I am losing track, maybe now six times mowing the lawns.
Mowed on Monday, eight days since last mowed.
It is find days when dry not raining. I had intended Sunday, but must have rained in the night everywhere wet.
No sooner did I start mowing Monday, a heavy rain shower, I was cold, drenched to the skin, but decided to carry on.
Most of the tulips now over. One solitary tulip, was white, now a light pink cum mauve. A few red tulips still in flower.
Raked bed for runner bean, too cold to sow. I also need to spread compost when have dug out old compost heap. Now ideal as soil is wet from days of rain. Before soil was too dry. Spreading compost will help to retain the moisture.
Today, loosen and transferred from old compost heap to new. Pleased to find, as did a few days ago, a thriving colony of compost worms. A few of the compost worms transferred to compost bins in the front garden.
Archive for the ‘garden’ Category
Mowing the lawns
May 11, 2021Mowing the lawns
May 2, 2021Friday, gardener weeded, then later trimmed one of the hedges.
He had put all the weeds on the compost heap. I forked out onto the garden. To be slowly added later
All four compost heaps hedge clippings added.
Today mowed lawns. I think fifth time this year but losing track. Last mowed eight days ago. April very dry, no rain, air so dry, sucking moisture out of the ground. Very little grass cut. But there will be a storm Monday, heavy rain. Mow the lawns before to enable water to soak into the ground.
Sowed grass seed where lawn is looking a little sparse.
Compostable coffee capsules tossed on compost heaps. Will they compost?
A couple, of days ago, reCup from Seven Districts. Will it compost?
A well deserved tea break
April 18, 2021Peas sown. With a rake, rake out soil to a depth of about an inch, add compost, sow peas, then rake back the soil.
At the beginning of the year I made a mistake, I added to old well rotted compost heap, I should have started a new compost heap. Today, start a new compost heap. I will slowly transfer what was added to the old heap. On the garden, a pile of weeds from Friday, shake loose the soil, then add grass cuttings.
I am also adding spent compostable coffee pods. How will they fare?
Half the lawn mown. Time for a break.
To do, mow front lawns plant onion sets.
Hyacinths
March 12, 2021Yesterday, whilst digging up potatoes for lunch, hyacinths in bud.
Today, different hyacinths in flower.
Hyacinths of yesterday close to bursting into flower.
Snowdrops that came info flowers last month are still in flower. Crocuses in flower. Daffodils in bud, almost in flower.
Digging the garden and mowing the lawns
February 26, 2021I had only intended a little digging, that was all, but kind of got carried away.
I did far more digging than I had intended, dug up nettles, then thought, why not mow the lawns. Had I originally decided to mow the lawns, I would not have been walking on the grass.
Lawn mower must have been put away wet, as rusting, corroded, not in a good state. It took a while to get it started, I did not think it would start, but persevered and got it going.
Grass was too wet to mow.
Who needs a gym? Two hours or more hard physical work in the garden.
Arranged for lawn mower to be serviced.
End of February, mowing the grass.
snowdrops
February 17, 2021It is that time of year, first sign of Spring, the snow melts away and snowdrops appear.
Digging in the garden. A short row every few days.
Today, harder work, tiring, trying to dig up nettles startling to grow.
Clay soil. Last year when I dug, hard clods of soil. I made the mistake a few weeks later, breaking the clods and raking the soil, which was then battered by the rain. What I should have done, and regretted I did not, let the weather erode down the clods.
This year I will leave, but what I have noticed, no longer the hard clods. The soil structure has improved. Maybe because I dug out one of the compost heaps, to rebuild, spreading the compost on the garden.
Leaving the soil, frost will also break down the clods.
Are coffee grounds good for the garden?
July 4, 2018One of the waste products from coffee shops are the spent coffee grounds.
What to do with the coffee grounds?
A few coffee shops, Surrey Hills Coffee is a good example, put outside the shop for passers by to collect for the garden. A pity more do not follow this example.
But what to do with in the garden?
Claimed to be a slug repellent, use as a mulch around plants, add to the compost heap.
Only one way to find out, pick up a bag.
I was quite surprised and not happy, to find in a zip lock plastic bag.
I assume because wet. Only not wet, a little moist maybe.
Cakes rather than loose grounds.
I have spread around a couple of tomato plants.
I will have to obtain more, as omitted runner beans.
To spread organic matter around plants not a good idea, best to compost.
But what impact on the compost heap? Will it kill it dead, act as an accelerant, or merely act as organic matter?
Half way down the garden I can now smell coffee.
The compost heap is now the site of two experiments, compostable coffee cups and coffee grounds.
As a slug repellent a nonstarter. This evening a slug was on the coffee grounds by the tomato plants. Though it did not live to tell the tale.
Do compostable coffee cups compost?
June 25, 2018Compostable coffee cups are a step in the right direction, but addressing symptoms not the underlying problems of takeaway grab it and go throw away culture, which is part of a larger problem of pointless consumption.
Compostable coffee cups raise two questions:
- what to do with the coffee cups
- do they actually compost
If I pick up a coffee cup then wander down the street what to do with the cup? If thrown in a bin it will join the general waste stream.
Do the cups compost, do they compost on a compost heap? Some cups claim to be biodegradable, a few compostable, some make no claim at all. For example a coffee cup from Morrisons, the outer is card, can be recycled, but what of the inner core, a composite structure forming an integral whole?
Only one way to find out, conduct a little experiment, deposit takeaway coffee cups on a compost heap.
A little collection of cups, including what I believe to be a plant-based cellulose straw. It clams to be biodegradable.
These added to a compost heap a little after midday today. End of June temperatures 27C and forecast higher over the next few days.
Always need a control. Added a cup from Starbucks which helpful staff did not believe to be biodegradeable.
Starbucks have on sale at £1 ugly reusable cups. Bring own reusable coffee cup a small discount of 25p.
As always it is indie coffee shops leading the way. One small chain Boston Tea Party has banned takeaway cups. More need to follow their excellent example, encourage relax in an indie coffee shop with speciality coffee served in glass or plastic.
Daffodils
March 26, 2017Unusual daffodils, very pale, growing at the roadside.
Garden flowers
March 25, 2017For about a week, spring flowers have been out in the garden.
Frost at six in the morning, a lovely warm sunny spring day, sat in the garden reading Standart issue 6.
