Mole Hills from Space and Robots in the Garden

Now, if that’s not the title of an epically bad Sci-Fi film I don’t know what is! It’s not though, it’s the latest news from our little garden here on the windswept coast of Wales.

Mole Hills from Space!

I probably don’t complain about the mole hills too much here. I should as they are a nightmare in the garden. Not only that but they can be huge. So big in fact that we noticed the other day that they can be seen from space!! Look, here they are in satellite imagery!

OK, I know that this probably isn’t a satellite image really, more likely an aerial photo from an airplane. Trouble is, saying that our mole hills can be seen from a low-flying aircraft is one thing. It sounds better if I say they can be seen from Space!

I had obviously just been for a surf ski paddle when this photo was taken as well, because the long white thing in the garden near the mole hills is my surf ski.

Robots in the Garden

We really should sort out the front garden. We’ve been saying that for ages, but hopefully we’ll get around to it this year. Talking of the garden, after the success of a robot vacuum cleaner we’ve decided that a robot lawn mower is next on our list of purchases.

These work in a slightly different fashion to the vacuum cleaner. They cut the grass rather than vacuum it for a start! However, instead of just sensing the edge of the lawn you have to lay a boundary wire all the way around the lawn to mark the boundary. You also have to lay a guide wire to help guide it back to its charging station. We’re also not quite sure how well it mows to the edge of flower borders and other obstacles but we think if we lay lawn-level edging we’ll be able to get it to mow right to the edge without falling into the flower borders.

We haven’t got one yet so haven’t had the chance to experiment, but I think Spring will be spent on a lawn-mowing robot project. No doubt it’ll take a bit of time to set up but by the end of it we should have a neater looking garden with no mowing to be done and edges that keep themselves in shape too.

We don’t know how it will cope with the mole hills yet. Part of me hopes that the constant vibration of the robot lawn-mower will keep the moles at bay. I can see a Robot vs Mole saga unfolding already!

Tags: Garden