Lawn breakers
Trouble-making bunnies have demolished Toby’s lawn, so it’s time to set things straight and fix his tattered sward…
WHEN I was a child, our family pet was a freerange guinea pig that spent his days grazing the lawns. Horatio – thanks for asking – lived in an upturned washing-up bowl that had a cavy-shaped hole cut in the side. Once the grass below was trimmed, he would poke his nose out of the hole, lift the plastic dome and move, tortoise-like, to pastures new.
Neighbours might have laughed, but Horatio kept both his dignity and the lawn in excellent condition.
If only the same could be said for my daughter’s rabbits. Their bawdiness I could forgive, but their cavalier attitude to lawn care has left me with no choice but to present Bunson and Hedges – kind of you to ask – with their P45s.
The rapscallions have now been moved to a grass-free part of the garden, while I repair their burrowings.
With its craters and lack of life, even Brian Cox would agree that the area below the pen resembles the surface of the moon. However, where he might expect to find cheese, tufts of dandelion leaves re-grow from the nibbled remains of their taproots.
In established lawns, dandelions are lovely but if they, the daisies and plantain that are also starting to show are left, they will out-compete the fledgling grass. And without a thick sward, any wear and tear turns the lawn to mud.
Timing is crucial. Immediately after rain is the moment to tackle stubborn weeds, as brambles in the borders or dandelions in the lawn slide out of the soil with a satisfying ‘crump’ when levered from below with a hand fork and pulled from the top.
Meanwhile, the best time to fill hollows before re-sowing the lawn is in the evening, as then the long shadows cast by the low sun expose the highs and lows. To blend in the newly sown area with what grass remains around the outside, I’m over-sowing the lot, which, fingers crossed, will be back to a ‘guinea-pig gold’ standard by spring.
If he happens to be looking down from the great washing-up bowl in the sky, I’m sure Horatio would approve.
“It resembles the surface of the moon”