Lola sits on the freshly mown grass of our back lawn. OK, so it’s a little patchy but to be honest, for the time of year, it’s not too bad given that it’s just off the path directly behind our back door. She’s had a fab day, with wall-to-wall tennis ball fun as we’ve been working on returning the greenhouse to functioning status after the ravages of a windy, surly winter. A couple of years ago, we’d lost so many glazed panels and I’d lost a lot of sleep worrying about dogs with severed arteries, so we replaced the glass with polycarbonate down both sides.

The trouble with it is, though, that it flexes in high winds and the panels pop out. DM did a fab fix job down one side, using a combination of plastic blocks and wire and that side has resolutely remained in situ despite the weather. The other side, without his fix, has been blown apart and that has in turn also caused the front (was still glass) and one of the roof panels to also part company with the structure. So, today we have spent the day working in the sunshine to restore it to its former glory so that I can start planting some seeds.

DM was despatched to the dump to get rid of the broken glass and other detritus and while he was gone I mowed the grass on two of our lawns. It’s amazing how much difference to the whole look of the garden that neat grass makes, especially at this time of year, when the first cut means you also sort of hoover up all of the leaves and bits of twig that have fallen onto the lawn during the winter. In the now work-friendly light evenings this week, I will sow tomatoes and beans, as well as getting the shrubs that I’ve bought in the last couple of weeks planted to hide the ugly fence.

I could have got Lola to pose in a spot with better grass or I could have photoshopped it to be less threadbare but instead I’ve chosen the truth – the lawn isn’t perfect…but it’s loads better than it was two summers ago and maybe (hopefully) not as good as it will be soon! In any event, you shouldn’t be looking at the grass, you should be drinking in the perfection that is my little cutie puppy, Lola.