Sward play

Oh look I’ve done twenty per cent. That was a marvellous moment.  I looked up from one of the world’s most tedious garden chores and realized that I had done almost but not quite a quarter of the work.

Lawn maintenance. Something we rarely do. (see Tedious). But after the bad drought last year and neglect from the year before I decided that something had to be done.

And I had the tool in the potting shed. A special lawn fork. It has five tines that are not as long as a garden fork, but can penetrate just enough into the lawn to revive the whole thing. Aerate, and permit the scattering of new grass seeds. And water.

Or just make it a whole lot harder for the moss to take hold.

Yes, this garden is either bald patch or moss from the underground spring next to the miscanthus.

But the sun was shining, it was a glorious spring day in the middle of winter and I set to work staring on the lawn closest to the pool. Push the fork in, step hard on the cross bar, lever it around and pull it out. Repeat.

And even I gave up the will to live by about half-way.

Luckily David needed a break from work so helped out by hanging onto the fork and doing row up on row.

So by the time this gorgeous afternoon sunlight burst over the lawn, we were done.

The lawn has been spiked. The worst of the perennials hauled out, I even watered.

Done.

And for an encore, I finished cleaning all the river stones that have been languishing in buckets beside the pool decking.  No longer an eyesore.

I tell you, absurdly warm weather in January makes for energetic chore adventures.