Gardening tips from Nobby

I guess all our humans have shortcomings. 

One of Gail's is her lack of interest in garden work. This is fine when it means that my walks are prioritised, although less so when she puts her desire to go riding her bicycle with her friends first. 

Anyway, I don't think I am betraying any secrets when I tell you that her efforts at keeping our back yard tidy tend to be sporadic and less than thorough. 

For example, earlier this week Gail did actually venture out, trowel in hand, and dug up a huge dandelion from the patch of grass/moss/clover that she (laughably) calls our "lawn". 

Did you know that dandelions have deep roots?

I really wasn't satisfied she'd removed all parts of this pesky weed and so, while she was out on her bike yesterday, I decided to do her a favour and excavate a deeper hole. Just, you understand to make sure all traces of the root system had been removed. 

I was pretty pleased with my efforts and imagined that Gail would be too.  

But when my owner returned home and saw the results of my hard work she just sighed, and said (with a certain lack of logic) that if my Human Grandad* saw what a mess I'd made of the lawn he'd be turning in his grave....

Happy Nature Friday friends! Do go and look at the other posts in the LLB Gang's always wonderful blog hop. Perhaps at least one of the participants will be showing you a properly well kept garden ...

*Gail says: Human Grandad was always particularly proud of his perfectly maintained and weed free lawn.

 

Nuisance Nobby?

So I've been trying to be helpful about the house and garden, I really have. Although to date my human has failed to recognise this. She has even been calling me (and this is one of the politer names) 'Nuisance Nobby'.

But it's appropriate to taste the water in the bucket, to check suitability for use in washing the floor, is it not? 

Likewise, one has to carefully, and repeatedly, examine for texture and chewability the bristles on each of the brooms Gail uses. Everyone knows how inefficient it is to sweep a surface with the wrong sort of brush.

In the garden, I look for other opportunities to be of use, assisting with the digging up of weeds and of course ensuring the trowel is moved to where Gail can find it (or not).

The grip of the handles on a pair of old secateurs can be greatly improved with the addition of special puppy teeth marks*. Gail will appreciate this when I no longer have my 'land shark' dentition...

I even tried to assist Gail in cleaning her bicycle with an oily rag I found just lying around, but no, you've guessed it, once more not appreciated. 

It seems the only thing I can do right in Gail's eyes at the moment is to sit quietly on the arm of the old sofa and adopt my 'adorable watch dog' pose... 

*Gail says: The whole truth here is that Nobby merely improved on some earlier work on the secateurs (originally executed by his much missed predecessor Bouncing Bertie).