My gardening DIARY

MONDAY Last year we seemed to have a dearth of home-made compost and to have used it up far too quickly. Now the opposite is true, but before we extract our last vintage from its bay, we need to use the really mature material. We usually use leaf mould on the shady side of the garden, but some plants there are running out of steam so it’s time for a treat.

TUESDAY New year – new seeds. Although we sowed some seeds of perennials in autumn, there are loads of others and half hardy annuals to get off to an early start. Annual rudbeckia are top of the list.

WEDNESDAY

When you’ve been gardening for a long time in one place, you realise how many plants have disappeared. Sometimes it’s carelessness, sometimes they come to the end of their natural lifespan. Then there are plants you feel you must have again. That’s how I’m feeling now about Helleborus argutifolius.

THURSDAY Last year there was no sign of helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, the enormous perennial sunflower that usually just gets on with it, producing towering stems and masses of lemon flowers in autumn. It eventually appeared and made up for lost time. Make a note to divide and replant in spring.

FRIDAY We’ve just been excavating the Jerusalem artichokes that we planted last summer. The ground is full of them. Time to harvest!

SATURDAY It’s interesting to look at old photos to see what was happening in previous years. A picture of the Banksian rose, pruned and trained into its wires, told me it’s time to get out the ladder, secateurs and string.

SUNDAY Although we’ll leave seed heads for the birds and some grasses for shelter for birds, mammals and insects, the autumn was so wet it’s turned old foliage into thick, soggy mats covering the crowns of other perennials. It must be pulled out and composted.