Gardening solutions for the garden from hell

The combination of 'summertime sadness' and a lack of energy and anything approaching fitness meant that the gardening a.k.a. damage limitation has been neglected even more than usual.  But then this entered my life....

...a cordless grass and hedge trimmer, which I got a good deal on, and which genuinely provided one of those "where have you been all my life?" moments.  Regular readers of this blog over the years will be familiar with my gardening trials and tribulations (living in an area which is an extension of  a public park and therefore it's impossible to maintain anything approaching a decent garden).  High grass and weeds are a fact of life where we live, even for the householders who have invested in paving/slabs, only for them to be covered over by the aforementioned high grass/weeds.

To get the best out of this equipment you need to purchase a separate compatible handle (which cost almost as much as the cordless trimmer!).  It may feel like you're 'digging the desert with a spoon' in a huge, sprawling garden but it certainly gets results, effortlessly cutting through high grass, weeds and hedges.  Having had weeks of constant rain, the high grass hadn't had the chance to dry out but again this was no obstacle to the magic machine.  Eventually we had a couple of days without rain, sufficient time to dry out the grass and this enabled me to cut it with the lawnmower.

This summer may have been a write-off in so many ways, but at least I now have the tools to make a very difficult job much easier.  

Sunshine!

It's such a rarity to have a day without rain, or gale force winds, and even more rare to have a warm day.  Today, unusually, we had a beautiful dry and warm day.  It is probably the only dry and warm day we have had for months, and life will be back to normal tomorrow with the return of the wind and rain :(

Needless to say, my back "garden" a.k.a. jungle, hasn't seen a lawnmower all year.  Until today when we had the annual ritual of the first cut of the year, closely followed by me complaining all night about aches and pains and how flippin' exhausted I feel.  In other words, the usual.

The little fitness regime does seem to be paying off though, as I am actually beginning to feel fitter and today I was able to walk uphill and downhill without the aid of the knee support bandages.  Getting there slowly but surely!!

Summertime!!

Here in my part of the world, we usually only have two seasons: the cold rainy one and the slightly less cold but still rainy one.

So it is a very pleasant surprise to be sitting here at the end of March enjoying completely unseasonable summer-type weather. For the past 4 days the temperatures have risen, we can finally switch the heating off, and the sunshine is giving our spirits a much-needed lift.

I guess we will have to make the most of it, as come June/July it will be the usual "summer" weather.

Yesterday I spent four hours out in the garden, cutting grass and doing some intensive weeding work which I'm seriously paying for today, as I can hardly walk :(

Job done²

A good day, all in all: Homebase had the chocolate brown wallpaper we were looking for, and I later headed out for my first grass-cutting session of the damage-limitation, sorry I mean 'gardening' season. Also I have the overwhelming urge for a topiary tub, as you do!

And I got a nice cardigan in Matalan too. :)

It wasn't quite up there with last Saturday's 'living the dream' but I guess I can't complain.

And it's only 9 days till my next holiday :)