TURN OVER A NEW LEAF
THE year 2022 won’t be remembered as a golden one. Apart from wars, disease and awful politics, record temperatures fried our summer gardens. Then, after saturating rains came the pre-Christmas freeze. But that’s all behind us. To make 2023 a great gardening year, here are some tips.
MONTHLY PLANT COUNT
A GARDEN needs something pretty to see every day. So on the first of each month, make a note of anything in flower or looking special. If you draw a blank, plant something special for that month.
My January star is wintersweet, Chimonanthus praecox, flowering today. For smaller spaces, try an extra-early snowdrop such as Galanthus Three Ships.
PREP FOR SUMMER
BE MORE adventurous with this year’s summer planting. Choose varieties you’ve never grown. Try blending tomatoes or peppers with ornamentals. You could blend annual climbers with runner beans, too.
LIVELY LAWNS
CLOSE-MOWN, weed-free grass is essential for cricket pitches or tennis courts. But over-groomed garden lawns are unfashionable. As well as polluting ground water, they look boring. By all means, keep a tidy green lawn, but let it be pretty with daises and other small ‘weeds’. Always mow without the grass box so your lawn is self-nourished, stores carbon and makes your garden wildlife-friendly.
BUILD COMPOST BAY
HOMEMADE compost is a garden’s lifeblood. You can construct a small, double compost bay with boards (easy) or bricks and mortar (longer lasting.) One bay takes this year’s green waste. While that rots, the second bay takes next year’s. When dark and crumbly, the compost can be spread on your garden. Earthworms then take over, working the compost into the soil.
BEAT THE PEAT BAN
PEAT will be banned for amateur gardeners in 2024. We must, therefore, rely on peat-free potting compost.
If you prefer to make your own, crumbly garden compost is a good peat substitute.
Mix it with sand, good soil, plus a little slow-release fertiliser and voila!
PRUNE AWAY
PRUNING is not difficult but it’s a craft which has to be learnt. Buy a book such as the RHS Pruning Plant by Plant. Good pruning ensures a fine show and a happy plant. Fruit crops from pruned trees are heavier, with better quality fruit.
LET CHILDREN JOIN IN
KIDS who start gardening before they’re ten can be experts in their teens. They’re quick to learn the basics such as seed-sowing or taking cuttings. n There are plenty of books for children including the RHS Let’s Get Gardening, Dorling Kindersley, £9.99.
PAVING AND PARKING
PAVING or gravel without vegetation looks tidy but boring. Pretty up your hard areas with rugged plants like stonecrops, aubrietas or Arabis.
Tall purple toadflax, red valerian or mulleins can grow round the edges of the areas, even when soil is minimal.
ENJOY WHAT YOU HAVE
WITH all that work, never forget to enjoy your garden. Most important of all — have a wonderful 2023.