Through the Garden gate--January 2022

It can sometimes be difficult to find anything to good to say about the garden in January.  It's a pretty bleak and dismal month.  I often sit at the window looking out at the garden for colour and signs of life and nothing seems to change much.  But really, there is colour and interest.  There are shades of brown and green from fallen plant material and tall gangly stems with seed heads still clinging to them, providing homes for wildlife. Sometimes I've seen little birds balancing on the stems trying to find food from the remaining seeds.

The grasses are giving colour too.  Some are straw like now, the evergreen ones giving splashes of bright green along the border. Down in the woodland bed the Witch Hazel is in flower. This one is Hamamelis 'Jelena'. The spidery flowers are a bronzy, orange colour, but I have to get close up to really appreciate it. I'm always a bit disappointed in its colour which seems a bit dull. I may have just planted it in the wrong place to show it off.

In the border alongside the path near the kitchen door is a Sarcococca (Sweet box). Its little white flowers giving off a delicate scent which wafts around this area. It has taken a few years for this to get established and produce these scented flowers.  This year it has excelled. It was growing in a pot at our previous house and we brought it with us to plant up here.

On finer days I have been out walking round the garden, looking closer for signs of life and spotting little bulbs just poking through the soil. Last year I planted more snowdrops, these are always the first to appear. It's always a delight to spot them--the first flowers of the new year and a sign that Spring will soon be with us.

After not being well and fit enough before Christmas to do any gardening, I am now feeling a bit better and  trying to keep active. I am aware that with Rheumatoid Arthritis there will be times again when I won't be able to do any gardening, so I am making the most of this time whilst trying not to overdo things. I have been slowly pottering around the garden doing jobs. I started clearing soggy leaves and plant material from the front garden flower beds and was pleased to find more spring bulbs underneath. When last year's bulb pots had finished flowering I stored them down by the side of the shed out of the way. I thought they might have rotted but after clearing the weeds out of the pots, there were the little bulb shoots coming through. So I have set these out on the outside potting bench, hoping for another good display soon.

In September we had a holiday in Cornwall and I bought some Cornish daffodil bulbs--St.Keverne and Fowey. I planted them up in the autumn into big pots and then forgot about them, but these too are now coming through.

So really there's been plenty of interest in the garden in January--even if I've had to search around for it. And there 's much to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Hope your garden is coming to life too.

I am linking this post to Sarah's blog at ' Down by the Sea'  for her monthly 'Through the Garden Gate' post.

A New Year on the allotment

After a fairly mild spell of weather, it has now turned very cold. We made our first visit to the allotment of the new year this week. It was a lovely day, although very cold. I needed veg so we went mainly to dig up some leeks--they are doing really well this year and are a good size. I cut some kale leaves too--those are not as good this year as in previous years. Next to the kale I noticed that the little cabbages which I had planted in the summer were growing well--still quite small but plenty of new leaves coming.  They should provide us with some nice early spring greens or small cabbages, as long as the pigeons and slugs don't get them first.

The plot was looking quite tidy and we were pleased with that.  We haven't been to do any work since the middle of October because I have been quite poorly with Rheumatoid Arthritis and was unable to walk properly or do anything with my hands.  On this last visit we had cleared most of the beds of dead vegetation, topped with home made compost and covered with membrane.

There's still work to done but nothing urgent:

• clear away the dead sweetcorn stems
• cut down the asparagus
• clear the old tomatoes and cucumber plants from the greenhouses
• prune the fruit bushes
• sweep up leaves from the paths

and as the weather improves and I get a bit more mobile we will work our way through the jobs.

 We sat awhile at the garden table with our flasks of hot tea  and slabs of Christmas cake, watching the birds and admiring the plot.

It was good to be back.