Thursday 8 September 2011

Mirror bawl

It's the end of summer. Harvest time is meant to be upon us, church altars and school assembly halls should soon be groaning under the weight of tinned food from Tesco, some straggly looking onions and a pumpkin. Always a pumpkin.

I reflected yesterday on the photos I put up showing some of my, how can I say, less successful attempts? Despite my stubborness, am I really so bad a gardener that those disasters happened because of my innate inability? Perhaps the reality of a stressful job, and some monumental changes to life circumstances in the past two years have been the root cause. Or have I just not got the passion required to put my garden first in my life (who else has been told to 'make time' when they blatantly don't have any?)

The amateur gardeners I know have all had to chip away at the garden, celebrating mild successes, accepting failures resulting from an abysmal summer and the pressures of their own lives, child-filled or not. I thought back to the night I had my friends round potting seeds, and the sense of excitement at all the things they could grow, the potential for a feast. And the reality now.

Then, my friend Kate unexpectedly tweeted an innocent looking link to her great blog 'Curb your Consumerism' about Personal Best Strategies. And in it she very sweetly showed me just why I garden.

Do read, and for all of you who share my haplessness, in however small a measure, there is always a reward.



Cheers

Tom

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The Hapless Kitchen Gardener

My photo
Bristol
I only feel hapless because some people make it look easy to grow 10 ft marrows or a banquet of greens whereas my courgettes got nabbed by killer slugs and I only got one raspberry. So tips and stories from people less hapless than I are more than welcome. As a disclaimer though, none of my comments should be taken as expert advice on which you can rely! © Unless stated otherwise, and with the exception of guest content where that guest retains copyright, all photos and posts are the copyright of Tom Carpen and may not be used without permission.