Pots and Cans

Pots and Cans

Thursday, August 10, 2023

THE LAWN RANGER RIDES AGAIN

Hi, Yo Silver!  Away!

 

Tonto!  We ride for justice and lawns

Back in May, I posted an update on our pitiful lawn and how we were going to repair the awful carnage left behind after our extension build.  We prepared the area, dutifully followed our web printed instructions, planted our grass seed then waited….

 

BEFORE - trying to repair the lawn

The sun then blazed down for weeks in an unprecedented British heatwave frying the seed to a crisp.  What wasn’t deep fried was eaten by fat pigeons or left under watered.  Freshly planted grass seed should be watered at least twice a day initially but when you’re on a water meter and with a potential hose pipe ban in the offing then understandably a scant sprinkling every few days is clearly not enough.

 

Is it growing yet?

For weeks nothing sprouted, gardening paranoia set in and I was beginning to think it might have been the top soil itself.  Could it be contaminated in some way?  Perhaps I should have used more compost in the mix?  Did I leave it too late to sow?  Maybe I should have watered it more?  There are umpteen reasons why grass seed won’t germinate and ours didn’t seem to be wanting to make an appearance any time soon. 

Bring on the rain.  It’s amazing what a change in the weather can do for a garden.  Cloudier days and lots of lovely rain saved the day.  The lawn ranger rides again!  Eh Tonto.

 

Finally signs of life

Grass (and weeds) have burst forth covering the bare dirt patches with a thin comb over of fine blades of grass. 

 

More weeds than grass


This is now the top of the soakaway

To help things along, I’ve sectioned off a small area which I’ve weeded taking care not to uproot any of the new grass.  Having left lots of tiny craters in the greenery, a light sprinkling of compost (minus free live frog hiding in the bag) together with a bit more grass seed might help cover the bald spots. 

 

Sectioned off for further pampering

Free frog with every bag of compost

With a bit of time, water and lots of TLC, our lawn might end up looking as good as when we first moved in over 2 years ago.


Now you've done gardening, how about a belly rub?


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