Wimbledon Tennis? Pfft. Euro Semi-Final at Wembley? Meh. No, the biggest event of our week was the re-turfing of the lawn.
Michael had been struggling for most of the last year in an attempt to revive the two lawns either side of the path in the back garden. After the application of substantial amounts of weedkiller and fertiliser, he had succeeded in making the grass look healthy, but the ‘bald’ patches were not going away, despite liberal sprinklings of new seed.
We’d previous dismissed the idea of re-turfing as being too expensive – but on Monday, Michael did some research online (where else?), and in the event it was surprisingly reasonable in price – an online enquiry form including dimension, e-mailing of some photos and we were away – an instant quote for less than £300 – and, once that was accepted, a message arrived asking “Can we come tomorrow?”. Yes, we said, and so they did.
Two bright and friendly lads turned up on Tuesday morning around 10, complete with rotavator, pre-cut turf and appropriate soil and fertiliser. They whizzed around, working with all the assurance of professional experts, and around 90 minutes later, it was done! Payment made by online transfer, off they trotted onto their next job.
In many ways, it’s the last piece of the jigsaw for the garden refurb. As you can see from the picture, it was a bit of a wreck when we first came to see the house almost exactly two years ago. The first thing we did after moving in was to have all the out-of-control shrubs cleared and then last spring, Michael got to work, creating the beds you can now see to the left and right, the veggie/fruit patch at the back near the shed (which itself got a makeover) and then planting the shrubs and other things which are now coming into their own.
It's all his work – I can claim no credit whatever for anything – other than making supportive and enthusiastic noises when required. Anyway, I think you’ll agree that it all looks a great deal better – and that’s before we think about all the pots on the terrace (which you can’t see on these two pictures) and the front garden too.
So, to misquote the magnificent duo of Flanders and Swann, “We’re frightfully house and garden at number eighty-three.”
All we need now is some sunshine… Oh, and victory at Wembley tomorrow night wouldn’t go amiss, either…