Joss' mower, Dennis, is to be semi retired soon and replaced by a new Allett cylinder mower. I was walking across the Nuffield Lawn earlier today when I came across Dennis and it looked like he had mown over Joss, all that was left was his gloves sticking out from beneath the large roller.
Kieron and Simon spent yesterday at the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Inspired by Golds and Silver Guilts Simon spent the day creating floral masterpieces.
He used plants with different texture, colour, shape, height and form to create four pots all inspired by his visit to Chelsea.
This is when the fun starts. After months of growing on the cuttings taken last September, nurturing the young plants raised from seed and protecting our stock plants, it's time to play. Starting with the containers in the Provost Yard, Ali, Joe and Simon have spent the last two days playing with colours, texture and form, hopefully creating floral masterpieces for this years summer display.
Hoping the risk of frost has now passed, Simon, Ali and Joe started to plant out this years summer floral display. They dug out the tired winter plants, the violas taken to the compost heap and the architectural plants planted out in the Fellow's Garden.
It's the last week in May so it must be time to unwrap our hardy banana, Musa basjoo. Unlike previous years, it has not started to burst out of its fleece wrapping, so did it survive our very cold winter? 
Ady and Ali carefully unwrapped it and found signs of life, although one of the stems had died. 
Over the last few months the chipping pile has grown rather large following a number of garden clearance jobs, the removal of the Privet hedge and the old section of the Yew hedge.
It's that time of year again when the winter bedding needs to be removed and the beds and tubs need to be prepared for summer planting.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society the number one problem on the 2010 garden pests list is the Viburnum Beetle.
In a shady corner on the left side of the path to the Linbury Building, there once stood a large overgrown group of Mahonia x media. Having received a visit from Ali (nick name 'Radical Ali' when it comes to pruning), the Mahonia have now been reduced significantly in size, although Simon did feel she had been rather 'restrained' on this occasion. There is a horticultural term to this type of pruning, Stooling, to cut back a plant to or near ground level to induce new growth.
Mahonia tend to get leggy and are best stooled after the flowers have faded. Large plants can be stooled to about 45cm and will regenerate well from this form of pruning, producing new growth and, hopefully, be a better shape in future.
Sunshine and a sprinkling of water from the sprinkler hoses have created the perfect conditions for weeds to grow. Yesterday Ady, Simon and Joe spent the day weeding the Provost's Rose Garden, joined by Graham later in the day.
Today they were joined by Ali and Kieron. Ali removed all the weeds that had grown in between the slabs whilst Kieron applied a mulch to all the yew columns. The garden is now clear of weeds and is ready for the stunning display due in the next month.
A large garden requires alot of tools, but with two tool sheds they can all end up in one and none in the other! A few years ago, to correct this problem, the tools were split between the sheds and colour coded, Oxford Blue and Poppy Red.
Since then this division of tools has run efficiently, but recently a number of new tools have arrived and now need colour coding. Ali spent a few hours yesterday painting the first coat then applying the second today, once dry they will be placed in the appropiate sheds, the blue shed and the red shed. 
The Snowman was spotted around the grounds this morning painting the lawns. You may think that he was painting the grass green, but you would be wrong, that's not how he gets the lawns so green! He is actually applying a selective herbicide, Spearhead, which controls broad-leaved weeds in turf and needs to applied carefully using a paint brush.
Down at the outside site garden, various members of the team have been working there since Monday, the two 1 tonne bags of stone have arrived. Shovelled into wheelbarrows and dustbins, the stone is transported through the house to the back garden and poured onto the borders, then levelled.
Swept tidy and all remaining rubbish removed, a new rejuvenated 'White' garden is left to be enjoyed. 
On Monday morning Ady and Joe started work on another overgrown garden in one of our outside sites. These pictures don't show you what greeted them as they stepped out through the back door, the patio could not be seen and it was so hidden they didn't even know there was one in the garden! A fifteen foot Ash tree seedling was hidden in a dark corner at the back of the garden, behind a ten foot Forsythia.
The Forsythia hedge was about ten foot tall, as high as the brick wall in the photo above. Joined by Simon and a student helper, Oscar, on Tuesday, they continued to bring the area back to order and resemble a garden again. Graham joined them on the third day, power washed the newly discovered patio and along with Kieron, started to add a wooden edge to the borders.
Today, day four, the last piece of edging was put in place. Ali and Simon added new pointing to the patio slabs, leaving just a delivery of stone, due tomorrow, for the finishing touch to the borders.
Ali and Graham have spent the last two days weeding and adding more stakes to the herbaceous border. The 'Spanish Plume' weather front gave us a few scattered showers and, along with the sunshine, have helped, not only the plants to grow, but the weeds too.
Whilst Graham weeded and edged the border, Ali worked on the plant supports. A number of plants had outgrown their baskets and required additional support so new stakes had to be added.
Since September our stock of compost has gradually decreased. Hundreds of cuttings were taken and repotted once rooted, the repotting of all our tender plants brought in from the cold in October, the sowing of seeds, pricking out and their repotting all use a large quantity of compost.
Ady and Graham then moved the bags, using wheelbarrows and brute strength, into the compost storage area in the greenhouse. (Yes, that is an apple in Graham's mouth).
Those of you who work in the college or visit regularly will have noticed the team regularly carrying hoses and watering cans around the grounds. This sight would usually be seen during the warm, dry summer months, but not in April.
Due to the very cold temperatures seen during the winter, the crowns of the tree ferns were wrapped in fleece to provide some extra protection.
Now that signs of life have been seen within some of the the crowns, Ady and Graham spent today removing the fleece, cutting away the old fronds and giving them all a water.
Over in the orchard, now that the flower petals have started to drop from the fruit trees, it is time to protect the newly setting fruit buds from the Codling Moth.
In the Tomato Glasshouse, Ali planted the 10 Harlequin tomato plants as well as the five cucumber and lettuce, all grown from seed.
