We are almost in June, and the first half of the year seems to have passed by swiftly. The weather seems to have perked up and we’ve had beautiful sunshine every day now for over a week. 

With everything creeping up on us so quickly, it’s hard not to feel like you’re completely behind with your garden or growing space. 

I’m my own worst critic, and I’ll admit to feeling like a bit of a failure of a gardener this past month. 

My own garden has run wild. While I’ve managed to sow and grow plenty of crops, most of them are still stuck in, and have quickly outgrown their small modules. The weeds between the cracks in my pavement are no longer tiny sprouts, but large, sprawling clumps of grass, willowherb, nettles and goodness knows what else. 

And that’s without even mentioning the state of my allotment plot. I look at growers I follow both on YouTube, and Facebook allotment groups, and everyone shows photos and updates on their beautifully laid out plots. Their paths neatly laid, vegetable beds topped up with fresh compost and healthy plants, organised sheds and full polytunnels, all finished off with sturdy pea and bean poles ready for their legumes to climb up and produce in abundance. 

And then, I take a look at mine. Overgrown, weedy, and seemingly neglected to anyone that might pass by and take a look. 

Yes, the new polytunnel is up and I’ve got some small plants growing, but around those structures is a large mess.

The infuriating thing is that I’ve actually worked on it in whatever spare time I’ve had. I’ve dug out a lot of clumps of weeds – none of which are able to be simply hoed off, having grown large root systems! Most are clumps of grass, which seems to grow everywhere except where you want it to. And with it having been so wet, weeding and digging this over has been impossible. 

At the moment, all I have is a constant niggling at the back of my mind that what I’m doing, and what I’ve done, isn’t enough. Despite it being all I’ve physically been able to manage to do. 

Yet, I know this must be a super common feeling amongst a lot of gardeners.

Most people have a full time job outside of their allotment plots and gardens. Many people have other commitments that will always take priority over making their spaces look exactly as they’d like to also! 

The reality is that most of the people I follow on YouTube do YouTube videos as a job. Their YouTube videos are monetised, they are full time content creators that have a lot of time to spend on – and rely on – their gardens and allotment plots as a source of income which the average watcher doesn’t. 

I have to remind myself more often than I’d care to admit, that I work full time. I garden as a job. I’m up at 6am, at work by 8am, and the last few weeks I’ve not been home much before 6:30pm after a lot of physical work. Anyone who works I’m sure will completely understand that moment of finishing work and not feeling up to doing anything else for that day, needing those few hours in the evening as downtime in preparation for the rest of the week. 

I feel that. Some days I have this second wind of energy to get into the garden and do lots of productive tasks for my spaces, although, more often than not, I don’t. 

And it’s taking me a long time to realise that, actually, that’s okay. 

So, here’s your small reminder that you can’t do everything. Your mind will berate you for not getting up and doing the things you want to do. Don’t listen to it. 

Listen to your tired body. Your racing mind, your aching shoulders, and heavy eyelids, and rest. Rest when you need to. 

There is no time limit for gardening. It will still be there tomorrow, and it will still be there next weekend. Give yourself a break, write your to-do list, and take it one small task at a time. 

Ask a friend, ask a loved one, ask your next door neighbour to help you get on top of things when you are ready. 

There is always going to be time to grow, and that starts with yourself. 

Stay Wild, 

Althea x