Tag Archives: lawn

Green Grass

So this is the sward now.

That bloody ladder is there. There is a pigeon waiting to eat the grass seed. It’s not exactly weed free, and you can see the lumps where the different clumps came from but all the same! Not bad

I don’t love dandelions

Like lots of people, I am taking part in No Mow May Just writing it makes me HAH! like Patty and Selma.

We’ve been heading towards not mowing for a while. On a lot of the lawn, we don’t have grass anyway so it’s not like we have a green sward. We let it grow last May, and at the end of the month, me and the kids measured out our square metre like you’re supposed to and found we had enough flowers to keep one bee alive for about 10 minutes.

This year, we have more things. Maybe because it’s not as hot. Maybe because we let it grow last year. But all the things we have are either dandelions or things that have escaped from the beds (eg; lily of the valley).

And it makes me cross that all the pics (see on No Mow May link above!) are all beautiful meadows and orchids and rare grasshoppers and how you can cut a path through it like a swathe. You can’t do that in a small suburban garden. Actually, I have tried and it doesn’t look bad but STILL…

Also, I am struggling with dandelions. I know I should love them but I don’t. I am prejudiced against them. I have shifted how I see wild flowers. I don’t see weeds. I see beauty and delicacy and tenacity. But I still feel old-fashioned about dandelions. They ARE WEEDS! I understand how most people still see wild flowers when I look at dandelions! They smell horrible, they are deep-rooted bullies and take over all the grass. I know they make bees and hoverflies happy but I just don’t like them. We have more this year and they are a bit better growing in drifts, but STILL….

ps: we DO have grasshoppers (we’ve seen their legs sticking out of the bug hotel when something is eating them) and mining bees that live in the sandy patches so obviously our scabby lawn is rich (-ish) environment but STILL…

Grass growing

This is what the lawn looks like at the end of Feb. It has been snowed on (the snow settled on it much thicker than anywhere else so it must be much colder?) and I can’t honestly say that this is the new grass from the turf, or the old grass that was left alive that is poking through.

There are lots of worm casts on it as well.

Note the culprit is still in the background, this time with a ladder as well as a cricket bat.

turf with child in background

Turf

Will it come back to life? The kids kill the lawn playing cricket when it’s wet. Luke had a cricket ball on a string and he stood in the same spot and gradually ground out a hole in the ground.

I got this turf from someone round the corner but it had been in a bag in their front garden for about a month and was mostly dead. I am interested to see if it comes alive. I got the chunky bit from Homerton Grove when I was helping plant the orchard. But buy the time I bought it back, I was so cold, I couldn’t do anything but put on the grass and stand on it.

NB: note that the sticks protecting the (dead) turf mean everyone’s walked over the other bit and killed that too!

NB2: note culprit in background

JANUARY 25th 2021