WILD AND WIDE WEDNESDAY

You saw Mr. HCB the other day strimming the long grass where we had let it grow for the pollinators.  Yesterday, he mowed that patch and it didn’t look as bad as we thought it would.

Of course, now it has been cut, it is very pale underneath compared with the grass around, but that’s to be expected when it hasn’t seen the light of day for almost 4 months!  He was out there quite early this morning raking it and scarifying it - by hand - but says that his walking buddy, Barry, has an electric scarifier that he has offered, so Mr. HCB thinks he will take him up on that, as it will get the job done much faster.

I decided to take a pano shot with my iPhone - and you can see Mr. HCB relaxing in the corner with our new bistro set, after doing quite a lot of raking, which he says makes his shoulders hurt - I think we should buy our own scarifier!  You will see that there is still a very large patch of lawn - or should that be grass - because a lawn is an area of short, regularly mown grass in the garden of a house and this has not been mown since the beginning of May. 

You all know how much Mr. HCB likes to be out in the garden, so even in the autumn and winter, he will be able to carry on working on the large area of grass to get it ready for scattering the wildflower seeds that we hope to buy.  We have to work out how much seed we will need and I have found a place where they sell wildflower seeds especially for clay soil, so that will be what we will buy.  We are both quite excited about this and hope that we will get lots more pollinators next year.  Although we were delighted with the number we got this year, there is always room for more.

Speaking of which, there is always room for more to sponsor me for my 100 Abstracts Challenge, which I did to raise awareness of the Mamie Martin Fund.  I am so grateful for all those who have sponsored me already and my aim is to get £1,050, so that three girls can be accommodated at a secondary boarding school for one year.  When I first started the challenge, I set my target at £100 and never dreamt that I would get such a magnificent response.  You are all wonderful!

I thought this was a good quote, which I’m sure many will relate to:

“The average lawn is an interesting beast: 
     people plant it, then douse it with artificial fertilisers 
          and dangerous pesticides to make it grow 
               and to keep it uniform - 
all so that they can hack and mow 
     what they encouraged to grow;  
          and woe to the small yellow flower 
               that rears its head!” 
Michael Braungart

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MaureenIles