Tricky work in the rain

Chris working flat out!!

Gardening jobs began with  Chris pruning the Pyracantha by the old chimney. Now there's never a good time to do this because you either lose berries or flowers. This one needed a hard prune at the top to try to get it back into shape as it was heavier and wider at the top than the bottom.  It was so vicious, we didn't even try to drag it down to the bonfire and instead Chris bagged it up in a builders bag and took it away for burning.  That was an absolute first but there was so much of it and the thorns were just SO awful to deal with.   Having done the pruning, we decide to lift its 'skirts' and reveal the base and that was when we found all the rubbish - brick ends, broken slabs and chunks of mortar  We - well, mainly Chris began to remove all the rubble and lowering the level of soil in order to replace it with gravel.  That was when Al came home and asked if we were going to edge the York stone flags which surround it with some old Victorian edgers.  

A very wet Chris

A very wet me!

The finished job!

Now it's not easy working beneath the world's most vicious Pyracantha and half way through setting in the edgers, the much needed rain started to fall heavily - typical!!  Despite a distinct lack of waterproofing; work carried on.  I was in a wax jacket with no wax left and Chris was in a cotton jacket.  Both our jackets were soaked through in minutes and Chris took his off.  His T shirt was so wet, he took that off too.  To finish off and have blow round, he put on body warmer.  Due to the arrival of the rain, this was all we managed to complete all afternoon.  Annoyingly, I forgot to give the poor old Pyracantha a good few handfuls of slow release fertiliser prior to its top dressing of gravel.  Hopefully, I can water some in.  After such a severe haircut, it deserves a bit of a kick start!  What I'd like to know is why so much concrete and rubble had been hidden on its roots and why.................!