Horticultural aide memoire
No.43: Spike the lawn
The lawn is typically damp and squashy now, ideal for spiking. Take a garden fork and push its tines vertically into the ground by standing on it, then work it back and forth a little. Withdraw it, step back 4in and repeat the exercise. Keep doing this until the whole lawn is covered in a regular pattern of holes. This is one of the most beneficial lawn improvements: the lawn will drain more freely in the winter, and the process punches through the dense mat of thatch at the base of the grass leaves, improving root growth.
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Everything you need to know about private jet travel and 10 rules to fly byDespite the monetary and environmental cost, the UK can now claim to be the private jet capital of Europe.
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'I'd willingly give a year of my life for a fortnight there': The green dream that is the garden of DerreenExotic woods, labyrinths of narrow, mossy paths and thousands of tree ferns make this an internationally important garden, writes Charles Quest-Ritson. Photographs by Jonathan Hession.
