Day 3, Writing 101.  Today’s topic ‘one word inspiration – choose from Hope; Regret; Home; Choice; Abundance; Secret’ 

Just some of last year’s crop!

Growing your own veggies is wonderful.  Just to be able to nip out to the garden and dig up a bunch of carrots, or a few potatoes is a great thing.  But why oh why do we have to get huge gluts of something one year, and nothing at all the next.

For example, last year we had tons, mega-tons, of courgettes. So many that some were left where they grew and turned into marrows (see above!).  Everything we ate had the addition of courgette in one form or another.  We had fried courgettes, baked courgettes, grilled courgettes, courgette cake, courgette pickle, and courgette wine (still working our way through several gallons of that!).

Don’t get me wrong, I love courgettes, and devoted a whole bed to them this year.  But what did we get?  That’s right… zilch, nada, nowt.  Well, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration.  We did have one or two poorly looking specimens, but nothing in the same league as last year’s magnificent beasts.

What we have got though, is tomatoes.  Tomatoes everybloomin’where.  They grew in the greenhouse, on the patio, in the veggie plot, and the flower beds.  Big fat tomatoes, and little sweet ones.

And chillis..

It looked like Christmas in the greenhouse with the abundance of chillis turning bright red before I had the chance to pick them.  So everything we’re eating right now is smothered in chilli tomato sauce.

For a while we were eating nothing but broad beans.  And I won’t mention the amount of plums… plum wine anyone??

So whilst my own veggies are a treat, it would be so much better if the plants paced themselves so that I had crops in manageable amounts.  If the English weather would be reliably suitable for everything instead of one week drowning the courgettes, and the next, desiccating the peas.

Of course, I should feel very privileged that we do live in a temperate climate, where we are generally able to grow a staggering array of crops.  Maybe it’s my skills that are lacking?

Hmmph…. Situation normal then…!