Sunday's Spotlight - WAKEY, WAKEY!

By guest blogger Pete.

In late October early November I usually put my garden to bed for the winter.  We have had a harder winter than  normal this year so most things seem to have been delayed.  In fact, some plants that lived through last year's much milder winter have failed to make it this year.  There have been just two exceptions to this.

I gave the garden a weeding in late March and it has had a few grass cuts since then.  Our lawns are not in a very good condition with weeds and moss in danger of  numerically overtaking the grass.  I have tried many things but all with no success.  A friend of ours' recommend "Green Thumb",a specialist firm dealing with lawns.  So we asked them to come and try and sort out our lawn problems.  They reckon they would need three more visits to get things back to what a lawn should be but even the one visit they have made has resulted in a marked improvement to what things were not too long ago and quite a few weeds have already departed this garden.  Their charge is more than reasonable - £14 a visit - and if you are despairing for the state of your lawn then, take a look at the Green Thumb website.

Last year's Christmas tree continues to flourish and I have realistic hopes that it will survive for Christmas 2010.  I resisted planting it in the garden for fear that it would become too large; so it remains in its pot.  The plum tree is in full leaf and looking very healthy.  Even the olive tree I transplanted earlier this season seems to be enjoying its new location.

So the garden has woken up and its demands increase.  It's not a bad place to work in on a nice sunny day and we've been having a few of these just lately.

It may well be that having looked at the photos attached to this blog you could be thinking that, perhaps, a visit to your optician might not be a bad idea.  Worry not (as if you ever would)!  There's nothing wrong with your eyes.  One of the things I love about photography is the opportunity it gives to experiment.  I would appreciate any comments you may have about this week's photos.

Now's the chance to plan  your summer holidays (if you haven't done so already).  Things look as though they could get a bit tough in the UK with a new parliament that is hung.  Or is the hanging bit wistful thinking?