The new seeds ordered online have arrived but I haven't planted them yet. I think I've had a touch of garden depression.
This week has been very busy with work and everything else that happens in life - last week's frantic need to outdo Resourceful Flatmate's friend was replaced by the dismal thought that I would never again have the energy to get anything done.
As can so often happen, just when you need inspiration, it turns up.
I have discovered two very different, and yet amazing gardens which have recently sprung up around Queenstown. One is very small - just the right size for the little green fingers at the Queenstown ABC Childcare Centre.
Their new vegetable patch was donated by local viticulturist and garden entrepreneur Mick Palmer, who has devised what he describes as a foolproof way for virtually anyone to grow their own food at home.
That sounds too simple for me, but his gift of a kitset garden to the centre is a brilliant idea which should keep the children occupied and teach them a few things about nature in the process.
The second source of inspiration is a much larger project - a community garden on Slopehill Rd.
Christina Newnham, who is one of the organisers behind the ambitious new project, showed me around the sunny hillside on which the garden is taking shape.
The Harvest Community Garden provides a space for keen Wakatipu gardeners, who might not have enough of their own patch of dirt, with the opportunity to exercise their green fingers.
Strips of earth have been ploughed across a gentle slope and generous walkways provide easy access to the beds which are already showing signs of life.
Though Mrs Newnham said it is still early days, a working bee last month has prepared the ground for a vegetable garden which could feed "up to 40 families".
In the "test bed", the group of about 12 have planted a variety of herbs, vegetables and even currants and raspberry canes.
The idea is to see what grows well in the area and adapts to the microclimates.
The organic ethos is continued with plans to keep the grass "mown" by constructing a movable chicken run which will slot along the grass strips between the vegetables.
With so much inspirational gardening happening around me I felt quite revived. I'm off home now to plant more seeds.
• To get involved with the Harvest Community Garden contact Christina Newnham on christinanewnham@orcon.net.nz
