The prodigal return of a very mediocre gardener

I have recently been subjected to the torture that is prolonged lack of internet access - ah, the trials of modern living, what hard lives we do live in this country! Anyway, I wrote this on the 6th of April...

My garden has been even more neglected lately than my blog – if that was possible. Seriously, if my garden – or blog - was a child, I would have lost custody loooong ago. In my defence, I've had other things on my mind. Not wanting to divulge too much personal information here – I'm an old fashioned girl at heart – lets just say that February and March were not good months. Hey, lets be frank - they were really, really shit. And when I'm going through a hard time, my creative juices just dry up. I guess its an energy conservation thing. Anyway, so realising I didn't have much time left to get my spring 'crop' in (ha ha) I've just turned my attention to my garden for the first time since January, and what a sorry sight it was. A chaos of dead tomato plants and lettuces seriously gone to seed, and, as always, a really vibrant and healthy crop of weeds (I've mastered the art of growing those!). I've cleared the summer garden graveyard and sown lots of seeds – dwarf snow pea (a hit last year), Warrigal greens, radish, carrots and a couple of exciting newies – BLACK Tuscan kale, PURPLE cauliflower. Yes, I got suckered in by heirlooms in exciting colours this season! I tell myself its to trick The Booba into consuming more vegetables, but really its for my own entertainment ( I want to see what purple cauliflower cheese will look like!). Being a self confessed crap gardener, I'll be easily pleased by the results because going on past experience my expectations are loooow. Fingers crossed.

And how is the pledge not to buy new things coming along? Well......something else I've really come to realise from coming through this difficult period, is that shopping is COMFORTING! Its weird, I can't quite figure out why that should be, but its definitely so. The Booba has had some new toys and some other bits and pieces that make life easier. Some glossy magazines have been purchased but then donated for the enjoyment of others, so I figure that way it doesn't count. I've indulged in some new knickers and pyjamas – but hey, I needed them, and who wants to wear preworn ones, so I forgive myself that. All in all I don't think I've done too badly. Still no new clothes, and I continue to do very well on the secondhand front there. We needed more coathangers and I managed to pick up a whole swag for pretty much nothing from my favourite opshop. However my all time favourite opshop find for the last couple of months would have to be a set of dessert dishes – which we needed (very bad for the waistline eating icecream out of noodle bowls!). The BH is a bit dubious but I think they're sweet in a retro shabby chic kind of a way. I'd love to post a pretty picture but our long suffering camera is on the blink - again.