Despite January Gloom!

 It's been days and days of mist, murk and gloom - so much so, indoor lights have been on as it's been barely light! How satisfying then to have a solitary sunny day to enjoy a good old sort out and tidy up in the greenhouse.  Despite a hot mat and fan heater (used only to keep the temperature above freezing) the rest of the greenhouse is dripping with moisture and condensation which, of course, Pelargoniums absolutely hate!! With the hot mat used for plants propagated in the autumn, I always wish it was twice the size!  Hours were spent tidying plants and picking off the dead and dying leaves and then having a thorough sweep up.  So far - so good and no great losses.

Elsewhere in the garden Hellebores are popping up and snowdrops are just beginning to emerge. Nearly all the deciduous ferns have been cut back and before long, Epimediums will have the same treatment.

BRING BACK THE BIRCH!

Despite very frosty weather with the ground absolutely solid, the sunshine has appeared and allowed me to prune the Studio Wisteria, do yet more leaf clearance and admire the siver birches!  I even found a couple more unusual Wisterias in a sale!  In the greenhouse my Pelargonium cuttings are thriving on their hot mat.  Elsewher in the greenhouse, it really is green with algae and condensation everywhere.  I wonder if anyone has ever tried a dehumidifier in a greenhouse as I'm tempted to try.

In this wintry weather, the birches are a real joy and I forgive them their untidy habits of dropping seeds and twigs just E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!!  This one is Silver Queen and has creamier coloured and shaggier bark than the Jaquemontiis.  For the first time, this season I used a power washer to remove all the accumulations of green algae.  It was so succesful, I've resolved to repeat the practice and go even higher using the Niwaki steps instead of the small step ladder.  It was worth disentangling all the extension cables, hose pipes and power washer lines!!

Check out:  BRING BACK THE BIRCH!

Have a restful start to 2025!!

 

New Miracle Gardening Tool!

 Here we are in December and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't missing my loyal and longstanding gardening companion of 20 years: Chris Pugh who left suddenly last September. However nothing lasts forever and life moves on and all of those over used phrases! 

I've actually been really enjoying border clearance thanks to 3 dry days and a new miracle gardening implement!

I don't enjoy looking out on soggy brown mushy stalks in winter.  Pretty shots of seed heads in the frost and food for birds is a myth here.  The seeds are long gone and the rain and storms have battered what remains.  On excellent recommendation I bought a Niwaki mini scythe and WHAT a game changer indeed.  Border clearance was a breeze and done in far less than half the usual time.  If honest, I was slightly daunted at doing it all alone but really need not have worried thanks to Tammy at Stockton Bury for her recommendation!  AND....it wasn't just the Dragon Borders that were cleared and tidied, oh no!  I could hardly stop and put it down.  Even ELH himself came out and gasped at my progress!

Well done Niwaki!! For £14.00 it's a Miracle Tool!!

Dragon Borders all cleared.

Intense Autumn Colour

We've really enjoyed such a fabulous intensity of autumn colour in the garden this year so here's a link to lots more: 

November colour 

NOVEMBER BIRTHDAY SNOW!

 

2 3/4" on the avian depth gauge

 Thank goodness we managed to collect nearly all leaves and plant tulips and narcissi as 2 1/2" of snow fell soon afterwards and hung around for nearly a week with quite hard frosts!!!  Bit of a surprise as I woke up to find a real dump of snow on my birthday - a real first!  Not that it stopped thoughts of spring and necessary preparations.  The weird thing was seeing snow on Acers still with their bright orange leaves!

Talking of spring, the old Cosmos have been removed from the raised border and I've planted some lovely Wallflower plants courtesy of Keith Boulton at Heath Nursery in Lower Broadheath who can always be relied upon for quality plants.  You really can't beat growing them in a raised border  at nose height! 

I also planted some lettuces in the greenhouse border so, hopefully, we'll be OK for winter salads. I was pleased I'd put some protection around the new Acacia dealbata. It was planted in May with hopes that it will be sufficiently established to survive its first winter - she says nervously!

Leaf Colours & Leaf Collecting!

 

After a week's absence, unsurprisingly, we missed the tulip tree colours as 90% of its colour was on the lawn!  These leaves are large and heavy when wet and so began the big clear up alone. Noah the mower doesn't cope with leaves - especially thick layers of large ones! At least the weather was dry as filling bulk bags with large quantities of leaves & lifting heavy bags on to the compost heap is really a 2 man job.  

Still, when all was finished and lawns mowed, the sun came out for a few minutes and it was time to admire the view and the colours of the leaves in the adjoining cider apple orchards.