Lawns

Because Liz and I, when shaken or stirred, become a cocktail of laziness and ecological-awareness in pretty much equal measures, we don't look after our garden with any rigour. There are other qualities (mainly hers), but the lawn gets fewer cuts than most.

We do not remove dandelions, daisies, teasels, moss or any other green stuff from our lawn. It simply has to succumb to the mower once a fortnight from May to September, once a month in October, November, April and March and gets December - February off. Last year I let a teasel grow in the front garden and we scattered the seeds around a bit and harvested the flowers for Christmas decorations. Goldfinches visited the while. Teasels grow roots in year one and produce goldfinch food in year two. Then they die. The teasels not the goldfinches.

This morning the lawn, ten days uncut, is a riot of white and yellow. A few of our neighbours trim theirs with nail scissors.

I believe Liz should come out of this article with a better reputation than it is giving her. She is the gardener. I do big pruning, chopping things up, moving heavy objects, reaching high branches and going to the tip. She knows the names of plants and keeps the garden tidy. I get hay fever. She can escape me by spending time in the garden from June to August. But we both believe that anything which grows up through the lawn deserves a chance.

Dandelion leaves are great in salads.