We survived

My trusty electric lawn mower and I.

I would highly recommend that you never let the grass get this long before cutting it.

I should have done this a month ago, or even six weeks.  There were opportunities, here and there, as far back as late March/early April.  That's when we had the nicest weather of the year thus far.  But no, I must have thought, "it's okay, I can do it next weekend ..." and then "it's okay, I can do it when I get back from my trip."

Nope.  As I've probably whined about before, it has been an almost constant deluge of rain since my return, and apparently all the while I was away as well.  Making something like 5 weeks of pretty much steady rain and gloom.  Not in all my 23 years here have I encountered such a Spring.

Luckily, this last weekend was at last, bathed in sunshine.  And it was nice while it lasted, for all of two days.

Better.

The problem with leaving it so long, is that every two passes or so I needed to empty the basket.  I managed to deposit one lot in my already-quite-full compost bin, and the rest had to go into a bag for collection by the Council (I'm amazed I managed to fit it all in the one bag I had left).

Yes, I trod in some cat poop.  But for all the noises my gallant neighbours made, no one came forward to actually do the job.  So, yours truly did.

We're back to rain/occasional sun/much more rain.  Really, I've never seen the garden in such a state at this time of year.  That rose bush should be full of roses.  The alliums are only starting to open, along with the other flowers in the herb border.  Everything is at least a month late.

I shall stop saying, by way of consolation, "ah well, it's good for the garden."  It's not.  Plants need more than water, they need that other key ingredient - SUN.

And so does this girl.