Boing!

‘maybe tomorrow’, and two weeks go by, like magic.

Just how it is these days.

The weekend was great. Saturday : gardening, then bridge. Sunday : gardening, Easter lunch, then more gardening. Monday : shopping for gardening stuff, then gardening.

My manual lawnmower officially died. It probably would have lasted a lot longer if I’d only taken care of the thing, cleaning off the grass wrapped around its parts, tightening any loose screws… But I’m far too lazy for that sort of boring stuff, and when something finally worked itself loose and got lost in the too-high weeds, it was the end of the mower.

Repairing the thing would be more trouble than it was worth so I let myself be convinced of the virtues of an electric mower. Which is not as quiet as hoped. But it does cut the lawn efficiently.

JP gave it quite a workout for its inaugural mow, going out to the farther trees that have not been mowed under for about 5 years now. Apparently my cherries and apples could have fewer worms in them if only I would not let the weeds grow under the trees. We’ll see if that works.

Even a shiny new mower cannot get everything right in a single pass, so at my next opportunity I’ll re-mow and get all the stuff that simply flattened against the ground last time.

Though, the next opportunity may well be three weeks from now, by which time the next mow will be overdue anyway.

It’s a bit cold in the mornings still for planting the veg patch. We did put in some stuff. Can’t resist that sunny afternoon sky. Potatos, onions, garlic, carrots, radishes. Some garlic has already come back from last year, and the celery has sprouted from the freeze-thawed ruins of last year’s plants. Strawberries cleared of their invading weeds.

The veg patch might get more elaborate every season, but the real work this year will be out front. Gone, the scraggly rose bushes. Gone, the weeds and the infesting ivy. The irises and tulips and azaleas will be moved to temporary quarters while the soil is thoroughly turned over and freed of blackberry brambles and other unwanteds. In will come a variety of flowering shrubs, in different colors and seasons. Lilacs of all colors, a butterfly bush, forsythia, lots of stuff.

It’s almost too bad I get to play the League final of the Open Pairs this weekend in Grenoble. Almost a shame to play the League final of the Mixed by Four next weekend (though that one we get to play ‘at home’). All that bridge keeps me out of the yard and under artificial lighting! Sitting on my butt.

And the camillia got replanted. It's much happier out there than in the kitchen.