Not much of a rest yesterday either, as I was busy digging over in preparation for a new lawn in the front garden of a client’s house. It’s been a ‘lawn’ for a while, but the grass has become very patchy and thatchy – so when I took it on we discussed getting rid of the old lawn completely and making a new one. The soil is extremely stony, and the site slopes down from the road to the house – so it’s far from ideal, but we’ll give it a go. So yesterday was spent digging and turning the existing surface, getting rid of as many weeds and moss clumps as possible, and exposing the bare earth to some air (and, as it happens, overnight rain). Although I am no fan of chemicals in the garden, in this case I’ll make an exception and give the whole area a dose of glysophate to kill of any weeds and old rough grass that persist, before setting about getting the topsoil into a decent condition. I’m trying to avoid importing more topsoil, but it might prove necessary, as I suspect there’ll be hollows all over once I have got all the stones and other rubbish out. 

It’s not the greatest time of year for lawn-making, but I am determined to make as good a job as possible of it. 

By the by, while doing this job a Skylark was singing almost constantly overhead, and I was entertained by a Buzzard being mobbed very enthusiastically by a group of Jackdaws. And this on a housing development on the edge of Salisbury: albeit one that – at its edges – runs up against open farmland. On the other hand, I can sometimes work a whole day in ‘the countryside’ – at The Manor, for instance – and see hardly a bird beyond the occasional Robin chasing me along the borders, and the constant raucousness of the neighbourhood rookery.