A little light housework

Over the long Easter weekend I bit the bullet and cleaned the greenhouse, from top to bottom, outside and in. In theory I try to do this twice per year – once in spring and once in autumn – neatly book-ending the dull, damp, decay-filled days of winter when clean glass for maximising light transmission and good hygiene to minimise disease outbreaks are so important. In practice, it's an all-day slog of fetching and carrying dozens of pots and trays, scrubbing hard-to-reach nooks and crannies, washing glass and putting everything back again, which means it sometimes slips off the bottom of my 'to do' list. Last Sunday though was a cracking day of jewel-like blue skies, pin-sharp sunshine and drying winds, which inspired me to go the whole hog, even down to hoovering of cobwebby corners and wielding of diluted Jeye's Fluid to swab down the floor and bench. Admittedly a bit OTT, but it all looked great afterwards and ready for its summer occupants. Apart from a long-suffering Dyson, the photo shows a huge Agave americana 'Variegata' that is becoming too heavy to move and needs any would-be handler to don kevlar body armour to avoid being kebabbed by the terminal spines or lacerated by the serrated leaf margins. Since I was wearing T-shirt and shorts, I steered well clear...