us anywhere, it is not true that I am an eccentric millionaire. In fact I could be better described as a 'balm-pot pauper'. Hope you are keeping well, and actually I've never really been away from GOY. It is just that unless I have anything to say which I think contributes something to a discussion I usually just read and move on. But I don't like saying, ' Yes, I agree with that'. More fun is, 'No, I disagree with that'. As long as people don't think it's personal then an interesting discussion can come from that. It is also true that, as I don't know quite everything about gardening that I have asked the odd question, some say 'very odd'.:═)). (There, that invents a new 'smilie' with a broader nose - a great step for mankind.)

Its great to see you john, even tho i can't see you, i have that image in my mind when we virtually meet up, you know the one, the gowned up look alike Dr kildare MD :)
yeah im fine, its my garden i worry about, how the plants grow and survive in this weather i dont know, blowing a gale out there and i just planted a banana! never mind, i like the torn banana leaf look! :))))))

Sorry Seaburn, just noticed your query about the hellebore. They are both doing fine although I usually find that the first year of planting on they tend to not grow much. It is the second year when they start to grow apace. I gave one to Jean who loves them and then, about a month after she planted it at her own place, she and her husband announced that, because of personal financial reasons they are going back to Australia next year so I'll get it back then. I shall miss her for being a friend and the work she puts in to my garden because she loves gardening and her own is so small.

Dee, talking about being gowned up, I once posted a picture of George Clooney in 'ER' with a mask on when someone on a forum suggested we put pictures of ourselves on. It took the membership a few days to realise who the picture was, and that it was April 1st when I posted it and that I had already described myself truthfully as elderly, bald, short and running (or nowadays walking) to fat. Good job they knew my SOH by then. LOL.

Ahhhh thats the one John, forgot it was George, I was fooled, i really thought it was you :0
sorry your loosing your friend, you will miss her input and no doubt someone to share your love of gardening with.
meant to ask, have you used your greenhouse for overwintering and if yes what did you overwinter? Im going to buy a heater this year, im sick of loosing stuff!
Oh the suns coming out, yessss :)

Love the forum for it's quality and quantity of information. Love the member's photos. Love the question bit and occasionally pluck up the courage to answer but am always aware of how limited my knowledge is. Occasionally though, I too feel that contributors can be a little abrupt in how they answer questions. Or else, take the Mick a little with people who cannot phrase a question well. After all, we are supposed to be helping one another, not criticising grammar and spelling.

Great blog Sarra.

Likes : I totally second Magna, I'm sure that if i mention the back garden makeover, or anything remotely connected to it my OH and daughter are gonna explode!

They are both looking forward to the end result but sick to death of me banging on about it, not so with my GOY friends ( i hope..)

Dislikes: hmmm... well i am now very cautious about answering questions and no smilies and no uploading pics straight from phone