MAGIC WANDS

The weather has been a little depressing recently, but they do say the darkest hours are just before the dawn ... and there is more light each day, but just not the kind I like.  The plants are responding though, and shoots are shooting up, if you can see them through the gloom and drizzle.

The pictures on this page were taken at RHS Garden Wisley and if you want to be uplifted by a garden at this time of the year, it’s a good place to go.  You will see borders set ablaze by the vibrant stems of dogwoods, willow and rubus (ornamental blackberry) together with early blooms and wonderful, winter scented shrubs, such as Daphne, Viburnum bodnatense and Chimanathes praecox.

It’s only the young stems on willows and dogwoods that have the colour, so you will need to prune them hard in early spring to ensure new whippy growths for next winter.  Some species will tolerate being cut  right back to the base (like coppicing), others are not quite so vigorous.  I tend to just cut out a third of the older stems on Cornus alba ‘Elegantissma’, but am more ruthless with others,

The bottom picture is a tall growing bamboo - these are also striking in the stem department, but be careful which variety you choose.  Go for those that form clumps,  unless you own a panda, as they can be very invasive and hard to remove.

DIGGING

You can just see our duck house on the pond.  No duck has ever used it, but the moorhens are busy stuffing the bedroom with nesting material. Having eeked it out through the winter eating the chicken’s food, I saw them being quite amorous in the field the other day...

BOTHER

The heap of compost I was going to be spreading today is barely visible through the snow.  I hear there’s no snow anywhere else in the country (they must think we’re making it up down here).  I was determined to be outside this morning though as it was gloriously sunny, so I cleaned out Heidi the rabbit’s house and hutch (she must think it’s her birthday).

I am going to carry on sowing seeds regardless, as for all we know it could be lovely and warm in a couple of weeks - you never know.  I might keep them in the garden room, instead of the greenhouse though.  the important thing with seeds, once they’ve germinated, is to give them enough light so that they don’t become etiolated (spindly and weak).  If you are sowing seeds and putting the pots on a window-sill, turn it regularly - make sure the light levels are high, but not in scorching sun, or they will shrivel up.



The chickens are less than impressed with the weather and are refusing to come out.  Poor old Snowflake is back out with them (she’s the white one with the black markings), after a complicated transition involving free-range days and nights in the utility room.  When she finally went back in with the others she had lost her place in the pecking order and was attacked, so I had to isolate the bullies for a bit to sort things out.  Just call me the chicken whisperer...

NO MORE SNOW PLEASE

    


We shall be incorporating that lovely pile of mushroom compost (www.mushroom-compost.co.uk) into some of the vegetable beds, as long as it doesn’t snow.  

It has certainly got very cold again, but I am beginning to sow some seeds.  So far I’ve done broad beans, pepper, tomatoes, celery and some half hardy annuals.  If it’s too cold not much will germinate, but crops that like long, hot (mediterranean-style) summers need to be started off early so that the fruit has time to ripen before the autumn.  So basically tomatoes, aubergines, peppers (inc chilies), melons.  I’ll be sowing lots more in the next few weeks.

It’s good to be in the garden again, but I’m a little daunted by how much there is to do.  It’s been months since I’ve been able to do anything, The freezing/wet weather have made conditions very difficult in the garden, but fortunately the soil in the veg patch is light and workable - I know that isn’t the case for many who have to garden on heavy clay.  There’s no point trying to dig or plant in claggy, wet soil, so if your soil is clay, wait for conditions to warm up.