My style of gardening isn’t very intensive. If it works, it works if it doesn’t, I don’t worry. That’s my philosophy.
Sometimes my relaxed gardening style works really well. Here’s an example.
Last year I planted some leeks (from the Allium family) with my children to inspire an interest in nature and gardening.
They grew to about the thickness of some sturdy grass then fell over. At this point we all lost interest and moved on.
Unknown to us the leeks weren’t finished. Over the winter they kept growing and as spring came they shot up to about 60cm tall and developed beautiful white spheres of flowers.
They are loved by bees, butterflies, hoverflies and dozens of other little pollinators. The flowers seem to be a very popular destination for all those helpful little bugs.
So the moral of the story is that the original failure turned into a success just by giving it a bit more time.