I have previously blogged about my dislike of gardening. It began in childhood with my dad’s meticulous attempts to keep his lawns and flower beds in perfect condition. I was frequently dragged into help but the standards set were so highly inflated that invariably (rather than being something a father and son could bond over) it ended up making us both miserable.

In the intervening forty plus years I have tried, with a great deal of success I feel, to avoid anything involving gardening. Grudgingly I will mow a lawn, while making sure everyone realises what a big deal it is for me before I do. Anything that involves cutting down or digging up bushes, plants and flowers also passes muster. The reasoning being that will lead to less gardening going forward.

At the start of this summer though I had an epiphany. Although the above clearly come under the definition of gardening ‘the activity of tending and cultivating a garden, especially as a pastime’, it’s all of a destructive nature. With my wilful avoidance of it thus far could I really depart this mortal coil having never grown anything? Consequently a trip to Asda resulted in the following.

Not a precursor to the Chelsea Flower Show agreed but a small step in the right direction nonetheless. Immediately though doubts surfaced. These aren’t the magic beans of ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ I was hoping for; where you trade your two pounds to throw a seed in the ground that rapidly shoots to the sky.

As is no doubt blindingly obvious to anyone with a modicum of actual gardening experience the seeds need to stop indoors initially, being planted in small pots and regularly watered, with those that thrive (about fifty per cent in my case) being replanted in the outdoors.

During this process approximately another half seem to bite the dust. Blown over in the wind or ravaged by unspecified insects seem to be the main cause. A handful survive though and this is where the pressure really ramps up. Am I watering them too much or too little?, will our ever more regular heatwaves prove too much for them?, will the many and varied unspecified insects return with vengeance? With much relief the answer is a resounding ‘no’.

Despite this relative success I don’t think it will be leading to any longer term gardening projects. It seems the sunflowers have a lifespan of two to three months for me to enjoy them. Beyond that I will be back to the miserable looking bloke you see in their front garden, red in the face and sweating behind the lawnmower, fervently hoping they will be finished before the next thunderstorm breaks.