TOBY BUCKLAND
Be strict with what you feed your plants, says Toby
HAVE you ever accidentally damaged someone’s lawn? I confess I have, and embarrassingly it was the elegant sward leading up to the Earl of Devon’s Castle in Exeter. During a photoshoot for my upcoming Garden Festival at the Earl’s Powderham seat, Ed the photographer needed a bucolic spot to park a rather photogenic shepherd’s hut.
‘What about on the grass?’ said Ed, and before I could say, ‘It’s so boggy you’ll be stuck in up to your axles!’ the hut and attendant Range Rover were on the grass and, well, you know the rest.
In a parody of ‘The Old Man and the Giant Turnip’, only with 4x4s instead of people, the stricken hut held fast until a plucky soul pushed from the back. Then, with a shudder and a ‘shlop’ like trifle being spooned from a bowl, it was back atop terra firma.
Now, I’ve not seen the Mariana Trench, but looking at the deep gouges left in the earl’s lawn I have a pretty good idea what it looks like. Worse was, between the grooves the turf was riven like a badly laid carpet.
When a lawn is ploughed up, whether by a shepherds’ hut or football-playing kids, it pays to act quickly. Left even for a day, the bruised sward yellows making the damage even more pronounced.
The thing to do is grab a garden fork and, with the tines pushed as deep as they will go into the scar, lever the lost turf back to the surface. This is what I did, but now with a tunnel as hollow as a pair of bellows beneath I gently ‘squidged’ (that’s a technical term) the raised soil on either side around and under the repair.
A quick prick over the shallow tyre tracks – do this on any thin and worn lawn – relieves the compaction, so grass can colonise from the surroundings. A good final flourish is to scatter fresh grass seed over the bald bits. Or if, like my photographer, you require instant green, use the old TV makeover trick of sprinkling fresh grass clippings over the area. When you damage an earl’s lawn it quite literally covers your tracks!
● Toby’s Garden Festival will be held on 27-28 April at Powderham Castle, Kenton, Exeter, Devon EX6 9JQ ✆ 01626
890243 tobygardenfest.co.uk