Getting back into the garden

We've had a few sunny days this week, it has been cold, but not too cold to go out in the garden to do a bit of work. There's been such awful weather the last few weeks where it hasn't been fit to go outside, so I've been keen to get out, if only for a bit of pottering round and a breath of fresh air.

There's always something to do in the garden, if it's only sweeping paths or tidying the shed. I have started clearing the leaves off the borders. They have got quite soggy and were hiding bulbs underneath. 

They were probably providing homes for slugs too. Some of the dead plant stalks which I leave standing over winter for the wildlife are ready for clearing away. I'll gradually clear those in the next few weeks. Last week's storm didn't do much damage in this area, but the grasses in the garden took quite a battering resulting in grass debris all over the place.

Looking round the garden I could see signs of new growth. The snowdrops are flowering now. I love seeing them, the first flowers of the year in the garden. 

Also flowering now are cyclamen, showing patches of pink in shady areas beneath the birch tree in the back garden and under shrubs in the front.

 Daffodils and crocuses are emerging to flower in a few weeks time. The Hamamelis (witch hazel) has copper coloured flowers which I have to walk down the garden to see. It doesn't show up well from a distance. 

January is such a long dreary month and to see signs of life in the garden gives me so much to look forward to.

Allotment--A new year, bad weather, making plans

 

It's quite some time since I blogged about the allotment, but we were kept busy last year. Now a new year lies ahead and I'm thinking of what I'll be doing in the next few months. 

At the moment the weather is too bad to be able to do any sort of work. It's been really cold and wet. We had snow a couple of weeks ago with really hard overnight frosts. It's still quite cold and there is a weather warning for high winds at the weekend. So I have been staying indoors most of the time, but I'm longing to get out and start work on the allotment. 

I am often thinking about how much longer I will be able to do the allotment. Rheumatoid and osteoarthritis  slow me down now and we both get tired more easily. But we managed well last year so another year of growing lies ahead. 

At the moment the things which get me down are not my own physical difficulties, but neighbours who don't look after their plots, fly tipping seems to be happening more too and then there's the rats. On a recent visit to check over the plot we could see evidence of rats again in the shed. No matter how hard Richard tries to seal off any access holes, they will find another way to get in. This time they have been getting in through the floor.

There are changes down at the allotments as a few plots have become vacant and we wonder who we will get as neighbours. So many people take on an allotment full of enthusiasm but don't realise how much commitment is required and how much hard work is involved. Then they give up on it.

For me it's time to start planning what I will be growing this year, sorting through my seed packets and ordering more seeds. And as soon as we get some drier, warmer weather we'll be down there, mending all the holes in the shed and preparing the beds for growing. 

Through the Garden Gate--January 2024

The garden in January can be a dull place.  We have had our share of storms in the last few weeks and also snow. So the garden is looking a bit battered. The grasses have been blown about and straw coloured stalks are all over the place. Tall stems of flowers with seed heads have fallen over. Leaves blown onto the beds have gone soggy. So generally the garden is not just dull but messy too. 

I have done some tidying up on the few fine days we've had.  We are encouraged now not to be too tidy in the garden and not to cut back in the autumn but leave dead plants over the winter for the wildlife. This is what I do. But come January I am always longing to get out and do something. So my work is to have a light tidy up, clearing soggy leaves and plants. Any stalks and seed heads I gather into piles and leave at the back of the border so the wildlife can still get at it. I can easily clear it away in a couple of months time.

Clearing the beds of the leaves helps to reveal any spring flowering bulbs which are coming through. I always forget where they are planted so it's always a nice surprise to find them. I now have a good show of snowdrops which are the first signs of spring in our garden and are so welcome at this dull time of year. I can also see signs of crocuses and dwarf daffodils. Other new shoots are there in the beds giving me much to look forward to especially when I can't remember what plants they are. The tulips I planted in pots for the patio in the autumn are coming through as are smaller pots of daffodils and crocuses.

The witch hazel in the woodland/wildlife bed seems to be getting better established and this year there has been more colour from it. This bed is a colourful little winter corner with the witch hazel, yellow stems of dogwood, the white bark of the birch and creamy catkins on the twisted hazel. Snowdrops and cyclamen are planted under the trees and shrubs. Underneath the witch hazel when I'd cleared away some leaves I found that  the Hellebores have pink buds soon to open.

So it's encouraging to go round the garden even on the bad days, to get signs of what's to come in only a few weeks. 

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

 

Through the Garden Gate--January 2023

We've had some bad weather during January.  At the beginning of the month it was very rainy, I was longing for it to stop so I could get out in the garden to do some tidying up jobs. That was not to be because after the rain came snow again. It was very cold and the the snow took some time to melt. How glad I was when finally it cleared away. It was still very cold but I could wander around the garden and I was so pleased to see bulbs coming through especially the snowdrops. The snowdrops are flowering now and seem to look better every day.

Down in the woodland bed the Witch Hazel is in flower. The variety is 'Jelena'--a bronze colour, but I'm a bit disappointed with it as it's quite a dull colour.  It was one of the first shrubs I planted when we moved here 5 years ago and I'm wondering now if I should have chosen a yellow variety which might have been brighter. 

Also in the woodland bed there are primroses just trying to flower and a few little pink cyclamen. I noticed too that the Hellebores have buds so will be flowering soon.

In the border near the kitchen door there is a Sarcococca (Sweet Box) which is flowering with pretty white flowers and a lovely delicate scent which wafts around the garden.

Some of the container plants have perked up, this little trough with white hellebores was planted up just before Christmas and didn't look too great at the time but it's looking quite pretty now.

We've been doing a lot of catching up work on the allotment now the weather has improved so not much has been done in the garden. There's a lot of dead plant material which is now brown and soggy and not very attractive looking. 

So the garden isn't looking great at the moment, I have to search around for little spots of colour. But I'm sure the weather will improve soon and I will be able to get out and tidy up. 

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

Wet, windy weather and time to make plans

Last weekend we made our first visit of 2023 to the allotment.  We haven't done any work on the plot since the middle of November but we went down a couple of times after that, once to cut greenery for Christmas and again to dig up some leeks, parsnips and swede. 

The weather has been very wet this month with some very strong winds and I've been wondering when we will ever get down to the allotment. But we had a short break in the rain one afternoon at the weekend so we thought we would go to check if there was any damage from the winds. I was hoping that the greenhouses would still be standing and thinking that the membrane sheets which we had put over the beds in November might have blown away. 

                                                 

Well fortunately everything was ok apart from the garden chairs and one or two other things blown over, but no damage.   

Lottie the allotment cat came to say hello.  She always pops round to see us when we are there and we give her some food. She looks very healthy,  I know she gets food and has a nice warm shed with a bed on another plot.

As we walked around the plot I was pleased to see that the rhubarb is showing signs of new growth. This is the variety 'Timperley Early' and it always lives up to its name of starting off early. 

                                                 

The leeks are still growing although they are a bit small yet.

While we were there we assessed what work needs to be done when we eventually get some better weather and there are lots. The first and most important job is to take off all the membrane from the beds. If there are any weeds underneath they will be removed and then we will start mulching the beds with manure or compost.  

                                     

We also need to clear the greenhouses of the dead vegetation from the tomatoes and cucumbers and then give them a good clean. Other jobs which I can do at home are to sort through my seed boxes and buy what I need for this year. I also need to work out my growing plan for the beds.

The plot looks really damp and dreary and I'm longing for the weather to improve so that we can get started on all the jobs which need doing. At the moment as I write this blog there is snow outside, so no chance yet.

Chippings, mulching and clearing beds

 We've had  a spell of dry weather recently with the occasional frosty morning.  I always get quite restless when the weather is fine but can't get out. There's not always much can be done in the garden at this time of year, but down on the allotment  there are winter jobs which we can be getting on with, so we did a few visits there in the last week or two. When the weather has been fine we have managed to get down there about twice a week.

We get a lot of leaves falling from the big tree at the top of the plot so clearing these from the paths was one job to get on with.  Then a good sweeping and swilling with Jeyes Fluid to stop them getting slippery.

I cut down the asparagus stems, a job I hadn't managed to do in the autumn. In the bed next to the asparagus had been annual flowers which I grow for cutting. I cleared all the dead stems from there too. On the asparagus bed I spread a mixture of manure bought from the garden centre and home made compost. Another bed which needed clearing was the sweetcorn and beetroot bed. The sweetcorn stems were quite hefty and needed a big tug to get them out. A mulch of compost finished the bed off nicely.

There was a delivery of bark chippings at the dump so Richard did some barrowing and started topping up the paths and non growing areas with the chippings. It always looks so clean and tidy after we have done this.

I made a start on pruning the fruit bushes by doing the gooseberries. I gave them a mulch of  a mixture of home made compost and manure. The rhubarb is starting to grow again so that got a mulch too. Then we spread a layer of bark chippings over.

The seating area is well used, for rests and cups of tea and to sit and admire our work or decide which jobs to do next.

There seem to have been a few new tenants on the site recently. A lot of people don't realise how much time and hard work is needed to keep an allotment going and soon give up. 

We're hoping they will stick at it.

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.

Through the Garden Gate--January 2021

The garden has looked pretty dismal during January, either covered in snow or drenched with rain and puddles all over the bottom borders. I've often looked out of the house windows and thought the garden looked ok really (when there was no snow to hide it). But on closer inspection when the weather allowed me to get out and walk around, I could see how soggy the borders were and full of wet brown dead foliage. I know though that they will recover. All we need is some dry weather and the puddles drain away, the dead stuff dries up enough for me to clear them away and plants bounce back to life. In the past I've been concerned about the wet in the borders and if plants will survive, but in the damp borders are plants which love all that wet, so I know I will see them again.

There are signs of new life all over the garden. In the front garden, where I've planted most of the spring bulbs, I can see the green shoots of narcissi and crocus. The snowdrops are flowering now, I have to walk around to spot them though. They've only been there for the three years we have lived here and have not increased their numbers yet. It could be a long time, I think before I can see drifts of snowdrops from the house windows. But its nice to walk around and have these little surprises as new growth appears

In the back garden, the crab apple tree has delighted us with loads of bright orange/red fruit for months, but now the little apples have gone soggy. The birds are still not interested in the fruit, I don't know why. Perhaps I provide more interesting food on the bird table. Although the colour has now gone from this tree, walking round the garden down in the woodland border I can see that the witch hazel (hamamelis 'Jelena') is now in flower. This has lovely spidery, orange flowers. The contorted hazel has produced catkins, the hellebores have buds and look as if they will soon burst into flower and there are some little pink cyclamen under the silver birch.

Next to the crab apple tree there is a grass--miscanthus zebrinus which was given to me by my sister-in-law in a small pot about five or six years ago. I didn't plant it until we moved to this house and the first place I put it didn't seem to be the right place.  Now it loves where it is in full sun with plenty of space and it has really taken off. It has turned straw like now, but has some lovely feathery plumes, so still has lots of interest. Next month it will be time to cut it down ready for the new growth, but until then I will continue to enjoy looking at it.

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