What happened to our lawns?? 

Autumn, I’m told, is the best time of year to repair grass; and seeing as though John’s first efforts in Spring only included the front and back lawns, it was inevitable that he’d want to clear the moss in the orchard and wood at some point. Having only had decking in our tiny London garden, it still amazes us just how much effort it takes to keep lawns looking green and luscious. It’s taken pretty much a week of maintenance – a day to mow the lawn right down; two days of aerating the grass to let light, air and water into the soil (leaving the place looking like a well-used football pitch!); one very long day of scarifying to scrape off the moss and patches of dead grass; and then two days of seeding and adding topsoil to cover the bare patches and give the grass seed the best possible chance of germinating, using a drag mat to mix the two together.  

The wood, and the top of the orchard, have been getting progressively mossier – and so some TLC could make all the difference. It’s certainly hard to remember how green the lawns (around the house at least) were just a few days ago – now they have a pitiful post-festival vibe!! We’re hoping we’ve managed to time it ok too – enough time to let the seed germinate without it getting too cold. We’ve also upped the bird seed to make sure the birds aren’t tempted to snack on the grass seed! 

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A day off on Friday gave us a great excuse to start the bulb planting. The edge of our wood slopes down to the lane and the hedge, so last summer we put a fence up around our wood to make it more secure (mainly to prevent children and dogs from escaping). This left large patches of soil between the fence and the hedge where the weeds took over, and so we decided to plant spring bulbs there to make the area look more striking. And, after last weekend’s failed attempts, we’ve finally made some progress! We hired a heavy-duty rotavator but quickly decided that there were too many gaps (where animals had carved out channels going from the wood out to the lane), to go too far. Luckily this week’s rain had loosened the soil, and it was a lot easier to dig than last weekend. The roots and stones were still a nightmare, but we’ve made a start and managed to get at least 25kg in the ground. There’s still a lot more to dig, but it’s better than nothing!  

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While we had the rotavator, we decided to prioritise another job originally planned for winter. Our orchard is [was] surrounded by brambles and nettles, and we’ve gradually been reclaiming parts of it to use as vegetable beds. We’ve already made an experimental squash and potato bank (that we’ll be re-digging and properly building this winter) and an asparagus bed – so we decided to tackle the remaining stretch. It took all of Sunday morning to strim the nettles and cut through the thick old rose stems, before taking the rotavator to it. And what a difference it made!! We managed to turn a previously-thick weed patch into well-turned soil – removing a huge pile of stones and rocks (and the odd roof tile), as well as uncovering and removing a wire fence! It’ll still take us at least a weekend to dig the area up properly and put in new beds, but it looks so different already. 

All in all, definitely a productive weekend!