I am sure you have heard the old nursery rhyme that goes something along the lines of, “Mary, Mary quite contrary how does your garden grow?”.
Well, with a play on words (and after I discovered the domain name www.howdoesyourgardengrow,com was already taken) I decided to name my site https://www.HowDoesYourGardenMow.com.
Who am I?
My name is Michael McGrath and I have two passions in life; boating and gardening. One is expensive and therapeutic while the other is reasonably cheap but is also therapeutic.
I’ll leave to to guess which one is which. 😉
I grew up in Ireland, in Belfast in the north of Ireland to be exact, during the unfortunate time in my country’s history known as the Irish Troubles.
During those bleak and dark times there was very little for an ordinary law-abiding person to do. Concerts and other forms of entertainment were sparse. Even clubs were that not abundant as most people kept to their own small local areas at night for safety.
So, it was not surprising that I looked to something that was safe, and close-by, as a hobby. Thus I ventured into the world of gardening.
Although I did not gain my love of boating until I reached American soil in adulthood, my love for plants was born in my childhood. Even as I grew to love the water I never lost my love of the land and have continued to enjoy cultivating both outdoor garden plants and indoor houseplants to this day.
My history with plants
I guess I got my love of plant cultivation and plant care from my Irish mother.
My mother has always been a keen gardener, liking nothing better than to get her hands dirty in the soil as she grows her ever-expanding and impressive garden. This is something she continues to be to this day, in Ireland, in her late 70’s.
As a child I would help my mum in the garden slowly learning the differences between specific plants and how best to care for them. I also learned that with careful planning, and attentive plant-care, that you can even cultivate certain species of plant that are not native to your locality – my mother has a splendid Japanese Cherry Blossom tree (Prunus serrulata), for example, growing in the backyard of my parent’s house in cold rainy Ireland.
Over the years, and across continents, I have continued to develop my knowledge of, and grow my love for, plants of all kinds. To this day it still seems like magic to me, or more accurately it feels magical, that a tiny motionless seed or bulb can produce a spectacular living, breathing thing. The fact that from an unassuming and humble beginning such beauty can erupt still leaves me in awe to this day.
And the variety of beauty that is available from a rich and vibrant amount of different plants is staggering.
Why this website exists
I created this website to share my knowledge and expertise of outdoor plants and houseplants with others.
It is my sincerest desire to help people who are struggling to find answers to their plant related questions. There are so many questions and concerns about plants that it should come as no surprise that there is a serious lack of good informative advice on many houseplant and garden plant varieties available. Many people most voice their concerns on online forums in the hope that someone will answer them.
Many online gardening forums do offer a rich and varied amount of information but trying to find the exact answer to your specific question can be frustrating and often results in hours of trawling different message boards in order to amass and conglomerate the needed information into a solid answer that you can use in your situation.
It is my hope that I can help alleviate some of that frustration by providing relevant and helpful advice for gardening topics that are seriously underserved in the online world. Although books are a splendid way of growing your knowledge on a subject sometimes you just need a answer to one specific question and buying a book may seem like overkill. Likewise, if you tend a garden in the backyard and/or have succulents indoors there will be no one book to cover all your needs!
My aim with this website
Although I would love to share all my gardening knowledge on this website, and cover all aspects of gardening and houseplant care, I am aware that this would take a lifetime to complete. I will though endeavour to share as much helpful gardening information with the readers of this website as I can.
As I come across a question or concern that is not properly addressed online, and as I am informed of such by friends and readers of this site, I will create content about it in an aid to help fill in that knowledge gap.
A quick website disclosure
I should note here that within the pages of this website you will find advertisements and the occasional affiliate link. I have included these because they generate the small amount of income needed to maintain this website (nothing is free even on the Internet and I have web hosting, domain registration fees etc. to pay).
If you purchase a product through any affiliate link in one of my posts it will not cost you any extra money – you pay the same amount with or without using my link but using it helps me to meet the costs of running and maintaining this website. You are under no obligation to use my links.
I should also note that I only ever link to products that I believe are truly beneficial – hence you will often find links to products that are not affiliate links. If you want to know more about the advertising and affiliate associates and how they work on this website read this disclosure statement.
I hope you will visit this website often for great gardening tips, ideas and ways to find out all the latest news in the houseplant and gardening world. I also hope you enjoy reading the content as much as I have enjoyed creating it for you.
