The Agony of Gardening

I hope you all had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, or weekend in general for those of you who don't live over in the lovely UK.

I spent Sunday in both my front and back garden. It has been raining and windy and just cold and horrible all through April and May, which means there has been no chance to do the garden. So, I spent the day hacking and digging and pulling weeds and all sorts of other delights out of the ground, while getting pricked by thorns and dodging wasps and all other sorts of idiocy.

I'm not a gardener. I don't have a green thumb. I hate insects, especially wasps, bees and spiders, and I don't know what is a plant and a weed. I know, I'm such a girl, but I like pretty gardens, and I like sitting outside in the sun. It sounds stupid, but on nice, sunny, warm days, I get nostalgic and I go all deep and life just seems good and hopeful . . . but I haven't been able to sit outside due to the mess that is my garden. Plus, no one else is going to tidy it up for me, and I don't have the money for a gardener, which also seems pointless, because the gardens really aren't that big.

So, Sunday was an interesting day. I learnt that weeds are a master of disguise and can sometimes look rather pretty. I learnt that soil can be rock hard and stubborn. That grass likes to grow in places it shouldn't like the flower beds and the cracks between the paving stones. Rotten wood(en fencing) is just a pain in the ass. And that grass never ends.

I also got to use my new lawnmower. I should have took a picture of it. It's my first mower. I know that sounds a little sad, but purchasing it made me feel like a proper adult. It's small and green and I had to put all the pieces together with a knife because I don't own a screwdriver. Something which is now on my must buy list, because screwdrivers are very handy, but yes, I made up my mower and took it out for a spin and had to switch it off like five times, because the plastic cage kept getting full of grass. I swear the strip of grass in my garden is not that long or wide, but there was sooooo much grass, which went everywhere when I tried to tip it in the bin. I got some in my eye and let me tell you, grass hurts when it is in the eye.

Any way, after all the huffing puffing, sweating, stabbing, cramping, I am happy to say the garden is neat. I now just have to buy some ready to plant flowers - it's safer that way - and tidy up the far end of my garden and I will feel happy sitting outside. Of course it then decided to start raining at about 2pm this afternoon and hasn't stopped. Needless to say, I might be doing all of the above again next Sunday. O_o

What did you do this weekend? Anyone have a BBQ? I haven't had a BBQ in such a long time. It's on my "must do once garden is presentable" list.