When I was deciding on which seedlings to buy for my garden I struck up a conversation with the woman standing next to me in the nursery. While she was taking her time selecting a plant here and a plant there, I was greedily filling my trolley with trays. While she picked up a single plant of capsicum, I picked up a tray of 8. She said shrugging ‘how many can you eat’? They’re such good produces anyway.’ Well I should have paid attention because now I have a very crowded garden where the plants are fighting for space and only the biggest and strongest survive.

The capsicum are particularly suffering. Shadowed under the large leaves of the eggplant they have become a twisted tangle, fighting for life. The fruit that appeared in abundance only a few weeks ago, are now stunted and dropping off. Only one plant is growing strong and straight and is producing healthy fruit. When I saw the struggle begin a few weeks ago I knew the thing to do was to brutally thin them out by pulling out half of the eggplant and capsicum. But I was weak and didn’t do it. I left it to them to sort out, and now I fear it’s too late. I remind myself of those pathetic managers who turn a blind eye to bullying because they don’t have the courage to act on it. I’ll try to put things right tomorrow by replanting a couple of capsicum plants in a sunny spot. It’s a bit of an experiment and we’ll see happens. However my instinct tells me it’s too late. Watch out for the photo of the wretched things in the next post.