Ideal growing weather has meant the grass is growing just as fast as everything else.

All my energies until now have been spent on sowing and planting for my flower borders, herbs, tomatoes or runner beans. Now it's time to give the lawn some serious attention. Geoff has been mowing about every ten days and has occasionally cut the edges.

Although it's been a very mild spring and winter, the nights have been relatively cold, which slows the grass growth, but not any more.

I used to try ‘weeding and feeding’ with very mixed results. Now the grass is growing strongly I use ‘Evergreen Spray and Feed’. This attaches to a hose, and takes barely 20 minutes to do all four lawns. It promises to green up within 24 hours, and I am always pleased with the result. I never attempt to do it in times of drought. The best time is after reasonable rainfall. It does need to be done every six weeks or so.

My lawn ‘weeding’ entails a pair of scissors and an eagle eye. I use them to dig down and get under the roots of dandelions, plantain, etc. Clover? Well that just gets cut with the lawn!!

My runner beans are romping away as I write, but keeping the wildlife away and the soil warm has been a challenge. This year I have put old propagator lids in between plants and so far, it's working….

Most of the big pots that I put into the borders a couple of months ago are now full of home-grown plants (and snails). Hopefully the extra depth of soil should mean sturdier plants and less watering. That's the plan anyway.