Yet More Grass

Even though the mower has been (temporarily) put away we were still busy mowing on Sunday. As anyone who knows us will testify we're not the keenest of gardeners at Strickley. There are two small lawns in the front garden (what might be called a scratty bit of grass), surrounded by rambling shrubs (wildlife garden), with the patio area round the back. We do make more of an effort with this (especially as the beds are at an accessible height), but this year it's looked a bit more unloved than it ought. We're blaming the weather - no long summer evenings, idly doing a bit of weeding while soaking up the sun.
Beyond the patio is The Paddock. This is actually the top portion of the field called The Paddock that is now fenced off from stock and has over the past few years been a tennis court (got the nets), croquet lawn (got the flamingoes and hedgehogs) and is now a playing field for grandchildren. We're lucky to have a ride on mower, but haven't been able to cut the grass for a couple of months. It was either too wet, or if it was fine and dry we were too busy cutting "real grass". But yesterday Henry got the mower out. It was a slow job as the "grass box" filled up frequently. He emptied each load into the digger bucket, and that in turn was emptied into the Feeder. This weighs and mixes the cows' feed, and by the end of the mowing marathon it held half a tonne of grass.