May Day

the invaders

a couple of weeks ago our handyman pruned (read savaged) the various hedges and trees in our garden, in particular the false acacias - robinia pseudoacacia - that provide a thorny screen on the bank of our land at the road side of our property. Last week I spent a precious free Friday afternoon digging up dandelions. Yesterday as I was clearing up the pruned branches imagine my horror at the sight of the invaders. They came in their hordes, floating on the breeze from the field on the other side of the road - little thistledown angels (that's what we called them when we were kids), the dandelion seeds. With the acacia screen gone my lawn (completely replaced 2 years ago) lay exposed and vulnerable to the invading hordes of potential generations of yellow-hued squatters. I was helpless and could only hope that the wind would carry them across our garden and on to the field beyond. There seems to have been a glut of dandelions in our part of the world this year and whilst I admire their deep yellow colouring they do not rank amongst my favourites of God's creation.

Here in Luxembourg May Day is celebrated by going out early in the morning and collecting branches of lime leaves and twisting them in to wreathes which are hung above the doors of cafés and restaurants. In Sweden the eve of May Day, Walpurgisnacht is celebrated and our Swedish friends in the village often hold a party complete with bonfire. I suppose bonfires are our modern day version of the old hill-top fires. We have another pagan festival too - the cross-burning - which takes place in February - to celebrate the passing of the winter.

Gardeners' question time:
with reference to our new (2yr old lawn), the worms have been busy again over the winter and our once smooth lawn is rapidly being reduced to hillocks. Does anyone in the abbey know what to do to combat this? Does rolling a lawn help?
Answers please, on a large leaf