So the thing is I can’t keep anything alive other than the children and that’s only because they ask to be fed! Yet here we are finally with a veg patch. I did “grow” a few things when we moved in and I was pregnant with my son, first child, then when he was born I was like WHEN IS THERE TIME TO ATTEND TO VEGETABLES!?!?! They needed me EVERYDAY but he cried louder so the potatoes didn’t bother to reproduce, the onions were tiny and you can forget about the broccoli. But nearly 7 years on and with NO Summer holidays planned ( husband has no time off and we have no money so #staycation it is!) I thought hey let’s grow some food to entertained the troops over the long summer break.

I used this book to help us decide what to plant, it listed easy veg and super easy veg, thats the one for us! It seems really good but I still have questions and I need reassurance.

We made a planting plan which we loved doing… the kids were really into that part. Especially the very enthusiastic placing of where we would actually plant things. SLOW DOWN I panicked.

Then I dug for about 5 hours and we skipped off to buy some shoots. It was too late to grow from seed. I’m not precious. No! I’ll be honest I was too scared to grow from seed. After all the work I had done, what if the things did even shoot? At least this way it might look as if we had had some success, right?

So here are our peas. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING... I have poured my heart and soul and broken my back into preparing the ground and planting them, not to mention netting them! I saw some birds looking eagerly at the young shoots and so I hot footed it to Homebase for some net to keep them out. We have kale, courgettes and strawberries too and one lone raspberry plant I rescued from Wilko. Our garden is hotter than the sun and so keeping everything happily watered is super hard work. The other day while the children argued in the background and I begged them to join in, I lovingly tied the little pea shoots onto willow stakes. However at the risk of sounding negative here I can’t help but have a heavy heart about it thinking they just aren’t going to produce. My track record is bad, so please help?

Is there anything I really need to know or special growing veg tips? I mean I have even started speaking to them but I feel like I am trying too hard… am I ? Am I a try hard with my vegetables? I want them to grow, I really want them to grow, or I might cry. I think they are actually, other than a distraction from the no summer holiday, a distraction from not having a third child. I might write a blog on that. At some point.

Anyway how do I keep my vegetables alive folks?

P L E A S E H E L P!