27 Dec “Grandad grew veg. Dad was a flowers man.”

This is how I started growing. I grew up in Dunston, County Durham. My grandad Robert Silcock was a pitman had an allotment, but it got taken off him by the council, for houses. So granddad arranged to work an unused side garden in the village that belonged to someone’s shop. From the age of four, I worked with my granddad on the plot beside that house, growing veg. Grandad grew veg. Dad was a flowers man. Since then, I say, if you can’t eat it, don’t grow it! The plot beside the house ran up a lane that was a dead end. In those days, the milkman delivered with a horse and cart. Grandad used to wait until the cart had turned to come back down. He’d make sure to talk to the milkman until the horse had done its business. Then he’d say “You can go now. I’ve got what I need!”