Heather, I'm sorry to hear all this. It's really awful for you. But remember that these forums are very welcoming and you can still join in wherever you end up. I'm sure you'll settle back in to the UK - after all you still know how to spell 'arse'! So stay with us. Tell us how you are getting on. As the Book says, 'DON'T PANIC!' Hope to hear from you soon. Flora

And don't forget your towel! Seriously though, I wish you happiness on your new journey, and hope to see you again on gardenweb. Maybe I could hitch a ride LOL ...but let me grab my purse first!
Caroline

Heather,
You'll be missed, and I'm so sorry to hear of your leaving, and the cause. If it is any consolation, the same thing happened to my husband when he was 48 and after he had invested 25 years with a company. If he hadn't been "released" we would still be freezing up north. As it turned out, it was a blessing, because it gave us the incentive to look at what we really wanted to do, and to make plans to do it. Now we're on a little farm in the warmth of Texas.
Try to find something good in your situation, and please keep up with the forum when you get settled. We want to hear from you.

The worst bit was probably not knowing and that's behind you now. You're a gardener and a nurse and we both know that makes you special. You'll get things straightened out and the whole while GW will be just a mouse click away. Better times are ahead Heather ; )

So sorry about the crappy news (and crappy timing)...and that you have to give up your current garden, but I'm sure there will be other gardens in your future, and there's certainly no reason to disappear from the Forum - although most people on this forum live in the USA, it's not mandatory ; ).

Hi Heather,
You have a willing heart and a great attitude (usually ;-)
So ...there is no doubt you will do real well,wherever you happen to land, so God Bless You and Yours, and get your butt back online ASAP, and tell us about the wonderful Fall Garden you will have planted at your new home ..... Love Ya Babyyyy

{{gwi:11399}}

Well now you make me sad and how to make you smile? Well not this time But do try to post from your new home. and yes I followed your post in good moods and bad. Just remember things have a way of working out. they have for me for what that is worth. God bless you and your family.

Curt :(

I'm so sorry Heather. But, they have Internet in the UK?

Don't forget your trowel! ;~)

Can't say Don't Panic, cause i'm facing a job crisis as well and prolly bleeding internally at the thought of losing my garden (and 3 big dogs and 17 chickens and two hives of bees)so i offer some serious empathy!

thank you all, and instar8 I feel what you are going though, I hope it works out for you.
Well I have regrouped, and an now actually looking forward to home, the selling of the house is my only fear.
My family are excited we are returning as our friends are, except My Grandad, who when I told him asked "who are you" :) then said you are the one in Canada??? and did I know his dad died 2 years ago? his dad died before I was born :( still is physical fit he is good, only takes med for his eyes, not bad at 91 and My Boys will have the honour of knowing hopefully.
Also My cousin had his first born on Saturday, or should I say his good lady? My first cousin to join me on this adventure, and a picture is not as good as in person, I will miss the new baby smell, and also he and his misses had the good grace to have a girl, which my Boys find agreeable, as it doesn't usurp their Boy Great Grandchild status :) , as twins they like anything that singles them out, and I love it as I get to buy pretty dresses :)(my Mum and Dad are dead so extra important about my Grandad)
Jon hughes, I have a ton (exaggerate slightly) of seeds, could I send them to you? for do you know a charity that could use then if you can't? I would do seed exchange but with like a thousand tomato and carrot seeds I don't at this time want to packaging up small amounts.
and also to be honest I don't think many of them are heirloom, I blame Thompson and Morgan, I thought they had typos in the catalog, 430 seeds, for Roma toms, carrots etc.
any how I looked on the DEFRA site (and I am allowed to take 5 packets of seed into the UK, even if originally from the UK) so long story short last year, seed buying replaced my lipstick buying habit was a lot cheaper and more fun :) and at least I used them. (honest! once a month a lippy, and I never where make up??? so I went to the packet for 20c addition, much better :) )
So I have my Towel, trowel, and am trying not to PANIC, thank you and you are right, I can stay, and thanks for being honest, :)

Hi Heather,
That would be wonderful,what I don't use myself, I will donate to the FoodBank, You are Awesome ;-) Thank You
Jon Hughes
899 SE Gladiola Drive
Grants Pass Oregon 97526

{{gwi:62405}}

Hi sorry Jon, I thought I had replied to this before, and I come back to say I have, well hubby has, posted the seeds today, so sorry, I really thought I had replied before, obviously too many balls in the air at the mo :)
as I found the cartoon extremely funny, and as a nurse, I echo that, anyway I hope I copied the address correctly, I am famed for my Dyslexia, I sent it priority, so hopefully the next few days, the heat at the moment worried me, but I know myself and if I don't do it when I think on it, it would never happen. :)

You, missy, are NOT leaving the forum! Once you get settled back at home, I know you'll return and keep chatting it up with all of us.

And by the way, you managed to get this stuck in my head for about a day and a half. Evil! ;)

haha, I enjoyed that... 5 times, I have only seen the film once, but following that I am now watching the original TV series on netfix, I say original, as in this is the HG2TG I first experienced when my mum let me stay up and watch at about age 11, before that was the Radio Shows, and after more radio and books, what I love is and this includes the film, some themes are the same but the story changes in each generation, so you are never sure :) the only thing that does stay the same 42 and life the universe and everything doesn't add up...very deep and clever:0 and so knowing where your towel is is important as it is a constant :) honest I could right a thesis on HG2TG :)
On my garden I did pull a bunch of stuff up, in a fit of to hell with it, but I left the peppers and toms, and now I am getting some red Toms, so at least I will get some fruit for my labour :) I just need to get out in that baking heat an put up the nets, unfortunately, I am ill equipped for hot weather like this, so another point to the UK, the only 37 I ever had there was a British record buster 6 years ago I think? and nothing like it before or since and a one day only offer :)
on that day I erected a canopy, filled the wading pool (I had one even before kids) and sat in bliss in the pool reading, whilst my hubby and brother spent the day lying on the floor, indoor in the grips of hell with a hangover, I supplied water as needed :)
one of the up points for early pregnancy I think :)

Sorry to butt in on your goodbyes, I do hope you get home safely, but you mentioned you weren't allowed to take but 7 packs of seeds with you? I've ordered lots of seeds from even the uk this year and wondered if that means professional growers as well?

You can always mail 7 packs of seeds a week to yourself until you get them all, but I might be wrong!

Good luck on your move, I hear everything grows better in the UK. You have a shorter season, but everything grows so fast. The most memorable garden books I have show amazing English potagers. One day I'm going to travel to Europe just to see the allotment gardens, maybe in France too. They also have great gardens.

I hope you have a safe trip, while the rest of us are smoldering in this hot weather, we will wish we were you.

Hi Heather,
I received the wonderful bounty of seeds today...WOW... LOTS and LOTS ;-)

Thank You Soooo Much and God Bless You and Yours ;-)

{{gwi:28490}}

Jon, glad they arrived safe and well.
Scarletdaisies, I looked into it Defra (departments of food and rural affairs) on there web site, Most confusing but due to a misspent youth in the Young Farmers Club, I am aware I could say buy seeds in the UK from a American company so long as they have a certificate for something or other? and Vice versa, however all my packets have been used and therefore theoretically open to contamination, I decided to leave them, rather than tussle with customs. also I bet Jon is scratching his head to Vegetable Marrow, and runner beans as in the first...what is that?, (it's a summer squash related to zukes, but gets bigger a lot biggerm you take out the seeds and use like a Zuke or stuff, and bake for info :) ), and runner beans are lovely, the flowers are beautiful.
But most of what I had is easily available in the UK, so if I can help people through the medium of Jon, it is a fitting End to my time in America, I can weep and moan, but I can at least afford to lose some seeds, and still eat :)
Oh and you are correct the season is short but constant, so the stuff I love apart from some Tomato varieties grow well, and winter is mild in the South East so Brussels and cold weather crops go on for a long time in the winter, I even know a lady who has a lemon tree, which is 30 years old and survives in ground all year, she doesn't always get lemons but she gets the blossoms every year :)
The county is Kent and called the Garden of England, so great place to start again.
Scarlet, you will love allotments, they come big and small and a life of there own, in the UK I had friends with allotments, they are a amazing places, and come June or July for Village Fete season, you will understand the British "who done it's" :0

quick update, I wasn't going to but I read all your posts and I find myself crying, you became my life when I was in the US, I didn't have a car which is very limiting with your country, so it was my social life basically, as was my garden.
Well, we are renting a house to live in, our house in the US is rented out couldn't sell it, hubby is oddly being employed in the UK by the company that made him redundant in the US (as a contractor), but our time in the US wasn't wasted as the fact he had a social security number and US bank account, meant he could be taken on more quickly than another UK resident, we just have the headache of our UK taxes, and the fact US banks are really rubbish at transfering money without being resident in the US, so we cann't get his wages!!!
back to the garden, my boys have spent 2 weeks with the local boys digging a hole to the centre of the earth, it was going well, they where convinced it was getting hotter, I just saw a 2 feet deep hole.
that said hubby filled it in today, and after my raised bed in Ct due to the rock, the Soil I saw was amazing to 2 feet, just soil...rich brown, crumbly, lovely soil...
I have my toms, going strong, next thing is my beans, runners, and haricot can't wait.
I am loving being home, I can walk places, use beaches without permits, woods, so my link goes back to my first post, Douglas Adams was a wise man, that in the depths of dispare "things where not what they seem2 and even if we lose every thing I am only 40 and I have the most amazing famly, friends and job.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thing are not always what they seem :)

Hi Heather,
Glad to see you back online and soooo happy to hear your garden is going well, Awesome girl ;-)

So long, Heather, and thanks for all the Britishisms! Grow some artichokes for us.

BTW, new england does have some great soils, you were unlucky to be on bedrock outcropping.

Ive just come back to Gardenweb after a yrs or so off.....and read thru this. Oh Heather, yrs ago I had the reverse happen- had to leave the UK because my hubby's time ended there and we had to come back to the US...... so I feel your loss. I often wonder if the current owners of my English home have a garden like I did.....

lilycrazy,it's nice but not nice to hear the same thing happened the other way round, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, but we where lucky we had 6 months notice, at the time we left, another british family, working for the same company got 30 days notice as in they had to be out of the country in 30 days. so i count my blessings
I hope I wasn't the next owner of your house in the UK as before I hit America I had a slash and burn policy on all gardens :) I used to leave them a year to see what happened then still converted it all to lawn??? America gave me the reason and time to veg garden, reason couldn't believe the cost of veg and fruit in the US! everything is so cheap with you but the basics really expensive, and I wasn't working so...make use of my time, and what a great use, and it cured me of my lipstick obsession, even though I don't wear the stuff??
sadly in the few years I have been away fruit and veg has increased in price in the UK supermarkets to stupid levels, its actualy cheaper to travel 9 miles to an organic farm shop!!! me thinks the mark ups are mad? or money grabbing?

Welcome home Heather! How about this amazing April weather? Hurry up with those runners, I have a few plants in already. (Started inside and planted out with fleece around them.) I put in between 8 and 10 every couple of weeks so they don't all crop at once. I also planted out my first round of courgettes as they were growing so fast in this heat. I always grow a yellow variety so I don't miss picking them and end up with marrows. (All my veg growing is on my allotment.) I'm trying peppers this year but I'll keep them in the porch with the basil - just not hot enough outside. I'm trying outdoor tomatoes yet again, as I do every year. No problem growing the plants but they always end up with blight and I get about 3 tomatoes. But I just like growing stuff and live in hope! The purple sprouting and curly kale are just finishing. I would highly recommend you growing them. Also red Russian kale - totally foolproof and it self sows. Keep us posted on your gardening this year. Flora.

Good bye. Hello! so good to hear that things are going well for you and the family. Made my day

Curt