Do Your Kids Actually Care About Gardening, or Is It Just You?

Hey folks, quick question for everyone: how do your grown kids actually feel about gardening and growing food?
I’ve been in love with plants since I was a little kid. I remember always gazing up at other people’s windows admiring their indoor houseplants. Started out growing windowsill flowers, then begged my family for a patch in the garden, ordered seeds by mail, saved my own seed, and kept that going for years. Then life happened: moved to the city for college, got married, had babies.
When I was 28, we bought our very first weekend country property. We fell so hard for it that by fall of that exact same year, we bought a second adjoining plot! Haven’t parted with garden soil since. My grandmother and mother always grew gardens too. My sister has her own country place. But I’m definitely the chief plant addict in the family! Constantly hunting down rare varieties, obsessing over new plants, spending a small fortune on seed orders, and building collections where I know almost every cultivar by name.
Meanwhile, my own family is completely indifferent to the whole thing. Sure, they can appreciate beautiful flowers or a sweet homegrown tomato on their plate, but the actual work of growing? Zero interest. My husband is already grumbling. The kids just aren’t into it, as folks say nowadays. Everyone has their own interests, I guess. Maybe they just haven’t grown into it yet.
Did your obsession with the soil ever pass down to your children?

Good morning everyone!
My daughter is 37 now. She, my son-in-law, and our grandson will pitch in around our garden beds if I specifically ask them to, but they never show genuine initiative or curiosity on their own. Honestly, I think that is totally normal. I try to only recruit them when heavy lifting is absolutely necessary. My husband always says: as long as we can manage on our own, we will do it ourselves, and we will cross future bridges when we get there.
I only truly fell in love with dirt once I became the sole master of my own land. And now that I’m older, I find myself thinking more and more that we should rest, travel, read books, watch good movies, catch up with friends and relatives, and spend less time bent over garden beds. Trying to find that balance…

Morning y’all! Nope, not a bit! 🤦‍♀️
Mine actually get on my case about it. They want me to bulldoze the vegetable rows and just put in emerald lawn, pines, and arborvitae.
Truth be told, these days my only true garden loves are tomatoes, cucumbers, and strawberries. I don’t even want to plant the rest anymore. The kids don’t take fresh vegetables and rarely touch home-canned jars. They used to when they were younger, but now, for just my husband and me, it is way simpler to buy a couple of beets at the store than running around hauling heavy watering cans all summer.

Nadezhda 69 wrote:
Did your obsession with the soil ever pass down to your children?

Nadya, in our family, everyone was strictly city-born. Nobody owned rural property or came from farming backgrounds. My mom saw her very first live cow when she was 35!
My parents bought a little country place back in 1992, mostly just so they could go on overnight fishing trips since there was a big water reservoir nearby. They were already retirees by then, but they got so hooked on gardening that they lived out there from late April straight until the winter freeze. As kids, we only came out on weekends to swim, grill food, and drop off groceries.
When my mom passed away in 2006, I didn’t feel any sudden spark for gardening. In fact, I hated that country property because Mom fell ill right there on the land, got rushed to the hospital by ambulance, and never came home. That was June. Come August, I had a vivid dream where my late mom appeared and asked me softly: “How are my roses doing?” And I hadn’t set foot out there all summer.
I grabbed a girlfriend and drove out to the property. It was absolute heartbreak. Mom had so many prize flowerbeds, always kept spotless without a single speck of dirt out of place, and you can only imagine what two months of summer neglect looked like. I felt so overwhelmingly ashamed that my friend and I rolled up our sleeves and got to work. In the beginning, I couldn’t even tell the difference between a prized perennial sprout and a dandelion! Mom’s old gardening books and friendly neighbors showed me the ropes.
That is how I got pulled in, and today I honestly cannot imagine my life without our garden. I call it my sanctuary and place of peace. My kids only come out when I specifically ask for heavy help, and even then, not every time. Occasionally they chip in cash so I can hire outside labor for the backbreaking jobs. But they devour the harvest, love the home preserves, and admire the flowers. They come out to swim and grill. I never hold a grudge: I was the exact same way at their age.

Good morning everyone! Real appreciation for the land almost always comes with age, along with understanding why our parents and grandparents poured their sweat into the dirt for our sake in the first place.
Kids who grow up purely on ultra-processed supermarket food versus kids raised on real, honest, homegrown produce have a completely different baseline for their health. No synthetic vitamin supplement or paycheck can ever buy that back. Like a pediatric microbiologist friend always tells me: real vitamins belong on your plate at every age, not inside a pill bottle.
Wishing good health to all!

YULIA wrote:
I call it my sanctuary and place of peace…

Yulia, what a deeply moving story! 🥰
In my experience, genuine love for gardening wakes up later in life, usually closer to retirement age. The kids leave the nest, life slows down, and you finally have breathing room to cultivate something purely for your own joy. And it only really clicks when you are the true boss of your own land, not when you’re doing chores under someone else’s marching orders, no matter how politely they ask!

Nadezhda 69 wrote:
Did your obsession with the soil ever pass down to your children?

Among all my family, friends, and neighbors, not a single child or grandchild shows any real enthusiasm for garden beds. At least, I haven’t met any.
Now, coming out to kick back on the patio, soak up the sun, and fire up the grill? Absolutely, sign them up every weekend! 😂 At best, they will lend a hand if you directly ask them to help with a task, but that’s as far as it goes. They never take initiative on their own, unless it’s the toddlers wanting to dig in the dirt out of pure toddler curiosity.

Nadezhda 69 wrote:
how do your grown kids actually feel about gardening…

Mine only come out to relax. They’ll help out if you specifically ask, but there is zero internal drive for working the soil.

In our rural garden community, every other weekend property used to sit completely abandoned. A few lots sold during the lockdowns, but about three years ago, a massive boom hit. People snapped up every neglected property they could find, even lots with tiny rotting shacks that were completely overgrown with shoulder-high ragweed and choked with wild plum thickets.
Almost everyone who bought in is 50+. And man, are they working hard! Some rebuilt them into permanent year-round residences, some just put in nice lawns and emerald arborvitae for peace of mind, and plenty live out here straight through late fall raising chickens. The whole community came alive again, and now there are always friendly neighbors out walking to say hi to.

Folks, I was just sitting here thinking: this forum is our true sanctuary and source of inspiration! Because in the real world, people look at us like we’re a little crazy, but here we are all kindred spirits. You sit down, read through everyone’s stories, and suddenly your fingers start itching to get into the potting soil again. Feeling fully recharged. Thank you all, friends! 😊