Getting Ready for Guests

At this time of year we are beginning to think about guests arriving, so there is quite a lot of work to do. All the garden at the rear of the house must be pruned and weeded. We have been working on this off and on since Christmas, if it rains we tend not to do anything and normally this occurs right into May. Usually it is fairly cool until the beginning of April, and then almost overnight it can become too hot to work outside for long periods. This year although we have had some wet and cool days, we have been getting hot sunny days for weeks now. I have even had to turn on the irrigation system, which I don´t usually have to do until nearly May. We have got all the pruning done now and have weeded the car park area, we will have to get in help to finish the weeding in the main garden as we just cannot cope with it anymore. As bonfires have been banned since the first of April all garden rubbish will now be stored until the Autumn. We uncovered the pool a fortnight ago, and it was the worst it has ever been almost black in colour, and full of dust. The dust is largely due to the pine pollen, which has been very heavy this year. So I vacuumed the pool, after brushing the walls, and let the pump/filter run for 48 hours, this had little or no effect. I shocked the pool and again waited for 48 hours, again little or no effect, so I cleaned again and shocked again. This time the water became a lighter shade of green but no major effect. I let the pump run for three days, no noticeable effect, so I shocked again and after 48 hours began to be able to see the bottom of the pool. After three days I shocked again and now began to get a much lighter water colour, but still not clear. I added a lot of PH Plus, and then cleaned, and then shocked again. This time the water did turn blue, and after 48 hours is now clear , thank goodness. A lot of hard work! I am guessing the problem was a combination of dust, lots of sunshine, and probably a lack of knowledge on my part. I just hope we have no more problems through the summer.