Garden clean up - again

The problem with travelling, is that everytime you come home the garden is a mess.   Again.  Especially with so much rain, and some spells of warm sunshine.   Three weeks away and it was as if we had done nothing in the garden before we left for the Netherlands.

It was hard to tell where the ornamental grasses ended the ordinary grass began.

Walter had to spend some time mowing and remowing this part of the lawn.  Good for the compost bin I suppose.

The rhubarb was looking a bit spindly.  It obviously was sick of being waterlogged.

So after we cleaned up it was time to put the summer bulbs into the garden.   They had lain in the shed for four weeks, where the snails and slugs had eaten away all the words.  Come to think of it.  Why would they eat the paper when there was so much lush growth outside in the garden.   I bet there are mice in the shed . Desperate mice. Oh dear.

Then it was time to put weed mat down in the worst areas and place bark chips on top.  That should stop the weeds.

And New Zealanders will be pleased to know that I bought some face masks to wear when I am handling compost or bark.  But my glasses kept fogging up.  I also kept looking around to make sure the neighbours were not looking at me.  They would have thought I was mad.  But I have checked the problem out with a few people, and no one  has ever heard of anyone contracting Legionnaires Disease here through handling compost.  Whatever do they put in commercial compost in New Zealand, to make it so lethal?

While at the Pound shop, purchasing my vast array of bulbs, I noticed small packets of compacted soil. Just what I need in order to avoid Walter having to carry heavy bags of potting soil up two flights of steps.

All that I had to do was add water to the plastic bag and hey presto, well five minutes the instructions said,  I would have 10 litres of lovely potting soil.  Well it did not work out that way as it took ages for the water to soak into the compacted soil, and I certainly did not end up with 10 litres.  I know I am hopeless at estimating but there was no way I achieved 10 litres.  Not such a good deal afterall.  Oh well back to smiling nicely at Walter again.

And now the garden is spick and span again, the front garden looking trim and green,

and the back garden also lovely and tidy and colourful.

But of course we are off again, for another four weeks, and no doubt the garden will look just as bedraggled again when we return.   All ready for us to tidy it again.