Landscape Design Expert
the eagle eye
Today, I had one of those magical moments.
I felt the heat of February’s morning sun on my back while out walking the dogs this morning - the first time in four months.
Its such a relief as sometimes I think I’m locked into some overcast, damp, grey, British groundhog day - aptly celebrated in the US & Canada on February 2nd, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day.
Anyway, I’m also feeling very proud of myself as I’ve been out in my garden trying to ‘keep ahead of the horticultural curve’. Plants & gardens stop for no man so I’ve upped my game. This is what I’ve been up to:
Powered by my mate’s dad’s electric scarifier I ripped out what appears to be 70% of my lawn, mostly moss, but also a surprising amount of twigs, stones, the odd clothes peg buried in the old winter thatch.
The said scarifier didn’t come with a collection box attached on it so the aforementioned twigs, stones & clothes pegs became missiles that ‘pinged’ against the neighbour’s fence. I kept myself out of the line of fire & kept the deluge of moss & missiles pointing away from the conservatory windows. After a satisfying 30 minutes I had amassed a large pile of moss & bits which filled half a wheelie bin. Remember folks, don’t put moss on your compost as those pesky moss spores will just love the warmth of your compost heap & re-emerge wherever the compost is spread.
My approach is to pass the spore-issue on to my local authority & use my trusty Stihl leaf-blower to make short work of cleaning up the strewn moss. I find any excuse to use the leaf-blower, it’s one of my go-to multi-tools. I use it for clearing snow from paths, mixing compost with soil, cleaning sawdust off wood-working tools, grass off mowers, excess water off windows when I’ve finished cleaning them, note-to-self Charlie: Clean windows.
You get the picture.
So my lawn now resembles Accrington Stanley’s 6 yard box on a winter’s Saturday; 80% mud, 15% grass & 5% sweat - no offence Accrington Stanley.
If that wasn’t enough, I only went & spiked the whole lawn with a fork, letting the air get in & opening up the soil’s compacted winter structure & lack of drainage. When doing this, I tend to go for an all out assault approach as I don’t have much patience for Gardener’s World niceties. I find a space on the lawn & using a folk I ‘spike & lift’ the turf in multiple places around me, then move & repeat. It does make the lawn look like a mole has gone out on a Friday night bender, but the lawn soon settles back into a healthy, life giving, grass growing, summer hoping, habitat.
For more ideas about making beautiful lawns so you can also enjoy the delights of Spring sunshine in, visit us the 'Garden Design' section of the website here...
https://www.eagleeyedesign.co.uk/garden-design
Today, I had one of those magical moments.
I felt the heat of February’s morning sun on my back while out walking the dogs this morning - the first time in four months.
Its such a relief as sometimes I think I’m locked into some overcast, damp, grey, British groundhog day - aptly celebrated in the US & Canada on February 2nd, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day.
Anyway, I’m also feeling very proud of myself as I’ve been out in my garden trying to ‘keep ahead of the horticultural curve’. Plants & gardens stop for no man so I’ve upped my game. This is what I’ve been up to:
Powered by my mate’s dad’s electric scarifier I ripped out what appears to be 70% of my lawn, mostly moss, but also a surprising amount of twigs, stones, the odd clothes peg buried in the old winter thatch.
The said scarifier didn’t come with a collection box attached on it so the aforementioned twigs, stones & clothes pegs became missiles that ‘pinged’ against the neighbour’s fence. I kept myself out of the line of fire & kept the deluge of moss & missiles pointing away from the conservatory windows. After a satisfying 30 minutes I had amassed a large pile of moss & bits which filled half a wheelie bin. Remember folks, don’t put moss on your compost as those pesky moss spores will just love the warmth of your compost heap & re-emerge wherever the compost is spread.
My approach is to pass the spore-issue on to my local authority & use my trusty Stihl leaf-blower to make short work of cleaning up the strewn moss. I find any excuse to use the leaf-blower, it’s one of my go-to multi-tools. I use it for clearing snow from paths, mixing compost with soil, cleaning sawdust off wood-working tools, grass off mowers, excess water off windows when I’ve finished cleaning them, note-to-self Charlie: Clean windows.
You get the picture.
So my lawn now resembles Accrington Stanley’s 6 yard box on a winter’s Saturday; 80% mud, 15% grass & 5% sweat - no offence Accrington Stanley.
If that wasn’t enough, I only went & spiked the whole lawn with a fork, letting the air get in & opening up the soil’s compacted winter structure & lack of drainage. When doing this, I tend to go for an all out assault approach as I don’t have much patience for Gardener’s World niceties. I find a space on the lawn & using a folk I ‘spike & lift’ the turf in multiple places around me, then move & repeat. It does make the lawn look like a mole has gone out on a Friday night bender, but the lawn soon settles back into a healthy, life giving, grass growing, summer hoping, habitat.
For more ideas about making beautiful lawns so you can also enjoy the delights of Spring sunshine in, visit us the 'Garden Design' section of the website here...
https://www.eagleeyedesign.co.uk/garden-design