Cruelty to vegetables

I love eating vegetables, in fact if it wasn’t for roast Lamb and fillet steak I think I could probably become a vegetarian. For me the leap from consumer to producer was a natural progression, especially once I’d discovered that most veggies could be grown informally. So, inspired by Ballymaloe and French Châteaux’s, my beloved Potager was created. And it prospered.

We all know about the goodness of vegetables but the wonderful taste of home-grown varieties can be quite a revelation. Try a tomato fresh from the garden and you will suddenly realize that they are sweet just like any other fruit. Growing them is easy and very satisfying not to mention environmentally friendly. No more buying over packaged varieties that have travelled more air miles than a travel show presenter. Everything you want growing in your own backyard ready for you to eat, with abundant beauty that only a Potager can produce.

As usual, everyday living manages to get in the way of my best laid plans. I have an ongoing vegetable conflict that is randomly divided by gender. My daughter and I love them but the men universally hate them. Combined with fussy teenagers our mealtimes can be quite complex and keeping everyone happy often means either forgetting to put on the veg or just not bothering. This has resulted in a steady drop in vegetable consumption, resulting in my vitamin intake plummeting and the poor Potager has gone to pot. Courgettes have mutated into green monsters; Cobs of Sweetcorn hang like forgotten baubles on a Christmas tree and rotten Tomatoes litter the ground. It is criminal neglect on a grand scale. Vegetables deserve better, this cruelty must stop. My heart knew that my beloved Potager must go.

Hopefully it will return one day but until then it will become a Courtyard garden. A more formal space that will contrast well with the informality of the pond area. So instead of watching over the brassicas and squashes, Rosina, (my statue named after my late Nan), will show off perfectly manicured box-hedging and well-groomed plants. With my resolution now made I can take plenty of time over the design and whether to look to Italy or the 1970’s for inspiration. All traces of bloated beetroots have been removed and in the battle of vegetables I have been forced to surrender.

Written 7th January 2006