Gardening: Plot the year ahead,
Now is the time to take stock for the floriferous seasons to come
Outside it’s cold and gloomy, but so what? We have until March to finish routine winter gardening jobs, so there’s no pressure. And when bad weather keeps us indoors, it’s useful to take stock and make plans for 2018.
so while you recover from Christmas or gear up for tomorrow’s New Ye a r celebrations, here are some suggestions for making 2018 your best gardening year ever.
LOOK CRITICALLY
WRAP up and go into your garden, but pretend you’ve never seen it before. Look critically with an open mind. Are trees, shrubs or permanent plants well placed? What about the patio or seating area? is any space wasted? the longer you stand and stare, the more likely you are to see faults and to dream up brilliant new ideas.
DECIDE ON MAJOR PLANTING CHANGES
HARDY shrubs and trees are dormant and can be transplanted until March. But, if you decide to move anything, do it as soon as possible. that will give disturbed ground time to settle down before spring.
DESIGN YOUR SUMMER FLOWERING SCHEMES
PLAN now and your summer garden could be superb. Also, you can avoid the April scrum at garden centres.
pre- ordering plug plants makes planning easy. Marshalls ( marshalls-seeds.co.uk), suttons ( suttons.co.uk) and many other firms offer a huge choice.
When choosing plants, combine colour and textures to suit your tastes. i love to mix pink flowers with silver foliage, for example, or crimson flowers with brooding purple foliage.
LANDSCAPING
despite adverse weather, winter can be a good time for landscaping. if you finish construction early and plant in spring, the scars should heal quickly.
We’re installing a wildlife pond and small bog garden in Febru- ary. professional landscapers will do the tricky work and i’ll plant the area in March or April. so by september, the feature should be maturing nicely.
THINK FOOD
IF Your garden is small, but you’d like to grow food, plan now. Big pots or half tubs are fine for the likes of carrots, strawberries, salad greens, tomatoes, chillies and herbs.
Larger containers give more scope for veg. prices vary, from Haxnicks Veg patio planters at £13.99 each to large ‘ manger-style’ ones at more than £100. raised beds are a better alternative if you have the space. All from two Wests & elliott ( twowests.co.uk) and other suppliers.
Garden centres sell seed potatoes from January. if you buy them, don’t plant them outside before March. Keep them frost-free.
WINTRY BLOOMERS
ON NEW Year’s day, just for fun, go out and count the flowers in your garden. Last year i recorded 41 different varieties in bloom in our roomy garden. in a smaller space, ten would be excellent.
plant something pretty for winter. shrubs such as Chimonanthus, winter honeysuckle or Japanese quince would be fine choices.
Above all, enjoy your garden. And have a happy, prosperous and floriferous New Year.