Green-fingered gardener Stuart Grindle, 76, says he will keep working hard to stop his prized labor of love from being ruined by the weather.
Stuart’s cherished slice of paradise has remained in pristine condition thanks to plenty of enthusiasm, watering and pulling a handful of weeds each time he is in the garden. He has trimmed the hallowed turf every other day and spent up to four hours a day watering.
Stuart, from Tickhill in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, has used an ‘inordinate’ amount of water totaling hundreds of gallons to battle the baking temperatures.
He said: ‘It’s watered everyday, it’s been a full-time job. It’s just a case of watering, watering, watering and watering.
‘We usually start at 6pm and finished at around 10pm. I have a system which waters all the hanging baskets.
‘The lawn has been a priority, I was out this morning at 6.15am swishing it.
‘This year I have used an inordinate amount of water, more than ever before. I’d say we have used at least four times as much water.
‘I have an irrigation system and it waters 14 to 15 baskets, and 12m of flower walls.
‘I’m in a situation where opening the garden every year, people come just to see the lawn because last year I won best lawn in Britain and I cannot let it die off and for there to be a brown patch.
‘I had no intention of allowing my pride and joy to be ruined, I could not just sit back and watch it die down.
‘I keep it like a golf green, in this year’s Open Championship the rest of the course was burned off but the green was still luscious, just like mine.’
He uses the same grass seeds as golf courses.
Stuart has defended the ordinate amount of water used this year to maintain the pristine garden.
‘It’s still absolutely stunning, it’s a shame I just don’t feel up to opening the garden,’ he added. ‘I’m not on a meter, but it still costs me £800 a year for water.
‘If a hosepipe ban was introduced I would be the loser, because I’m still having to pay for water. My water rates are based on the value of the house.
‘It’s swings and roundabouts, I can use the water without thinking the meter is going round and round. I know exactly what I’m going to pay each year.
‘It’s been a very difficult year for any gardener. I was opening the garden right up until a month ago.’
He spends up 30 hours a week tending the grass and the displays in his flower beds, meaning he has spent 60,000 hours over the last 40 years.
He is so determined to protect his precious grass, which ‘looks like Wembley’, that his nearest and dearest have in the past been discouraged from trampling on the treasured turf.
Dedicated Stuart, a former winner of the Doncaster In Bloom Best Garden competition, even banned his son Jonathan from playing football on it when he was a child.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk
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