Latest news with #ClaireBaglin
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- General
- Scottish Sun
I turned my bald, muddy, patchy lawn into a luscious garden with a £10 buy – it's so full and green in a matter of weeks
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A HOMEOWNER shared the DIY transformation she gave her lawn ahead of summer. The garden went from muddy sparse patches to luscious green grass in a matter of weeks. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 A homeowner shared her impressive lawn transformation over six weeks Credit: Facebook The woman shared a before and after comparison of her lawn in a post on the Facebook group Garden Makeover Ideas On A Budget. She revealed that the dramatic transformation happened just six weeks apart. "Can enjoy the garden again now," she told her fellow gardening enthusiasts. "Wow, that looks amazing to have achieved that in a relatively short period of time, I'm a very new gardener and seeing this has given me even more encouragement," said one person. "Depressing to amazing. What different colour actually makes to the eye, mind, and mood," agreed another commenter. "Absolutely fantastic!. Such a good feeling to fix a lawn to this. Very well done!" commended a third Facebook user. Another person described the switch up as "incredible" while someone else summed it up as "goals". The original poster was also plagued with requests to "spill the secrets". She revealed that she used "grass seed, lots of it" to tackle her sparse lawn. The Facebook user explained that the experience was a learning process, as she tried a variety of brands before settling on a favourite. My garden was a mud patch - I transformed it to a lush, thick lawn with a Poundland buy & I'm shocked at the difference "Gro-Sure Smart Lawn Seed Fast Start, was probably the best one," she shared. You can pick up a kilo box of Gro-Sure Smart Lawn Seed Fast Start from B&Q for just £10. The green-fingered pro went on to say that she used "a bit of topsoil" alongside compost. "Our soil is pure clay so it's a battle, we scarified it to within an inch of its life," she continued. "It was essentially a lawn made entirely of weeds and moss." Seasonal lawn care schedule Lawn care varies from season to season, with some tasks helping to encourage growth and root development whilst others help maintain the soil quality. Claire Baglin, landscaping category manager from Toolstation has shared lawn care tasks and tips for each season: Spring (March, April, May) Start to mow the grass bi-weekly in March when the soil and air temperatures typically reach above 6C. Fertilise the lawn for the first time during March using some quick-release fertiliser that is rich in nitrogen to help promote shoot growth. Scarify the lawn for the first time during April to remove any built-up moss or thatch that can accumulate throughout the winter. Aerate the lawn during April by spiking holes into the soil surface. This will help to loosen the soil and encourage growth. Overseeding can also be carried out throughout April to patch up any thin or bare areas of grass. Summer (June, July, August) From June start to cut your grass once a week - apart from in periods of extreme heat and droughts. Increase the cutting height to protect the lawn from any possible droughts. In June make sure to treat the lawn for any weeds - this can either be manual removal for individual weeds or using weed killer for larger clusters. During July and August make sure to water the lawn at least once a week by giving it a soak for 5-10 minutes. Autumn (September, October, November) From September reduce the lawn mowing frequency back to once every two weeks and conduct the last mow of the year in November. Fertilise the lawn for a second time during October using a slow-release fertiliser that is rich in phosphorous and potassium to strengthen the lawn. Throughout October and November remove any fallen leaves and other debris from the lawn surface. Winter (December, January, February) From December to the end of February leave the lawn alone. Grass typically does not grow in the colder winter temperatures. Winter is the perfect time of the year to conduct any lawnmower maintenance including checking over the blades and filters. She revealed that she even mixed in "a bit of sand" to the mix at one point. "Once down, we then walked all over it to compact it down, then watered a couple of times a day in the hot weather, less if cloudy," she said. "We also bought Miracle Gro liquid lawn food fast green and a spray attachment for the hose pipe and have fed it once a week." You can pick up a litre bottle of Miracle-Gro Fast Green Liquid Fertiliser for just £8.50 from B&Q. The Facebook user further emphasised how she has no experience with lawns. "Honestly I just wing it and hope for the best, we don't really know what we're doing half the time," she admitted.
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- General
- The Irish Sun
I turned my bald, muddy, patchy lawn into a luscious garden with a £10 buy – it's so full and green in a matter of weeks
A HOMEOWNER shared the DIY transformation she gave her lawn ahead of summer. The garden went from muddy sparse patches to luscious green grass in a matter of weeks. Advertisement 2 A homeowner shared her impressive lawn transformation over six weeks Credit: Facebook The woman shared a before and after comparison of her lawn in a post on the Facebook group She revealed that the dramatic transformation happened just six weeks apart. "Can enjoy the garden again now," she told her fellow gardening enthusiasts. "Wow, that looks amazing to have achieved that in a relatively short period of time, I'm a very new gardener and seeing this has given me even more encouragement," said one person. Advertisement Read More On Lawns "Depressing to amazing. What different colour actually makes to the eye, mind, and mood," agreed another commenter. "Absolutely fantastic!. Such a good feeling to fix a lawn to this. Very well done!" commended a third Facebook user. Another person described the switch up as "incredible" while someone else summed it up as "goals". The original poster was also plagued with requests to "spill the secrets". Advertisement Most read in Fabulous She revealed that she used "grass seed, lots of it" to tackle her sparse lawn. The Facebook user explained that the experience was a learning process, as she tried a variety of brands before settling on a favourite. My garden was a mud patch - I transformed it to a lush, thick lawn with a Poundland buy & I'm shocked at the difference "Gro-Sure Smart Lawn Seed Fast Start, was probably the best one," she shared. You can pick up a kilo box of Advertisement The green-fingered pro went on to say that she used "a bit of topsoil" alongside compost. "Our soil is pure clay so it's a battle, we scarified it to within an inch of its life," she continued. "It was essentially a lawn made entirely of weeds and moss." Seasonal lawn care schedule Lawn care varies from season to season, with some tasks helping to encourage growth and root development whilst others help maintain the soil quality. Claire Baglin, landscaping category manager from Spring (March, April, May) Start to mow the grass bi-weekly in March when the soil and air temperatures typically reach above 6C. Fertilise the lawn for the first time during March using some quick-release fertiliser that is rich in nitrogen to help promote shoot growth. Scarify the lawn for the first time during April to remove any built-up moss or thatch that can accumulate throughout the winter. Aerate the lawn during April by spiking holes into the soil surface. This will help to loosen the soil and encourage growth. Overseeding can also be carried out throughout April to patch up any thin or bare areas of grass. Summer (June, July, August) From June start to cut your grass once a week - apart from in periods of extreme heat and droughts. Increase the cutting height to protect the lawn from any possible droughts. In June make sure to treat the lawn for any weeds - this can either be manual removal for individual weeds or using weed killer for larger clusters. During July and August make sure to water the lawn at least once a week by giving it a soak for 5-10 minutes. Autumn (September, October, November) From September reduce the lawn mowing frequency back to once every two weeks and conduct the last mow of the year in November. Fertilise the lawn for a second time during October using a slow-release fertiliser that is rich in phosphorous and potassium to strengthen the lawn. Throughout October and November remove any fallen leaves and other debris from the lawn surface. Winter (December, January, February) From December to the end of February leave the lawn alone. Grass typically does not grow in the colder winter temperatures. Winter is the perfect time of the year to conduct any lawnmower maintenance including checking over the blades and filters. She revealed that she even mixed in "a bit of sand" to the mix at one point. Advertisement " Once down, we then walked all over it to compact it down, then watered a couple of times a day in the hot weather, less if cloudy ," she said. "We also bought Miracle Gro liquid lawn food fast green and a spray attachment for the hose pipe and have fed it once a week. " You can pick up a litre bottle of The Facebook user further emphasised how she has no experience with lawns. Advertisement " Honestly I just wing it and hope for the best , we don't really know what we're doing half the time," she admitted. 2 The Facebook user explained that she used a lot of grass seed to transform her lawn Credit: Facebook
The Guardian
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
On the Clock by Claire Baglin review – a fast food novel for a refined palette
In recent novels set in restaurants, the breakneck speed of the action hides darker elements at work. Stéphane Larue's The Dishwasher follows a restaurant worker whose life threatens to unravel amid his gambling addiction; in Merritt Tierce's Love Me Back, the world of waitressing is a front for Texas's grimy underbelly. Beneath the surface frenzy of French writer Claire Baglin's debut novel, On the Clock (translated by Jordan Stump), there is a similar stream of existential angst, its protagonist 'mired in the heart of pointlessness'. Baglin's focus is intergenerational exploitation in the (French) workplace. She gives an impressionistic portrait of a young woman employed at a burger joint in brisk but unsparing prose, alternating between her unnamed narrator's customer-facing drudgery – unfriendly co-workers, pestering managers, habitual injuries – and her childhood memories, particularly of her hot-tempered father, Jérôme, who toiled in a factory for 20 years. Structured around the eatery's different stations, the novel starts 'Out Front', stops by 'Deep Fat' and winds up at the 'Drive-Thru', inducting the reader into the inner workings of each. But around that simple scaffolding, Baglin's novel is deliberately disorienting. Passages detailing how to 'mash the trash' segue into the narrator's recollections of her hoarder father filling his front room with stuff and 'immersed in the pile of junk' at a dumpster. It can all get a bit confusing. Although mostly narrated in the first person, Baglin also makes discombobulating leaps into the mind of Jérôme. Events and timelines are hazy, as if told from a fragmented child's viewpoint ('It might be afternoon, another year'). Simmering tensions stay inexplicit, her parents' fraught conversations a 'secret murmur'. We are left to merely guess at her father's fraying mental health and financial woes, while the political backdrop to his troubles is glimpsed only in a childhood game referring to the recession and the neighbour's downstairs parrot squawking 'Sarkozy sucks' on demand. The cutthroat culinary environment of the narrator's present day is described in Kafkaesque terms (a machine buzzes 'like a giant insect') and as a full-blown war zone with 'shrapnel' flying. Uniformed anonymity gives cover, the narrator becoming willing to trample on others, 'to take their place' in the pecking order. Baglin expertly captures the giddiness of the working day, her writing percussive: 'Snap, snap, you get that?' 'Thanks, medium fries! … shake shake shake.' On the Clock has a rhythm that takes getting used to and I did find Baglin's digressions strayed too much from the propulsive kitchen-set story. But the novel is underscored by a lacerating humour, even in its bleakest passages, and offers a refreshingly uncompromising study of working-class life, with its calluses, oil burns and hypocrisies laid bare. The result is a terse, bracing whirlwind of a book. On the Clock by Claire Baglin (translated by Jordan Stump) is published by Daunt (£9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
