So on Saturday Dad announced that his lawn didn't look very good. I decided not to take this as an insult on my gardening skills, or lack thereof. Though to be honest I wouldn't blame him if it was. However he did clarify by explaining that it was the weeds and moss that he found offensive, rather than the uneven cut and persistent long edges.
His solution was that it required special lawn care stuff sprinkling all over it. Okay so those weren't his actual words, but bear with me I'm still a novice.
Now his two lawns aren't particularly big, but they aren't tiny either. At least they don't seem it when I'm mowing them. I think the same magic that makes time go faster at weekend’s works on lawns too. Only instead of time going faster the more fun you're having, the lawn grows larger with every shove of the mower. Of course it could just be that I'm overlapping with my wonky lines.
Anyway, I digress. My point is that I didn't particularly fancy lugging a big bag of Evergreen Complete 4 in 1 around the garden, while I sprinkled it on the never ending lawn. My solution was to procrastinate. Obviously I was much too busy all day to spend any time sprinkling.
I thought I'd escape it on Sunday too, especially when we decided to go out for a family lunch. There was just one snag. Somehow we ended up having lunch in a garden centre cafe.
Now don't get me wrong it's a lovely cafe and they serve delicious meals. But when I'm trying to wangle my way out of Dads gardening to do list, the last thing I want to do is take him somewhere where he's surrounded by inspiration. Where he sees rows of plants and gardening tools to transform his mundane garden into a colourful paradise, I just see more work.
To be quite honest the only time I enter the garden centre is to go to the cafe (it's conveniently located near my parents’ house) or to drool over the fantastic Christmas displays (but that's a whole other story for another blog).
Nevertheless, there we were right in the middle of enemy territory ruled by bees and wasps. In my opinion no good can come from Dad being in a garden centre, at least not while I'm still the substitute gardener. Somehow his visits always involve me doing heavy lifting, and usually getting mud stuck down my fingernails in the process.
I managed to get us safely seated in the cafe unscathed, but after relaxing over my toasted Brie and bacon sandwich I was a little complacent about my exit strategy.
"Oh look", said Dad and I snapped back to attention, but it was too late. A new gardening ‘must have’ had been spotted. I wasn't foolish to think we would manage to get out of the store without buying it, though at that point I was still baffling over what it was for.
To be fair to Dad, he did as it turns out have my best interests at heart. Sort of. It was a spreader. Its purpose; to sprinkle the weed killer and grass seed and make my job easier. Somehow I ended up thanking him as I lugged it to the till. Though I would have been even more grateful had he just not thought up the whole idea of treating the lawn in the first place.
So thanks to Dads impulse purchase I had no excuse for not dealing with the lawn. Somehow 'because I don't want to' didn't seem like a good enough excuse, especially as I'm not longer 5 years old.
I poured the stuff into the newly acquired spreader and then set about pacing up and down the garden pushing my little cart. I have no idea why, but for some reason it was actually kind of fun. Not that I plan on admitting that to Dad. Good grief just think of the jobs he'd find me if he thought there was hope for me as a gardener!
His solution was that it required special lawn care stuff sprinkling all over it. Okay so those weren't his actual words, but bear with me I'm still a novice.
Now his two lawns aren't particularly big, but they aren't tiny either. At least they don't seem it when I'm mowing them. I think the same magic that makes time go faster at weekend’s works on lawns too. Only instead of time going faster the more fun you're having, the lawn grows larger with every shove of the mower. Of course it could just be that I'm overlapping with my wonky lines.
Anyway, I digress. My point is that I didn't particularly fancy lugging a big bag of Evergreen Complete 4 in 1 around the garden, while I sprinkled it on the never ending lawn. My solution was to procrastinate. Obviously I was much too busy all day to spend any time sprinkling.
I thought I'd escape it on Sunday too, especially when we decided to go out for a family lunch. There was just one snag. Somehow we ended up having lunch in a garden centre cafe.
Now don't get me wrong it's a lovely cafe and they serve delicious meals. But when I'm trying to wangle my way out of Dads gardening to do list, the last thing I want to do is take him somewhere where he's surrounded by inspiration. Where he sees rows of plants and gardening tools to transform his mundane garden into a colourful paradise, I just see more work.
To be quite honest the only time I enter the garden centre is to go to the cafe (it's conveniently located near my parents’ house) or to drool over the fantastic Christmas displays (but that's a whole other story for another blog).
Nevertheless, there we were right in the middle of enemy territory ruled by bees and wasps. In my opinion no good can come from Dad being in a garden centre, at least not while I'm still the substitute gardener. Somehow his visits always involve me doing heavy lifting, and usually getting mud stuck down my fingernails in the process.
I managed to get us safely seated in the cafe unscathed, but after relaxing over my toasted Brie and bacon sandwich I was a little complacent about my exit strategy.
"Oh look", said Dad and I snapped back to attention, but it was too late. A new gardening ‘must have’ had been spotted. I wasn't foolish to think we would manage to get out of the store without buying it, though at that point I was still baffling over what it was for.
To be fair to Dad, he did as it turns out have my best interests at heart. Sort of. It was a spreader. Its purpose; to sprinkle the weed killer and grass seed and make my job easier. Somehow I ended up thanking him as I lugged it to the till. Though I would have been even more grateful had he just not thought up the whole idea of treating the lawn in the first place.
So thanks to Dads impulse purchase I had no excuse for not dealing with the lawn. Somehow 'because I don't want to' didn't seem like a good enough excuse, especially as I'm not longer 5 years old.
I poured the stuff into the newly acquired spreader and then set about pacing up and down the garden pushing my little cart. I have no idea why, but for some reason it was actually kind of fun. Not that I plan on admitting that to Dad. Good grief just think of the jobs he'd find me if he thought there was hope for me as a gardener!
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