After a long winter and a late spring, we get a little warmth and some sun and everything goes off with a bang….especially the weeds. It is that green tide of endless mowing and weeding that we get this time of year.

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Theses are not Trinity weeds….they ain’t posh enough.

Saying that, I do like some weeds, just not at this time of year. With exams looming, party season not that far away -not forgetting the May Ball- you want the gardens looking at their best. At this time of year, if you are not behind or sitting on a mower, you are leaning, sorry I mean pushing a hoe or you are on hands and knees weeding. As soon as you have finished one bed or patch, turn your back and the buggers are back again. I am quite happy weeding or mowing but when it comes to edging a lawn, I’ll make sure my phone rings or there is a meeting to go to or I will find absolutely anything else to do… except edging.

It does also depend where the weed is and there are differing opinions  amongst certain members of the college to what weeds should stay and where….including the gardeners.

 “But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else.  In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit.  Weeds are people’s idea, not nature’s.”

Seeing all the weeds beginning to grow isn’t a bad sign, it just means that the garden is beginning to wake and give us that warm feeling, that summer is not far behind; then all of a sudden your back goes with all the bending you have been doing.

“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”  ~A.A. Milne

Had to include that quote he’s an ex Trinity man.

So what are you doing when you are not fighting with the weeds…..mowing. The sun, warmth, a little rain (we will ignore last spring), a spring feed along with any aeration or scarification, the lawns will then take off.

Right up until mid April of this year, the lawns were looking tired and stressed because of the long, cold winter. With the previous year being extremely wet, we were unable to keep up with our usual lawn programme and because of the constant rain. A lot of the nutrients were washed out of the soil, which caused many of our lawns to suffer with fungal problems (mainly rust and red thread). We have on most of our lawns been able to start our usual spring lawn programme. All have been aerated, some have been scarified and most have had their spring feed, leaving just a couple of troublesome ones still to do.

All of them, after a very slow start, are beginning to grow and grow fast. Some are already needing to be cut twice a week just to keep on top of them. If the weather carries on like it has in the last couple of weeks, and I hope it does, the month of May is going to be a very busy month on the lawns. That is something I am really looking forward too, it will be bloody hard work but the rewards will be a sight for sore eyes.

Since becoming Head Gardener in March 2010 I have had to put up with: virtually two years of drought; then the wettest year on record; and then a long cold prolonged winter, that only really ended for us just after Easter. Give all us gardeners a nearly normal year, if there is such a thing, so we can concentrate on the gardens more; than having this constant battle with the weather.

“Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.”  ~Lindley Karstens

Whilst writing this post I realised that I have been writing the Tattooed Gardener blog now for just over a year, the first post going out on the 28th April 2012…..adding even more crap to the internet. Before I joined Twitter, I hadn’t even thought about writing, but after reading some brilliant horticultural blogs, it gave me the incentive to give it a go. Reading blogs from all types of gardeners both professional and amateurs, in this country and from all over the world, I have found very informative and interesting. So after being cyber bullied by some of my Twitter followers (yes, you know who you are, it’s all your fault you know) into writing a blog, I didn’t think I would enjoy it so much. You never know, if I’m still writing it in a years time, I might even write something worth reading…..but wouldn’t hold your breath.

As with most of my posts, I will end with a music video, it does have the word Tattooed in the title but that’s where the similarity ends….unfortunately.

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