I CAN’T quite believe it, we are just ending week six of our self-imposed isolation here at Driftwood. My mother and I have not left the house and my partner just to walk the dog in all that time.

Fortunately, I had a telephone appointment with a consultant last week and have now been able to remove the boot I have been wearing for the duration in order to repair my Achilles tendon. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to use both hands again instead of holding crutches to get around.

Needless to say, that has meant I have been able to get into the garden properly again and start to catch up on the myriad of tasks outstanding.

Top of the list was to cut back the old fronds on the many ferns around the plot. This would normally have been done weeks ago, as new fronds are in the process of unfurling, so it has been a delicate job to ensure I cut the dead ones out without actually cutting any of the new growth.

This week, my garden was one of those to be featured in the virtual tours that the National Garden Scheme are releasing each week to try and encourage potential visitors to donate to the charity, in lieu of actually being able to go to gardens. I filmed a sequence in the beach garden at the front of the house and focused on the large collection of agaves and some of my newer additions. The charity’s campaign is called Help Support Our Nurses and you can sign up to their weekly newsletter or donate to the charity by logging on at www.ngs.org.uk

As part of this process, I managed to secure a slot on BBC SE Today’s evening news on the 22nd to help promote the campaign. To that end Charlotte Wright came to the garden and shot a short film along with some input from me which was included.

I’ve been writing this column for more than three years now and it is always nice to get feedback from loyal readers. Once such reader is 89-year old June Marshall from Seaford. She wrote this week saying how much she enjoyed reading the column, especially now as she is confined to a wheelchair and isolated at home with carers coming in to support her and no longer able to tend her own plot.

One job that you can be getting on with in the garden this week is to prune any roses you have. Pruning ensures that plants grow vigorously and flower well each year. If left, climbing roses can become a tangled mess of branches with very few flowers.

Read more of Geoff’s garden at www.driftwoodbysea.co.ukGeoff Stonebanks