GO WITH THE SLOW
Take time over simple tasks and ditch the ‘instant’ impact hype...
ONE of the top trends for 2024 is ‘instant impact gardening’, according to garden centre experts. It’s not entirely clear what this means apart from low maintenance with readymade kerb appeal, but it has been niggling away at me.
On my allotment, I’ve been busy weeding the fruit patch I inherited that has been choked with couch grass and all sorts of other tenacious self-sowers ever since I took over the plot.
After an hour, I had cleared only a square metre of ground and there are several more to go. There’s nothing instant about this process, but there’s a peaceful flow in the act of weeding in a beautiful spot, and by midsummer I’m aiming for an abundance of raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, and redcurrants.
PLANTING BULBS
IN our front garden, there are pots of bulbs poking through the soil that will come into flower in the next few weeks and months.
Planting bulbs is one of those jobs I put off in the autumn, because it involves a great deal of trust and patience. It can be difficult to haul yourself outside on a chilly, overcast day to perform a task that won’t reap benefits until the following spring Yet I hold on to the memories and photographs of colourful containers filled with grape hyacinths, crocuses, dwarf narcissi and my beloved tulips, and this gives me the spur I need to get on with it.
Or take snowdrops. You can buy a pot of these in flower right now for a high price tag, but the best time to plant them is ‘in the green’, immediately after they have finished flowering. If you already have some, this is the time to lift and divide them to increase your stock.
There’s not much instant about pruning roses either, unless like me you’re slightly weird and get a strange satisfaction from working out where to snip and then getting happy with the secateurs. We do it because we know that cutting back now will encourage better flowering in the summer.
The trend for instant impact is probably down to the fact that container gardening is increasingly popular, particularly among those who don’t have access to a private garden.
Backing this up is the fashion for vertical gardening in new builds and apartments with tiny yards or balconies.
MAKING ROOM
I’M ALL for making the most of whatever space you have, even if it’s just a few pots beside your door, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take your time about it.
By all means buy some winter pansies as plug plants and stick these in a terracotta pot on your doorstep — I’ve done this, and they bring me great pleasure.
But also try growing something from seed or taking a cutting and watching it root.
Winter in the garden is an act of faith. It’s all about getting ready for the year to come, whether that’s fixing sheds and fences, pruning roses or resowing lawns. On sunny days, there’s a great temptation to rush out and buy new plants.
Before you do so, stop to think about where they are going to go, and how long they are going to last.
If you’re not careful, instant can come to mean throwaway, and these days we should all aim to be more sustainable in the garden.