Plenty of pruning going on
One of the things I enjoy most about gardening is its repetitive nature; no matter what’s going on in the wider world I know that here in the garden things will need doing at the same time each year, and plants
will grow and flower at roughly the same time as usual. Winter pruning the wisteria is one such job I’ve eagerly tackled. I’m pleased to have created a sturdy framework of branches full of buds and am looking forward to it blooming.
I’ve almost conquered my fear of ladders too – I can go up five rungs now without turning to jelly!
I’ve pruned the autumn-fruiting raspberries and put stems through the shredder. The shreddings have been used as mulch on an area newly planted with shrubs. Hopefully this will keep weeding to a minimum. While the shredder was out, I then moved across the orchard to the large ‘autumn bed’, chopping everything down, again shredding all the stems. I’ve treated the bed to a really thick mulch of garden compost, emptying one of the compost bays in the process. This bed is left largely to itself now, the plants soon crowd out any weeds and all I’ll need to do is put in some metal supports later on.
We’ve cut down a scruffy elder tree in the back garden. This left a gap in the hedge and, although there’s a wire fence, I prefer to be more enclosed so John’s cut down hazel poles from around the garden and made a woven panel in the gap. I’ve burrowed around in the borders to find self-seeded holly plants and planted them in front. It’s so pleasing that for no outlay other than effort we now have a solid stretch of boundary and a new holly hedge.
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