Easter weekend is traditionally a gardening weekend. Garden centres brace themselves for what is often boasted to be their busiest time of year....The main growing season is fast approaching and it's time to get out, get tidy, get prepared for a very busy Spring. There was just one problem with this however.....come Easter...it was still bloody freezing! It was snowing! After a very long, cold and dismal winter, Spring still seemed a long way off.
Still, never give up, never surrender!!! We get two weeks off at Easter and I planned to get the garden sorted come hell or highwater. I mustered the troops....reminded them of the glorious bounty we had enjoyed from last years endeavours....It was time to man up, get out and get started.
Of course, once out there the troops were faced by the months of neglect, remnants of our very explosive firework party, and the havoc caused by the chickens having free rein of the garden all winter.....they weren't best pleased.
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| I thought they over-reacted |
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| The patio didn't look that bad.. |
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| and there wasn't THAT much to do :-s |
Ok, so it was a bit of a mess. But the wonderful thing about gardening is that you can make an impact very quickly. We all set about to raking, collecting, and burning, and in no time at all we'd made our garden look a bit more like our garden again.
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| First, we came up with a way to keep Minion 6 contained and occupied. |
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| The boys perked up considerably once they'd got the fire going. |
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| Even Minion 2 got stuck in. |
It was a good day's work and even the minions agreed that we'd made a considerable dent in the mess...and then...the next day...the most incredible thing happened....the sun came out!!! Isn't it funny how everything looks better when the sun shines. Suddenly, we were filled will fresh motivation. Pretty soon, the garden was looking a lot clearer and we could get to work on our poorly, neglected lawn.
We started by giving it a good rake over. We've had some much rain this winter that the soil was badly impacted so we used a Lawn Aerator to break up the soil a bit and give the grass some breathing space. After another raking we reseeded, though we will probably have to redo this should the weather take a turn for the worse again...which it probably will do. But it's a start...and it looks better than it did this time last year.
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| Yes, your eyes do not deceive you...Minion 2 is out, in the garden, in the sun, aerating the lawn!! I would like to say that he's had a change of heart and has embraced life in the open air but alas I cannot lie. He asked for chores to do to so he could pay for Wrestlemania on Sunday night. Ah well....we live forever in hope. He did a great job though. |
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| We even had some lovely purple sprouting broccoli to enjoy! |
So, we've made a good start. Pretty soon it will be time to start sowing and then the real fun will begin. But in the meantime I have slight aside, non-kitchen garden, personal project on the go. Don't get me wrong...I do love the veggies but before the veg garden I had a beautiful cottage style garden that was an extravaganza of colour and beauty. I do miss it sometimes and am determined to have a few non-edible plants in the garden.
A few months back I saw an old doulton sink on eBay...I got very excited as I'd always wanted on old sink to plant an alpine garden in....I won it for £20 which I thought was a real bargain -Charlie was less impressed with my purchase (I've mentioned in previous blogs that he has very little respect for plants that aren't edible) and said that he couldn't believe I paid £20 for 'that beat up old cr** sink'- ...what can I say, the man has no vision :-)... anyway, this week..... I'm going to turn my beat up old sink into a beautiful little Alpine Garden. Slightly off topic...but hey, the soul needs food too :-)
