Monday turned out a little bit sunnier than forecast with some hazy autumn sunshine from time to time. The forecast for the rest of the week remains much the same.
I must admit I'm not very good at looking after our two small lawns. Apart from getting cut as necessary that’s about all the loving care and attention they get. I thought it was about time I made an effort to improve things a little. It’s not that they look too bad but they could certainly be improved.
I've started the process by aerating the lawn. There seems to be a little bit of doubt, depending on which Internet article you read, as to whether the holes made with my aerating machine, a giant fork with hollow tines, should be filled in or not. I've chosen the easy option not to fill them in. I think I should have made a few more holes than I did but it doesn't come natural to me to make lots of holes in the lawn to improve its condition. The process is supposed to let stale carbon dioxide out of the soil and fresh oxygen in.
The next confusion is what to do with all the pieces of lawn that come out of the aerating fork as you work around the lawn. I just tested out my hollow tined fork on one of our small lawns so it was a quick job to pick up the tubes of soil removed. Some suggestions are that these can be left on the surface to dry out then the next time the lawn is cut the dry soil will be broken up and distributed back over the lawn. I think I’ll add our bits of grass and soil to the compost heap.
We did manage a little bit of harvesting with the produce having a bit of an exotic air about it.
A few bit size mini kiwis “Issai” to start with and from the greenhouse, one large orange pepper “Orange Bell”, an aubergine “Jackpot” and some grapes “Himrod”. A couple of large yellow tomatoes, Amish Gold had split but the damage was only skin deep and together with the aubergine and pepper made an excellent pasta sauce.
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Your grass is looking pretty good. Mine's a disaster of clover and daisies, and it does take quite a beating. Your produce is exotic indeed and of a really good standard - quite a feat, well done you. There are yellow tomatoes here too, Golden Sunrise I think, and they've done really well to my surprise. I've been wondering if they ripen more easily than the red ones.
ReplyDeleteI did take a picture of the best bit of lawn. Perhaps I should photo some bad areas?
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