The last few weeks have seen me struggling a bit. I suspect the cause is multiple: a combination of the diet i was on, the weather, and a few other things.

Basically, i’ve been tired. I know that sounds pretty pathetic.. its not tired in the sense of needing sleep, its physical lethargy. Just not having any energy to do stuff whatsoever.. struggling even to do stuff around the house that needed doing. The grass in the garden, in places, is knee high, and there are other jobs that sorely need doing (bed 3, for example). I left the laundry till we both ran out of clothes, almost. the diet went… the way of the dodo. All i really did was to sit on the sofa and read/watch TV.

I don’t particularly like being like that but i seem to go through phases of it. A phase where i’m busy, doing lots of stuff and being happy with it… then the lethargy strikes and i go down. As i said, i think part of it is weather related: it can’t be a co-incidence that when the bad weather came (i.e. most of May) and i wasn’t really able to get into the garden, i felt more down, and when i was able to get out there and get my mitts grubby, i felt better. There’s definetly something to the dirt=happiness thing.

Its not that simple though. As i said, some of it is related to my diet, i’m sure. When i was on the GI diet i was finding that my blood sugar was going up and down like a yo-yo, and that i would often be left shaking, needing some food way before it was time for the next meal. I’ve had this before, hyperglycaemia, mostly linked to my period cycle; i’ve noticed when i’ve got a hormone spike/fall (i.e. when i start my period or when i ovulate) my blood sugar level gets affected and i have to be careful to eat at specific times. However, that rarely lasts more than a couple of days a month. What was happening when i was on the GI diet hasn’t happened before and its a strong indication that something’s not right. So i stopped the GI diet, tried to still eat healthy (fruit and veg) and the healthier options (e.g. wholewheat pasta instead of white pasta, etc.) but i’ve also been craving sugar in a big way. I make a tray of flapjacks and they disappear in a day – and not cos of Michiel (although he loves em as much as i do). Ditto millionaire’s shortbread, although that lasts slightly longer (mostly because its almost too sweet – i can only manage a square at a time). Obviously this doesn’t help the quest to lose weight any. And i got to thinking: before i tried the GI diet, okay, i’d have some cake every day, but other than that… it wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t gaining weight, i wasn’t losing any either. And when i went on the GI diet, i didn’t lose any weight then. hmmm.

So, Michiel’s booked me an appointment at the docs on monday. I’m gonna throw all this stuff (along with some stuff about my toilet habits, that i really don’t want to go into detail on on here) at the doc and see what he says. He could well say “It’s perfectly normal” but if he does that, I’m going to request to see a nutritionist.  I strongly suspect that a lot of it is tied together: my toilet problems, lack of energy, diet problems, blood sugar problems.

Yesterday i did some work on the garden. cut the grass in the main area that i work on (i.e. between the beds, around the pots by the greenhouse, by the greenhouse. That’s a lot easier said than done: holding the strimmer up is arm aching, and then there’re the parts that you can’t really get to with a strimmer, so its a case of getting down on hands and knees with a pair of shears and cutting that way. That leaves the area by bed 3 (which will be the next big bit to be done because i *really* have to get bed 3 finished, its been hanging over me for months), i need to cut the grass there as the first action towards getting bed 3 done, then there’s the area underneath the washing line behind beds 1 and 2 (which is the next step towards getting things planted underneath the fence), and then, lastly, addressing the area towards the side of the house.

Things are growing well though. The sugarsnap peas and borlotti beans are slowly wending their way up their wigwams. The dwarf french beans are producing exactly nothing. I suspect they’re just struggling to grow because of the bloody slugs. I put a tray of beer out there a week ago and they love it. Unfortunately they don’t drown, just get fat and drunk, but it does make it easier for me to catch. I planted salad stuff in toilet roll tubes in the greenhouse and that’s growing well, i just want to wait for it to get a lot bigger before i plant it outside (to give the poor things a chance from the murderous slugs). I’m slowly losing the lettuces i did plant outside. I just hope a few make it to the kind of size i can eat before the slugs win completely. The rocket on the other hand seems to be doing much better and i’m harvesting a few leaves every time we have a salad.

the sweetpeas are growing well as well. I’ve added a few morning glory plants to that bed, to fill in the gaps. Tomatoes are growing well – most of them have set trusses now, if the flowers haven’t peeped out quite yet. I’m hoping for fruit before the end of June. I have to say though, i think i prefer gardener’s delight to moneymaker. You can see the difference: moneymaker tends to have leaves that angle upwards, whereas gardener’s delight tends to have leaves that lay flatter, so its much easier to see not only the trusses, but the bits that you have to pinch out. The bush type cherry tomatoes aren’t doing so well, i despair of getting any fruit off them. The courgettes: the snails love em, so again, i’m not sure i’ll get a lot from them, but we’ll see. its early days. I can see the beginnings of some flowers so … time. in the greenhouse the chilli and pepper plants, which were on the floor, were getting badly hit by slug/snails so i moved them up onto staging, and they seem a bit better there. One pepper plant has flowered, the others just have to heal up from eaten leaves (one is almost completely denuded of leaves, just one solitary leaf flapping from the top, and i think i’ve lost that one. Bloody slugs!), but i have hope yet. The cucumbers are now in growbags and seem to be doing well. Its hard to tell. they ain’t dying at least. I’ve also sowed some more herbs, see if they do okay. (I’d take photos but the rechargeable batteries for the camera are dying – i have to replace them on wednesday).

There’s a local gardening competition going on. I’m thinking of putting mine in for it. Maybe. If i can get the grass cut and bed 3 sorted. There’s a newbie prize and an environmental one. we’ll see.

I’ll get there. Eventually. And of course, a lot depends on what the doc says. *sighs*.