Busy day which has had to end a little early as I need to jump in the shower and then head out to meet friends for a coffee before going to a gig.

The Pyrantha is mostly pruned (though I still need to tackle the back bit and overhang into next door neighbours garden – I can reach most of that from the middle of the fire-escape using the long loppers).  So now there’s more visibility into the garden from the top of the fire-escape. The plus side is I can now get into the garden without having to duck low or risk scalping myself! I’ve got a cute little olive tree in a pot by the back door and also some left over cyclamen and primroses which  I hope to plant tomorrow. Halfway down is also a giant Osteospermum which overwintered.

Two trips to the recycling plant meant I removed 4 bags of ivy prunings, 2 full of Pyracantha trimmings, 1 of misc dead vegetation and one large Ikea bag full of old soil from pots I emptied. The end results is this:

I know if doesn’t look a lot different but there’s a lot more light on the deck and at the base of the fire-escape thanks to the hard pruning.  Also the shady beds are now less shady thanks to cutting back the top of the ivy quite a lot.

The tiny deck has been scrubbed down – I’ll see how it dries overnight and decide whether I need to break out the Ronseal products to remove all traces of algae!

So tasks for the next three days:

• paint the fence and the boards of the raised beds
• scrub, revive if necessary and oil the deck
• treat the garden furniture with wood reviver and then oil with teak oil
• top dress all the pots which still have plants in (2 pots of agapanthus, 4-5 of lillies, 1 each of bay and plum trees, 2 buddleias, 1 blackcurrant sage and one large pot of daffodils and mint)
• sort out the two terracotta strawberry pots and move the strawberries in the green hanging planters into the terracotta ones
• paint then cut to size the gravel boards to fix the fox holes
• prune the last bit of the Pyracantha
• sort out the four 6x3ft beds – 3 will be for veggies, 1 for flowers – weed, dig and add manure
• scrub the path
• sort out the small square bed with the jasmines
• sort out the tiny long thin dry bed underneath the Pyracantha

If the weather is as good as predicted tomorrow morning I’ll try and get a couple of hours in the garden before heading to town for the RHS Spring Plant Extravaganza.I have a PT session early afternoon and then it’s home to carry on until I lose the light.