Oh dear. Am I allowed to admit that I’ve got bored? And it’s only (as I write) the beginning of July. It’s nothing to do with lack of produce, either. I have eaten my first chilli, which is a highlight of the season, and I always enjoy the courgettes coming out because it happens so dramatically and so fast. But it’s the endless tying up and watering and potting on (the aubergines) that I find trying.

Sarah Wain, our adviser, says I am “experiencing the typical ennui of a gardener in the making” and has lots of ideas about how to tackle it, starting with asking: am I growing the right vegetables? (My idea of how to tackle it, by the way, is to move back to London.) I do seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on aubergine plants which a) I’ve never succeeded with and b) I don’t even like. Her questions are below; see how you do. My answers were no, no, no, yes, probably, yes.

What I try to quash is the suspicion that growing veg is simply rather dull. Take the vegetable-related dream I had the other day: I was looking for somewhere to sow some extra French beans and there was an unused pergola at one side of the garden which I thought I could use, but then I realised it was east-facing and sheltered by a large lime tree to the south, so it wouldn’t do. And that was the entire dream. I’ve never had such a boring fantasy in my life. I wonder whether any of you can come up with a duller horticultural dream – I bet you can.

Sarah Wain's expert advice

I know what you mean, the excitement of planning in winter months versus the reality of indifferent weather, slugs and the other stuff that seems to hide and wait for the unsuspecting gardener. Time to reassess:

– Am I growing the right vegetables for me, my family and friends?

– If the answer is yes, then am I growing sufficient quantities of crops I like, and do I know the best way to grow them, including perhaps successional sowing throughout the year?

– Weed control: have I got it sussed?

– Is it time to go on a fact-finding mission and have a look at how other people grow their vegetables?

– Am I trying to grow too many different kinds of vegetables?

– Am I trying to cultivate too big an area?

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