Busted

You may have heard of people declaring ’email bankruptcy’ – when they’ve given up all hope of ever getting on top of their inbox. Well, this week, I think I’m declaring garden bankruptcy, at least as far as the veg planting goes. The low point came when I scraped together an hour or so to get out into the garden and realised that the seedlings I had in the greenhouse – the planting of which had pretty much the only thing I’d managed to get done the last time I had a moment to spare – had been cooked in the recent hot weather and I was pretty much back to square one.

The weather hasn’t helped (prior to that we’d also lost a load of chilli seedlings and half the tomatoes to a sudden cold snap) but the real reason has been time, or the lack thereof. The garden has had to come last, after work, cycle campaigning, parents (I’ve probably managed more time in the Pepperpots’ garden than ours this spring), and the mundane realities of eating, sleeping and keeping on top of the laundry (I started to write ‘keeping the house presentable, but who am I kidding?). The result has been that nothing is in except two beds of potatoes and some ‘what the hell’ broad beans I chucked straight into the ground when I had an hour to spare that seem to have come good so far.

Yesterday, I had my annual unannounced visit from the Garden Inspection Committee (my pal from the old Nearest Village who likes to keep me on my toes by showing up to see how my veg is getting on). Perhaps fortunately, I was out for this one, so my blushes were spared. The other half informs me that he was flattering about the tatties (‘good colour on the leaves’) and polite about the broad beans but the verdict otherwise was that ‘she’s still got a bit to do’. I think that’s the equivalent of a ‘Requires Improvement’ from Ofsted. And not entirely undeserved.

It’s somewhat ironic to be admitting defeat now because it’s May and that means some parts of the garden – the parts that mostly just get on with it – are actually glorious, at least from carefully selected angles. And I’m not throwing in the towel entirely – I’ll clear the veg beds and just plant what I can directly and hope we salvage something from the season. I even headed out there this afternoon and made a start. Although in the end I couldn’t bring myself to clear out the bolted broccoli which is absolutely alive with insects of all kinds. So at least something is profiting from my neglect.