scarifying not sacrificing a lawn; a delightful display of spontaneity

by | Mar 23, 2019 | Latest Post | 0 comments

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There are some words which had me reaching for an etymological dictionary to find out their origin. Scarifying has a number of meanings. In surgery, it is to make tiny punctures or superficial incisions in the skin or other tissue. In agriculture, it’s breaking up and listening soil or scratching and upgrading the outer surface of seeds to increase water absorption or hasten germination. Finally, to scarify someone is to wound them with harsh criticism.

This was not in my mind when I was called yesterday morning by someone who was very keen to have their garden tidied up. We arrived to find a fairly modern three-bedroom house on a new estate which was apparently immaculate. The lawn had just been mown, the borders were neat and tidy and I wondered what we had to do. The owner explained that he was concerned about moss on the lawn and felt that before you put some fertiliser and muscular on it would be better to seek someone who knew more than he did on the subject.

Long’s scarification consists of using a machine not unlike a lawnmower which consists of revolving tines which will throw out the moss and enable the grass to grow without loss of light and nutrition. The area of the lawn – which was about 6 m x 6 m give or take – needed attention we turned up this morning at nine o’clock. The whole thing took us two hours to do with Francoise doing the weeding jobs in the side bed.

you would not think that such an apparently small area would take two hours but you have to go through every square metre four or five times

I have my doubts that there would be too much moisture on the ground and that the tines would tear but the sun came out, the breeze seemed to drive the lawn somewhat and we proceeded without problem. If anyone wants to have a go at scarifying I warn you that the lawn will look awful afterwards but three weeks later it will have recovered because the lawn itself will have enough light and will not have to share its moisture requirements with a parasitic partner.  it is a good thing to use this clarify in two directions along and crosswise. This will result in a more thorough removal of the dead grass and moss. The customer paid me by his mobile phone by bank transfer. This certainly saved me going to the post office to pay the money in, and it arrived directly into my account. he showed me the green ti

*****

We decided to go and have a drink at the local pub. After chatting with the landlord we sat down to have a quiet rest. Three people came in, followed by a friend who was waxing enthusiastic about his cooking efforts. He informed everyone that he absolutely loved food and he told us about his first efforts at Toad in the Hole and other efforts cooking chicken. What I loved about him was his extrovert nature and his childlike joy in sharing cooking. He came over to us without prompting and showed us pictures on his iPhone. Never mind that he never met us before, his enthusiasm was infectious and we responded accordingly. His name, in case you hadn’t guessed, was Jack Wills

 

 

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