January-February 2016 Newsletter

It’s still only January, but as I write I’m looking out at my garden where I can see spring bulbs well out of the ground (some daffodils already flowering!), green buds on many of the shrubs, a Daphne Odora in full flower (smelling gorgeous) and there’s loads of new growth on the Euphorbias. Frankly, warm temperatures in January are disconcerting and I’m convinced that we will suffer a plague of pests if we don’t have a decent cold spell to kill them all off.

The upside is that it reminds me that it won’t be too long before we can truly welcome spring again … surely the most gloriously hopeful season of all. Have you taken time to get outside and see what’s looking good in your garden at this time? Taking a few minutes to do so (preferably in the sunshine) does wonders to relieve the inevitable winter blues.

If you love indoor plants as well as outdoor, then I’m sure you will have noticed that Alex has been doing a fantastic job in stocking an extensive range of houseplants at the centre, housed in the Vintage Shed. We’re teaming up with Emma and Tom from the fantastic London Terrariums to bring you a workshop, which will be held here at the centre on Tuesday 23rd February and will run from 7pm to 9pm. As well as learning a little about the history of the terrarium and how they work as a self contained eco system, each participant will construct their very own demijohn (traditional glass brewing vessel) terrarium to take home. The cost per person is £60 and this includes the demijohn, plants and all other materials, leaving you with a fantastic little living world to watch and grow at home!

There are very limited spaces so if you’re interested, book your place soon on the Billetto website. The garden centre team will provide some snacks and drinks, Alex might even do some baking!

After the varied weather of January it’s impossible to know where February will take us, but we do have a nice selection of outdoor plants available already, including pots of bulbs - Crocus, Narcissi, Muscari, Snowdrop, Scilla, Tulips and many more. Other plant superstars at the moment are the Hellebores - they really are magnificent - and the Euphorbias. They are all UK grown and fully hardy so it’s fine to plant them out now.

The best advice for these unpredictable winter months is ‘Be prepared for anything’! Have some horticultural fleece handy to cover tender plants in case we do get a very cold snap; put a layer of mulch down to help protect those young shoots that have started to break through the earth; prune your deciduous shrubs and trees now, in case the sap starts to rise sooner rather than later; and generally keep a close eye on weather conditions.

To help you, we are offering a special deal:

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Well-rotted horse manure is the best way to enhance your soil’s fertility and structure. Dug in it helps break down clay; put on top of beds, as mulch, it acts as a weed suppressant and slowly releases nutrients into the soil beneath it. Magic! This offer is available while stocks last, so make sure you grab yours soon.

Even with the first signs of spring obviously in the garden, I’m still regularly lighting the wood burner in the evenings to ensure we stay warm and cosy. I’ve been using a mixture of Kiln Dried and Olive wood from our supplies here at the garden centre. We have just stocked up on both of these (as well as kindling and UK Hardwood), so if you’re running low on firewood, come and get some.

One of the disadvantages of a mild winter is that we may have an early invasion of garden pests, including slugs, snails and aphids. It is well worth taking remedial action early to minimise the amount of chemicals needed later. If, like me, you hate using too many chemicals, but don’t want your garden to become a buffet table for every pest around, I’d recommend the following:

• Use limited amounts of chemical slug killer early in the season, thus dispatching the first emerging slugs. If those little blighters are destroyed, they don’t grow to adulthood and reproduce!
• Encourage beneficial wildlife into your garden (birds, ladybirds, frogs, bees) and ensure you have places for them to make their homes. They will gobble up lots of the wildlife you don’t want, as well as being a pleasure to watch. (I love the cycle of watching frogspawn turn into tadpoles and then into the cutest tiny frogs each year, and simply would never now be without a pond, however tiny, in my garden.)

Wildlife needs feeding, and also needs a source of water, if you want it to keep returning to your garden. Keep your bird feeders topped up and put out a dish of water if you don’t have a pond. Birds will start looking for a place to nest soon, so clean out any existing nesting boxes you have up, or put one up if you don’t have any already.

It’s over and out from me now, but Sally’s garden tasks check-list follows. Keep popping in, won’t you, as little by little we will be stocking up again on plants, shrubs and trees. Sally and I have finalised our fruit tree and soft fruit order, I’m doing the same with the next Italian delivery of larger shrubs, David Austin roses will let us know as soon as our order of shrub roses and climbers are fit to come to us, and there will be plenty more besides.

In the meantime, keep checking on your garden, keep a weather eye out, and keep warm!

See you soon.

Karen

Garden jobs for
January-February 2016

We have a lovely new year in the garden to look forward to, although you may not feel inclined to venture out much in these winter months. Here are some jobs to do when you decide to reacquaint yourself with your outside space!

My top 2 jobs for now

1. Planning: think about what you want to grow for the first time this year, what areas of the garden could be improved or reworked, maybe you’ll increase your vegetable crops, find space for some fruit, develop a herb garden…? Plant a tree, a herbaceous border, or a new look to your container garden?

2. Protection: check protective fleeces and wrappings around plants and pots, ensure stakes, fences and gutters are secure, and that the garden is tidy, with nothing lying around which could be picked up by strong winds and cause damage.

General maintenance

• On your garden walks, take a hoe with you to knock out annual weeds as they emerge. It’s much easier to get rid of them before they have a chance to establish. Perennial weeds should be dug out with as much of their roots as possible, or treated with a systemic weed killer as soon as they have new leaf.
• Wash empty pots by scrubbing them with hot water and a mild detergent. Rinse them well afterwards.
• Remove dead leaves from herbaceous perennial clumps to avoid them rotting into the crown of the plant.
• Cut back the old foliage from ornamental grasses before growth begins, clipping them to within a few centimetres of the ground.
• Remove old Hellebore leaves to make the new blooms more visible as they emerge.
• Try not to walk on lawns when they are frosted or wet because it will damage the grass. If you need to access beds and borders to work, lay planks to walk on.
• Spread organic matter, well rotted manure or organic compost, as a surface layer over beds. If you lay it on top as a mulch, the rain and worms will gradually pull the nutrients down into the soil.
• Frosts will improve the structure of previously dug soil, but take care not to walk on or work the soil when it is waterlogged. You will do more damage than good.
• Clear out the shed or storage cupboard, checking over tools and equipment to make sure they are all clean and in working order.
• Get rid of any chemicals and fertilisers which have been lying around for a long time. These materials should be taken to your local authority waste site for safe disposal.
• If snow is forecast, tie up cordylines, conifers and other plants which may be damaged by the weight of snow.
• Protect tender plants wither by bringing them into the greenhouse or conservatory when a cold snap is forecast, or by wrapping them in horticultural fleece.
• Wrap non-frost proof pots in bubble wrap or hessian to help prevent cracking. Group pots together in a sheltered south facing spot.
• Deadhead winter bedding plants such as cyclamen and pansies, remove any diseased leaves and remember to water them: lack of watering can cause mildew.

Pruning

• Finish pruning deciduous trees if needed to keep them in shape. Be prepared to seal the wood with an appropriate sealant.
• Give Wisteria its winter prune by cutting back the current seasons growth to within two or three buds of the older wood.
• Finish pruning apple and pear trees, gooseberries, red and blackcurrants.
• Prune autumn fruiting raspberries, cutting each cane right down to the ground.
• Cut back Group 3 clematis – the late flowering ones which flower on the current year’s growth e.g. Etoile Violette, Jackmanii, Gravetye Beauty – to the lowest pair of strong buds, at about knee height, 30cm above the ground.
• Prune summer flowering deciduous shrubs such as Buddleja, Caryopteris, hardy fuchsias, santolina and others. These can generally be pruned very hard, almost to the ground leaving a few buds or shoots on each stem. If you want to increase the size of the shrubs, leave a few stems on and prune these lightly.
• Prune roses to encourage healthy new flowering stems. Cut back to just above a bud and remove any dead or crossing branches.
• When you have finished pruning, give plants a feed with an organic fertiliser and mulch with good organic compost or manure.

Planting

• If your garden looks a bit bare and uninteresting, plant a winter flowering shrub such as Hamamelis, Daphne, Sarcococca, Camellia - there’s quite a lot to choose from.
• Continue planting deciduous trees and shrubs, provided the ground isn't frozen or waterlogged.
• Plant pots of spring bulbs in any gaps in the border for some instant colour.
• Introduce evergreen shrubs if your winter garden is lacking structure, and bright coloured winter stems, such as Cornus and Salix.

Seed sowing

• Sweet Pea seeds can be sown indoors in a propagator on a sunny windowsill, and planted out later on. Those sown in Autumn can be potted on, and kept on a windowsill, in a cold frame or greenhouse.
• If the weather improves and the soil gets warm, you can start to sow broad beans, peas, cabbage, beetroot and spinach under cloches. You can warm the soil before sowing seeds or young plants by covering it with black plastic or horticultural fleece, which may help germination and establishment.

House plants

• Check house plants such as orchids for scale insect, aphids, whitefly and mealy bug, which produce the horrible sticky honeydew encouraging sooty moulds.
• Keep indoor plants watered and fertilised, according to their requirements.

Pests and diseases

• Keep an eye out for the first signs of herbaceous growth and protect the new leaves from slug attack! As Karen has said, an early application of slug pellets will reduce the population later in the year.

Wildlife

• Keep the bird feeders topped up with a variety of food to encourage a wide range of birds to your garden. Keep a supply of fresh water for them too.

If it's too cold to go out, have a look through gardening magazines and books for some inspiration to spur you on in the months to come.

See you in March.

Sally