Winter preparations
It is the time of year for thinking ahead and it's now when you will be glad of keeping a note and photographic record of your successes and failures throughout the season.
The dark evenings provide a great excuse to curl up in an armchair and browse the latest seed and plant catalogues for old favourites and new varieties. The milder seasons mean we can be more adventurous, trying tender varieties in the garden formerly only grown indoors or in green-houses where expensive heating may have been the only option. In the Walled Garden we will be trying new varieties of vegetable and salad crops to extend the harvest to enable us to prolong our education programme.
If you have plants in containers staying outside in the winter weather there are several things you can do to help the them stay healthy. Cut back on watering dormant plants to discourage lush foliage growth that can be damaged by hard frost. Protect tender and newly planted perennials with a mulch of straw, garden compost, horticultural fleece or even old fern fronds or shredded paper. Tender plants out in the garden the ground such as Dahlias, Pelargoniums (annual geraniums), Gladiolus, Verbena, Cannas and Chrysanthemum should normally be lifted and moved in pots into a cold greenhouse or indoors. However with our milder winters, plants growing in sheltered spots in the garden could well be left out given some extra protection.
Leave the foliage on to protect slightly tender plants such as penstemmon. Protect the crowns of Tree Ferns by stuffing the top with straw and tying the frond over the top. Move containers with dormant perennials into a sheltered location such as against a wall, in the garage or near a fence that can serve as a windbreak and temperature stabilizer. Clean off any whitewash from green house glass to allow in maximum light. We will be washing down and disinfecting our glasshouses and benches to ensure that pests and disease don't thrive over winter.
In the Walled Garden we will be completing the trimming of evergreen hedges giving crisp winter lines and a tidy start for next years open season. Roses will be getting a light pruning to protect from winter wind rock which can loosen roots; pruning will be completed late winter.
Complete the planting of spring bulbs and extend interest by introducing something new. Push a few lily bulbs into a pot of compost for a stunning scented display next summer. Incidentally now is often the time to pick up bargains in garden centres. Fill pots with early bulbs and violas to place by doors to provide a colourful welcome on dark winter days.
Clean and put away garden machinery and tools. This is the traditional time to check over lawn mowers, hedge trimmers, motorized tillers and other garden equipment. Sharpen any dull blades, clean out grass and other plant debris, oil moving parts and check any electrical equipment to be sure it is in safe working order. All the gardening equipment and machinery will now be ready to go when the warm spring weather arrives and winter is over!
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