I had a feeling that once I began my tidy up in the garden, there would be a change in the weather and it has certainly gone much colder, but for now a bit drier! Although I have cut back much of the old growth from perennials and removed leaf litter from my borders, I added a good layer of mulch from my compost heaps, so the plants do have a cosy layer around them.
My main concern during this weather is for any pots that are out in the garden containing evergreens. I have an Acacia baileyana ‘Songlines’ in a large container, starting to bud up now to produce its beautiful bright yellow pom-pom flowers. That for one will not appreciate a cold easterly wind, so I have moved it into my unheated green house where it can join the more tender plants that have been there since just after Christmas. My large Hostas in pots are still underground and very hardy, but the Agapanthus, although deciduous can be killed if the roots freeze up, so I have wrapped the pots in bubble wrap and covered them with horticultural fleece. A couple of plants in the front gravel garden have also been wrapped in hessian until the cold snap is over.
So with the weather turning, it’s back to sorting out the infrastructure of the garden ready for work when spring really does get underway. I have swept off the patio nearest the house – the birds are always flicking seed onto it – and I was about to get the hose out to clean off the algae when I noticed that the fitting on the tap had perished so I need to buy a new one! This led me to check the other taps and fittings, listing new fittings and spares required. For now the taps have been lagged with some old tea towels and bubble wrap and are out of action. I have had to content myself with scraping moss and liverwort from between the granite setts outside the dining room with my hand fork – a slow job but strangely therapeutic and well worth the effort! Although the greenhouse is crammed full of plants being protected from any cold weather, I have been able to clean green algae off the outside of the glass with some warm, soapy water. I find I have to do this job a couple of times during the winter, especially when the weather is so wet and mild.
The pieces of wood that top our sunken deck have begun to go rotten, having been there for years and unfortunately not been treated, so an ideal job will be to replace them with new. I may invest in some wider wood to make the deck into a seating area for warm evenings as well as it use for sunbathing during lazy days! Whilst I have my tool box handy, the gate needs new hinges and the fence could do with a couple of new posts, so I do not think I will be short of things to do as long as it stays dry!
Happy Gardening!
Mr McGregor
