Astro turf

I went to the market and then I mowed. And mowed. And mowed. And mowed some more.   I managed to nip around the garden in exactly five hours; which is a result.

But the main reason it takes so long (apart from the fact I have acres of grass) it that I want to put the grass cuttings to good use.

In the orchard, where I start (the lawn mower lives in the old stables at the end of the terrace) I can put the grass cuttings around the fruit trees.   I noticed that one of the fruit trees has expired. Or is just very very slow to come into growth.   But I’m erring on the side of expired.   I took the deer proof fencing from it, so we shall see if the threat of beasty eating will shock it into growth.

But all the rest goes into big blue Ikea bags, and I walk to where I want to mulch.

For the first major mow of the season the desination is the top vegetable garden. And yes, I have chosen the top most place in the entire garden to place my mulch.

But there’s a good reason for that. I’m trying to hide the ugly black plastic that lines the paths and the bank.

And over the years I have found that if I get the grass cuttings down it fades to a fetching blah beige and blends in better than black.

Naturally this is not something you can do in a damp climate. Slimy grass mulch on a slope is never pretty and can be excitingly slippery.   But here  it dries fast.   Especially in this continuing dessicating wind.

I’ve gone for the wonky curves yet again which is diverting when you have hours of mowing ahead of you. And it means I don’t have to close mow every single terrace or lawn.

And from the vantage point of the potting shed, you can see why we call this part of the lawn to the right of the pool the piano. Or is it The Piano?  It looks rather grand.

You wouldn’t want to see a close up of the lawn mower. The mighty Viking is utterly bashed about.

But it does wonders. Especially in the duck pond area just to the right of the piano lawn.   I often think that creating the duck pond area is one of the triumphs of the landscaping I’ve had a go at.   It was definitely reclaimed from the wilderness. And each year I find I can mow deeper into the huge area around the duck pond rather than having to strim.

And believe me, I’d rather push a mower (even on a steep slope) than climb into the harness and get an instant back ache from the strimmer.

From the piano lawn it was a mere twinkle across the decking to the main lawn and some very straight rows.   The main lawn is the largest flat area of land on this mountain top garden.   And in a good light, it almost looks like a sward.   There are some iffy bits in the garden: I need to get a fork in to aerate the rather compacted soil in the middle.   But I’ve learned to cheat and take the picture from this angle so you don’t notice.

My potting shed looks rather fetching in the distance as well.   It’s fading quite well now so hopefully will be less of an eyesore.   You can’t see Artur who is hiding inside. He finds the noise of the mower appalling and quite ruins his outdoor lounging session.

I can’t decide whether or not to mow the first terrace below the road. I’m leaning towards giving it one neat mow to cut down the nettles and take out some of the more troublesome weeds the horses ignore.   Actually, I have no idea where our lawn mowers are at the moment. I guess they must be a few fields over.

Usually Jean Daniel puts them on the road to cut down on the weeds.   But I can’t wait any longer. So I have mown the central strip and just a narrow track down each side of the road to show willing.   I was getting quite overheated by now.   I thought it must be wind burn on my arms, but it turns out it’s sunburn.

By now the trudge with the bags of cuttings was getting long. If I do the first terrace I suspect I will cheat and pile up the bags and bags of stuff and drive it up in the car.   (Carbon footprint!)

But I’ve almost covered the paths and bank with the mulch and it looks so much nicer, so once I recover from the hard work, I’ll be thrilled with the result.

A tired part of me thought that if I just bought a roll of astro turf it would have been a whole lot easier.   But you have to put the darn mulch somewhere.

The bit I was dying to mow was the walnut path.   But as there is a sea of gravel to try and drag the mower over from the east garden to the top of the courtyard, you have to go the long way round.

So that means mowing all the way.   The east garden has a lot of dessicated old quinces which look and feel like cricket balls when they hit the blades of the mower.   Gravity does mean that everything ends up on the flat bits eventually.   And 14 quince trees lurking above this terrace means there will always be fallen fruit.   But I must make sure I clear up better in winter.

The stachys on the walnut path came through the winter beautifully. And the irises are just coming out, so they frame this path very well.   I made sure I didn’t mow the primulas which are dotted through the bed.   The french call them coucou which is sweet.

And that was my day. Well, afternoon. Very green, very windy but visually very satisfying.   And I’ve managed to bury some black plastic which is always a great thing.

Tomorrow I’m going to do the first lavish watering of the year. I went up to the source (our private water supply)  to check the flow (it’s roaring out) and to cut some blossoms for the hall.

We have a very large crab apple tree up here at the entrance to the forest which I forget about most of the year. I think it only fruits every few years and I am always too fed up with jam making to want to have a go at crab apple jelly in October.

But any chance I get to have flowers for the house means this tree is a perfect source.   And I always need very large branches for this huge vase.   I had hoped to cut the white lilac. But when I went to cut the flowers I found that they are already turning brown. Not a pretty sight. That’s always the curse of white flowers. Well, white lilac. When they turn they look very sorry indeed. White camellias suffer the same fate.

Enough blathering. One more pic and I’m done.