Garden

When I’m asked whether I enjoy gardening, I have to be honest and say that it’s the growing part I like, and not the hard work of digging, mowing, raking and hoeing. I much prefer the business of books, catalogues, bulbs, seeds, trays, pots, trowels and compost. I enjoy the fiddly, fine motor-skill aspects of gardening – handling the smooth or rough or spiky or knobbly seeds, the sprinkling, planting, potting, pricking out and the general nurturing of little plant lives.

So I grow the things I like most – flowers, vegetables, a few fruit trees (including my beloved quince) and, especially, tulips. We have a shaggy, leafy, child-friendly, ball-strewn suburban garden which may not be in tip-top horticultural condition, but it makes up in comfortable wine-drinking spots what it lacks in refinement.