In praise of Autumn, and AUGERS 💚
Hello friends!
A very quick one this week as I've caught a horrible thing... probably from my horrible kids (who are fine)... All is not lost though, and this week my blessings have included:
1. The weather - most glorious and delicious autumnal light, with crisp, cold mornings mixed with warm days that feel like summer (but not too hot). Basically my perfect weather. I am undone.
2. My bulb auger (see below)
Monday
It's time. The long grass is now lying prostrate, vibrant and bushy but horizontal in every direction, like the back of a sloth's head. It's been this way for a while, and I've been mulling over how to approach it, dreading the mass of brown beneath. What I really need is a scythe, but I don't have one of those, so instead, the old mower comes out. Five minutes in, and my heart plummets. I've only managed about a third of the long grass, and most of it is clogging up the machine, because it's too damp. No amount of sunny day is going to rectify this situation; the grass is too long. But that's the least of it - the bottom half of the grass, which hasn't seen light or air since April when I stopped mowing it, is pale brown and there are patches of bare earth everywhere. My mower promptly gives up. It is old and I don't look after it properly and this is just too much. I need to rake off all the dead stuff, so I go to find my rake, and it's gone. GONE I tell you! After living in this garden for ten years now I've become used to stuff vanishing without trace. In my dark moments I think there must be a person or persons just coming to help him or herself to all my stuff. In reality it's far more likely that I have given the stuff away or lent it out and forgotten about it.
Tuesday
Oh dear, I am coming down with something revolting. I feel like I'm swimming underwater. I am coughing and spluttering. But worst of all, i cannot taste any food, which basically removes the meaning from my life. Anyway, I've had a very exciting delivery - two long packages concealing what look like enormous cork screws. They are 'bulb planting augers' and you attach them to your drill.
You push the drill into the ground push the trigger and it makes the perfect hole for you to plop your bulb into. It's great for when you're trying to plant bulbs into the smallest spaces, as there's very little disturbance to other plants. I plant loads of bulbs into one flower bed (the one I'd cleared last week) and slink off inside for lemon and honey and (absent) sympathy.
Wednesday
It is the most beautiful day. Despite having flu, I cannot ignore it, and I go out with my drill again. I use the small attachment, and I drill fifty holes into the bit of lawn that I managed to mow before the machine said "NO!" It is quite the best fun I've had for a long long time and I can honestly say that during that five minutes everything felt mightily better.
Drilling holes in your lawn is a highly recommended, better-making thing. I put a snakes-head fritillary bulb into each hole and push some multi-purpose compost in after it (as it's impossible to sweep all the un-earthed dirt back into the hole; it gets trapped in the grass surrounding it. I now feel like I ought to have bought 150 bulbs rather than 50, and it's highly possible I may order some more, but I can't think of anything right now except dealing with the children and going to bed.
Thursday and Friday
I am defeated by flu. No gardening.
All the good things, always
xx Laetitia
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