Do not let your garden rule your life

I have a major confession to make and it is not something that fits comfortably with me. I feel I have let myself down and above all, I have let you, the readers, down - let me explain.

I live in a wonderful place, deep into rural France with twenty acres of truly unspoilt countryside looking out over a truly natural landscape.

I came here to relax and enjoy the second half of life and explore gardening just a little bit more and try to develop a burgeoning vegetable patch to supply us with all of our produce.

The aim was to sell holidays from our Pigeonnaire, build a bit of furniture for a hobby and make a few bob, maintain this blog for pleasure and to help with the finances.

I was hoping to have blogged all of the success in the vegetable garden and talk with you about what I have grown and how well it had done.

Now here is the confession - my vegetable area is sadly overgrown and I have not added a single crop - although I did prepare the plot in readiness and had the very best intentions.

However, life is busier than ever and most of it revolves around the internet at the moment.

My day normally consists of getting up at about 6.45-7.15 am and making the coffee. I read through as many emails as I can handle whilst drinking my first of two cups of black and slightly sweet coffee.

I then check for activity on the five website that I look after - they are Perigord Vacance - although this has taken a bit of a back seat of late , Landscape Juice, The Landscape Juice Network, Grass Clippings and the Lawn Society. Depending on comments left or any direct emails associated with the sites I either deal with them straight away or keep them in mind for a quieter time later in the day.

I then start to put together a post or two (although I do not write every day now to Landscape Juice) and research anything interesting. I might follow two or three lines with a view to a post and then drop one or all of them and go in a different direction.

I am spontaneous and I find it too difficult to work to a rigid format. I generally go with the flow.

At about 11 am I start on my marketing work for Weed Free and the Lawn Company. This may involve up to fifty phone calls during a four or five hour session with database work, preparing estimates and generally chatting with clients about their weed spraying plans.

All the time I am checking and sending emails or messages that come in but also with half a thought on development plans for The Landscape Network which I hope will build into a great resource for the UK landscaping, garden design and general horticulture trades.

It is a lonely world sometimes being a gardener and a business owner and having a place to come in and share experiences, bounce off questions and generally get support that is otherwise lacking.

The thought that I can help and make a difference really fires me up and I am driven by the thought of providing a good service for good people. The whole Landscape Network site ethos is built around trust and quality.

After about 4pm I have a little break and maybe go into my workshop. I am making a front door for the Pigeonnaire at present and I would like to have that fitted for the 28th June when the first guests arrive.

The building work is slowing right down now and I hope to recharge by reserves and have some time off soon.

Early evenings I tend to check out activity on the network and interact with members. The membership is growing nicely now with ten new members in the last seven days bringing the total to seventy seven.

I do not really have a target and the pace of the organic growth is just right. It means I can greet everyone personally as they join and get to know them which is important for me.

Unlike some networks, I do not encourage making friends for the sake of it. The competition that this brings is self defeating and that is why I will not publish how many friends a member might have because it looks like a league table and really puts off other members who might feel intimidated.

One great feature that I have implemented is the ability to send private messages to any member without having to be their friend. Again it removes the desire to compete.

I have also removed the logging in from the activity. It hides the underlying activity, the real nuts and bolts of member activity is what they write and any reply to a blog or forum post.

If members who log in cannot see what has gone on then they will get bored and stay away. But we have some great members already and all of the feedback I am getting is complimentary to the atmosphere that has been created.

I am digressing slightly here so forgive me. The main topic which I have wandered away from and the point I think I set out to make was letting your garden rule your life.

If I had tried to cram in the vegetable patch with produce and lost control of it I feel that this would have been a greater failure than not starting at all.

I have come across so many gardens over the years where the owner has bitten off much more than they can chew and believe me, the stress can be all consuming.

Next year will be different for me I promise and you will be the first yo hear about it.