Something shocking has occurred.

My geranium is very ill – it may even be dying.

This has happened completely unexpectedly. A week ago both the geranium and the pepper plant that sits next to it were thriving.

Then they suddenly started to wilt. The geranium’s leaves turned yellow and both plants got a white mould on their stems. I re-potted them, giving them fresh soil and bigger pots, but they both looked sicker and sicker.

I searched for the reason for their sickness online and it seems likely they both have Southern Blight. I asked to my green-fingered friend Stuart this evening for his advice and he basically said they’d had it and wouldn’t survive. Worse still, they could contaminate other plants so I ought to get rid of them.

I suddenly felt the immense burden of plant ownership, like I’d let them down but must still try to save at least the geranium. I got rid of the pepper plant as it was clearly quite rotten, but the geranium still has one stem with two green leaves.

So in a last-ditch effort to save this much loved plant, Leftwing Idiot cut this stem off. I put it in water before re-planting it in a smaller pot.

I’m optimistic despite this sad turn of events. So are my tics: “Where there’s geranium there’s a way.”