25th September 2007

 It’s been a strange summer this year- mild days, flooding, burning sunshine one moment, icy winds the next. I thought the only victim this summer would be my tan, unfortunately the consequences have been unexpectedly severe.

Two weeks ago our garden was a sea of green. Our bumper tomato crop was climbing the walls, heavy with un-ripened fruit. Our chillis were coming on fantastically- even Barky was sprouting a few extra celebratory leaves. Then, quite quickly, everything changed. The stems of the tomato plants began to turn a purply black and slowly this darkness spread to the fruit. There was nothing we could do since ‘treating’ them would mean introducing some pretty heavy chemicals to the equation. We had to let them go.

I can’t tell you how sad this made me. We grew each plant from seed, watered them for months and really cared for them. I immediately resolved never to grow anything again- how could anyone willingly put themselves in the way of such heartache?

A few days ago Chris and I were wandering by a stream near to the house. After a while a wire fence emerged beside the pathway and we began to see a group of allotments beyond it. There was an old man tending to one patch- he appeared to have some very healthy spinach and sunflowers- and was watering his vegetables before the sun set. We stopped to say hi and remark on how lovely his garden looked. I told him about our tomatoes and how suddenly they’d been taken and he explained that this summer has been terrible for veges like tomatoes. They need a lot of sun and the weather meant they never got a chance to ripen. He said his beans and spinach were doing well but that he’d lost a lot in the previous weeks.

We said goodnight and walked home but that old man stayed in my mind for a while. I realised, the death of our tomatoes wasn’t personal. Everyone else had the same problem. I also realised that the joy I took from the tomatoes wasn’t from anticipating eating them but from looking after them as they grew.  

So it looks like we’re headed back to the drawing board.  Chris planted some of Barky’s seeds the other day and it looks like they’ve already begun to come through. Look out for updates on how Son of Barky goes!