TOP JOBS TO GET DONE IN MIDWINTER
Tackling the small tasks that give big rewards
THE garden isn’t the most inviting of places in the depths of winter, but there are still things you can be doing on days when the weather is fine enough to venture outside.
This week, I wrapped up warm and headed out to take stock and catch up on some small jobs to keep things ticking over. This year’s onion crop, growing from sets planted last autumn, is shooting healthily, so I weeded between the plants as the strappy leaves of onions offer too little shade to block more persistent weeds.
I also noticed that the local cats had been using our raised beds as a toilet, so I laid some off-cuts from the extremely thorny berberis I pruned earlier in the week across the soil as a deterrent.
Weeds will keep on coming even in the depths of winter, and as they are more robust than most plants it pays dividends to run a hoe through the soil at least once a week.
Any remaining perennials will be looking sorry for themselves now, so remove dead and damaged plant matter and add it to the compost. Leave some healthy leaves to insulate the plant’s crown – and I also give some hollow stems a stay of execution in case they contain hibernating invertebrates.
If you go out after a frosty night, check that the soil hasn’t been lifted around new trees and shrubs. If it has, heel it down to firm the plants back in and secure their roots.