READY FOR SOME TWINKLE!
Notes from a small Tea lights with their new fancy holders mean I’m set for a festive season in the fresh air
OFollow Naomi’s progress as she gets to grips with her tiny urban garden on heavy Bristol clay n the last weekend of November my neighbourhood declared Christmas open. There were trees decked with tinsel, spangled lights and galloping illuminated reindeer in shop windows.
The vibe was very much ‘well, it’s all been a bit rubbish, but now let’s sit it out in style!’
I tend to be a bit cautious with ge ing the trimmings up too early (not least as my family does the full 12 days of Christmas with bells on), but the halls are now decked, the festive fir smelling wonderful and while I should have made the Christmas cake, I’m looking out of the window. I secretly enjoy this time of year in the garden, with all the soft colours and the bones starting to show through. I like to appreciate nature’s antiquing as well as her fresh glories. And, realistically, any Christmas socialising is likely to be a li le more fresh-air orientated than usual, so I’m crafting some impromptu tea-light holders from greenhouse shading left over from the spring. This opaque, peelable paint comes in a range of funky colours and, having acquired a selection of small jars and scoured them well, I had a bit of an experiment. Painting freehand made for rustically pre y stars or snowflakes, while using a paper template, and then peeling it off to reveal the shape, proved rather faffy. At this point I started to wish I’d ordered some festive craft stencils to help, too
The frost has been tardy this year and in my sheltered garden the dahlias have only just died back, so I’m now moving the pots inside the greenhouse to spend the winter. This is particularly important for smaller pots as they’re more vulnerable to freezing solid, and it worked well last year for cannas and ginger lilies too.
Damp rather than chill is often the enemy and, unless it gets very cold, the key thing is to keep them nice and dry. Left in their pots under cover these plants should be quite happy; cool but not frozen and just moist enough to spring back into growth when ready! (I’ll put them on my Christmas list), but in their absence the best trick was to apply several coats of paint, draw on a motif, go round the outline with a craft knife or Stanley knife and peel away the centre. Bold, simple shapes like hearts and Christmas trees worked best and I’ll play with detail another time!
With a tea light and a secure loop of gardening wire to dangle the jar from a branch, the job was done!
The idea of sherry and canapes al fresco reminds me of the robust Victorian a itude of the great outdoors, where intrepid individuals would climb mountains in tweed skirts and hobnailed boots before rolling out a hearty picnic with hot tea and a tot of something stronger.
This may be a combination of classic adventure stories and a rather feverish year, but the garden is dressing up for the season, and if this Christmas must be a fresh-air box of delights, then so be it.