Lynn O’Rourke: ‘I’d like to say they look good, but I’m not sure’

Published on 10/06/2012 18:56

BY complete accident, I did a bit of work in the garden last week. Enough staring at it through the window (and often the wind and rain), I finally got out there and got stuck in.

I hadn’t meant to – all that hard work and physical exercise coupled with not really knowing what I am doing is generally enough to stop me in my tracks – but I had tripped over the bargain plants that were multiplying by the back door once too often.

The problem is, supermarkets now have all those plants on offer that are ideal for the pile of pots left behind by the last owner. (You couldn’t possibly have thought I’d been organised enough to accumulate a whole batch of ceramic pots in time for summer all by myself, could you?) And I keep buying them. I nip in for a pint of milk and a few apples – to cancel out the chocolate fingers in the basket – and out I come with a well-priced plant with a pretty picture on the label that says “hardy”. (I reckon those are the only ones that might stand a chance in my tender loving care.)

And then... I leave them at the back door. Those plants I just had to have that instant then spend days (OK, we might be running into weeks) waiting for me to do something with them. And now I have. I’d like to say they look good, but it is such a random collection that really I’m not sure. Still, at least I can get out the back door again.