Forewarned and forearmed

Pots tucked up

Some pots in the greenhouse

February has been wet rather than particularly cold, or so I'm informed; for much of it we have been away.  (Despite the warning about not leaving the new greenhouse heater "unattended for long periods", it was left on unattended for nearly three weeks and hasn't exploded.)  Since our return last week it has been chilly but dry, and the forecast for the next few days is for a very cold spell with the risk of snow, brought in by winds from Siberia.  The more excitable elements of the media are billing it as "The Beast from the East", and certainly the Met Office is warning about the dangers of cold and windchill (of as much as -14C) as well as snow disruption; although having just returned from similar temperatures in Norway, I'm not inclined to get too worked up about it.  Forewarned is forearmed, however, and I remember the similar-sounding bitter spring of 2013, so all the usual precautions of laying in food and fuel have been taken, as well as tucking the garden up as best I can.  Most of the pots have been grouped together, against the house wall where possible, to protect them from the wind and the effects of drying (any snow doesn't matter); the compost is looking quite dry as it is but I don't want to water them too much so that the roots don't freeze.  Some old garden fleece has been draped over them to give a little protection.  Small pots have been moved into the greenhouse and cold frame, as have all the borderline-hardy things (penstemons for example).  Fingers crossed!

Crocus 'Blue Pearl' (look closely ....)

The snowdrops and aconites are all still out, as are the hellebores (not so many of them now that the ones self-sown into the old path have gone), and the early crocuses have coloured (though I haven't seen any actually open yet).  The 'Cream Beauty' ones in various pots have come through well, although there aren't so many 'Blue Pearl' in evidence, only a few in the front garden and a couple pushing through the tatty heuchera leaves in the big pot.  C. tommasinianus 'Whitewell Purple' is showing down at the bottom of the garden, but they need sun to open and they're rather in the shade down there; I must find them a new home as they're lovely, cheery things.  The daffodils are still in bud, with those in the front garden furthest ahead, but given the weather forecast we probably won't have any in bloom for some time yet.  The self-sown pulmonaria over by the wall is flowering, though sadly its leaves are looking very much the worse for the wear and don't set off the blooms very well.

Pulmonaria (variety unknown)

With the weather having turned colder I've tried to be more regular about putting out food for the birds.  The fatballs continue to be popular, including with the long-tailed tits which, being only tiny, presumably really need a reliable food source.  We've had four of them in the past few days, feeding together and also trying to land on the false glazing bars of the patio doors (they really can't work out why they can't get a grip).  Keeping an unfrozen water supply is trickier; today we had two woodpigeons sitting on the birdbath looking disconsolately at the ice, until Lefty chased them off (he wanted a drink, too, but there was none to be had).  Plastic bowls of water last a very few hours until they, too, freeze over.  I've been putting out apples from the greenhouse for the blackbirds, one on the patio and one by the front of the garage where I can watch them from the kitchen window; the apple store is diminishing but should last a good few days yet.  The greenhouse mouse is still nibbling them, and it has had a go at the chitting potatoes too; it looks as though it has given up on those, but the lettuce seedlings have all been nibbled down and I should really discard them for hygiene reasons, along with the other salad leaves.  Most of those have been little damaged - mousey doesn't appear to have a taste for bitter things like rocket and mustard - but he has probably been trying them out so they ought to go too.  I'm annoyed about the lettuce but the other leaves were already past their best anyway, and I will shortly need the space that they've been occupying when I start potting up the dahlia tubers.  It may be cold out there, but it's already time to start seed-sowing so I need to find room for all of that!  I just need to find a way of preventing the mouse from eating those too.....

Watch the birdie ...

Big Garden Birdwatch weekend, and this year's total was one of my best ever.  The usual suspects turned up, mostly in pairs except for the sparrows (7) and starlings (I recorded them as 12, although there were probably at least twice as many; they had been feeding in a big flock in the field behind us, but were startled by something into taking refuge in the big ash tree).  The coal tit turned up, as did the wren; there were 3 mistle thrushes (probably a pair and an interloper - there was a bit of a scrap) and, to my delight, the goldcrest.  I didn't report the red kite, which appeared a little later, circling over next door's garden.

Although spring is still some way off, the birds are wasting no time in getting ready.  The robin has paired up, although with a mate from elsewhere, not the skinny robin from further down the garden (which occasionally sneaks up to the patio for breakfast when the others aren't looking), and there's a lot of birdsong, mostly robins but also thrushes and the occasional blackbird.  The weather has been rather milder, except for last weekend when we had something of a snow day (only an inch or so of very wet snow which didn't last long), with occasional murk and rain and still windy from time to time; this weekend has been quite mild, and I've had the greenhouse door open during the day.

The relatively mild weather is bringing on the bulbs very well.  The snowdrops and aconites are all out, and the first crocuses and hellebores (H. x hybridus) are showing colour.  There are some daffodils in bud, although experience suggests that they won't actually flower for a few weeks yet, however promising they may look.  The comfrey is also starting to bloom, and there's a fine crop of hazel catkins; the early rhubarb shoots are showing, and at last the autumn-sown broad beans and garlic are starting to come through (I did put them in very late).

Winter aconites

First crocus: 'Cream Beauty'

Double snowdrops

I'm still hunting for the mouse in the greenhouse.  I took everything out other than the plants (having checked that there's nowhere for the mouse to hide amongst them), and satisfied myself that there is no rodent living in there.  I still don't know how it's getting in and out - there's no tunnel and no gap that it could get through - but it obviously is.  I can only assume that it's being beamed in and out by Scotty.  At least I'm confident that it's not going to be shut in; I only hope that it doesn't decide to make a nest in there.  The heating situation has fluctuated a little; the heater, whose thermostat was becoming erratic, finally packed up with a small bang (fortunately I was standing next to it at the time so could unplug it quickly, and also fortunately the weather was relatively mild at the time); its replacement also had a malfunctioning thermostat so was taken back to the shop; and now I've got one that is more expensive but seems to be doing the business very effectively.  My only concern is that the instructions insist that you shouldn't leave it unattended 'for long periods', whatever that means: do they think I'm going to sleep in there?

Hide-and-seek

There's nothing like having a visitor to focus the mind on a good tidy-up.  It was a visitor that prompted me to tackle tidying up the greenhouse, though not quite in the usual way; this wasn't preparation for a visit, but an attempt to find the visitor.  The cooking apples are stored in the greenhouse, and I noticed that something had been nibbling them.  With the obvious exception of the door - which is kept closed at this time of year, other than for very short periods for airing - the greenhouse has no way for intruders to get in; I can only think that something (probably a mouse or vole) has got in when the door was open, finds it a frost-free and safe home with food provided, and has made itself at home.  It looks as though something has been shredding the edge of the bundle of fleece, which would make very comfortable bedding.  But despite having gone through the contents of the greenhouse, I can't find the perpetrator; it's still in there (more apples being nibbled), but I can't think where it's hiding!  My main concern isn't the apples, which are destined to be fed to the blackbirds anyway, but that the mouse will be trapped in there and unable to get out.  A complete emptying out of the greenhouse may be the only way to find it.

Pheasants and partridge

The first couple of weeks of the year have been mostly grey and damp, with some strong winds (Storm Eleanor), chilly but not very frosty and with some fog.  There is colder weather in the forecast.  The mist cleared at times to show a little sunshine, before creeping across the fields again at dusk.  Despite the chill the birds are starting to display signs of spring: there has been more singing, and the robins are starting an uneasy relationship over the food on the patio, presumably with a view to pairing up in due course.  Other bird visitors have been a pair of chaffinches, a female greenfinch (and there's a male around somewhere too), a female yellowhammer and a goldcrest; a wren is about regularly, and a goldfinch appeared today.  The other day a dozen collared doves appeared from somewhere, picking up the droppings from the seed feeder; and five male pheasants and four partridges came in to hide from the local shoot.  Lefty the woodpigeon and his mate are also regulars.  I don't know if they are responsible for the untidy nest in the hazel tree which was revealed by the falling of the leaves in autumn; it doesn't look like the most secure construction and I didn't expect it to last long, but it survived the recent gales, so perhaps it's better built than I thought!

Nest in the hazel tree

A stern talking-to

I’ve stopped making New Year resolutions other than the general “must do better this year” ones; anything more complicated never lasts more than a few days.  This past year I’ve been trying to keep the “must do better” more firmly in mind as I go about my gardening business, and giving myself a stern talking-to as required.  It hasn’t always worked, but I am listening to myself more and more and taking action at least sometimes!  The conversations with myself generally fall into a few specific categories:

1. Weeds

A weed is a plant in the wrong place.  Even if it’s an otherwise desirable plant that would be welcome if it were in the right place.  Get them out, or move them elsewhere.  Yes, even the useful plants.  Yes, that includes the alpine strawberry plants that have been providing little desserts all autumn, and the oregano, even though it attracts bees and butterflies.  There are too many of them and they’re taking up space that ought to be used by other plants.  Decide where you want them and put them there, and weed out the rest; don’t let them colonise other places.  (I’ve been a little better at this during 2017; several plants have gone into the green waste bin.)  You also need to get on top of the lily-of-the-valley that is spreading out from its foothold in the veg plot; get digging!  And what are you going to do about the hypericum that has self-seeded under the osmanthus; keep it, move it or ditch it? – make up your mind!

2. Paths

And on the subject of the strawberries and oregano: they are particularly undesirable when they are in the middle of the veg plot paths.  If they’re in the way in the veg beds, they’re even more in the way when they’re growing in the path and you have to step on the beds to go around them!  Get them out as a priority, and weed the paths so that you can use them properly.  The whole point of a path is that it's a clear space for you to walk on.

3. Be ruthless!

Another aspect of ‘plant in the wrong place’ is the overall planting plan, which contains too many shrubs that have outgrown their welcome.  You planted them far too close to begin with, and many of them are now 20 years old and far, far bigger than you ever envisaged.  The time has come to decide whether to remove some altogether, and to be stricter about cutting back and shaping the others.  You’ve been talking for years about taking out the big philadelphus that hardly ever flowers, but the problem is that it’s jammed in between other big shrubs and you can’t get in there to do anything about it!  The neighbouring Viburnum tinus ‘Gwenlian’ that was damaged by the snowfall recently is a good place to start; cut it hard back (take cuttings first if you must, since it is admittedly a good plant, but where else in the garden would you put additional plants?), then get in there with the pruning saw and do some radical removal.  There are about six big shrubs in that area in a space that a sensible gardener would hesitate to plant up with two, so decide what you’re going to keep and get rid of the others.  And make a decision about the brachyglottis (what used to be Senecio greyii); it has become woody beyond all reasonable hope of redemption, even if the sparrows do love it as a safe place to hang out in, so take it out altogether.  Ok, so you’ve taken cuttings of it, but think very hard before you plant any of them, unless you’re going to keep them well trimmed; after all, you don’t actually like the flowers, so cutting them off wouldn’t be a problem.  Both it and the viburnums could be kept within bounds if you’re rigorous about cutting them back.  And there are other shrubs that need reducing in size (the aucuba, both the osmanthuses, the Buddleja alternifolia ….).  Thinking about the space occupied by the brachyglottis: it’s a space that needs a smallish (NB: smallish! Don’t get carried away) evergreen or evergrey, so a well-shaped brachyglottis would be a possibility, or perhaps one of the hebes, or even another Viburnum davidii.  But only one of those, mind you; don’t even think of squeezing in two or more!

4. Get those jobs done

You’ve been telling yourself for months that you ought to do some discreet tying-in of the columnar yews to prevent their branches from falling outwards as they grow.  And what happens?  We’ve had two big falls of snow, pulling the branches down, and now one of the yews is out of shape.  You still have time to fix it, but get it done before we get more snow.  Likewise the two Viburnum tinus with the branches broken by the snow.  Yes, you will have a lot of prunings to get rid of, but needs must.  And don’t put off lifting and dividing the iris in the pond; yes, it’s a horrible and difficult job, but it will become more horrible and more difficult if you ignore it.  It won’t go away.

5. Labelling

Actually you have been better at this in the past year.  You have finally learnt that you won’t remember which bulbs you have planted in that pot unless you label it, and that you won’t necessarily recognise the contents of small pots, especially in winter if they’re deciduous.  You’ve got labels, so use them!  And, since the pack of labels is running low, get yourself some wooden ones instead and reduce the amount of plastic you’re using in the garden, even by just a little; it all helps.

6. Keep talking to yourself in 2018 - it does work, sometimes!

White Christmas

Galanthus elwesii on Christmas Day

We had no snow for Christmas - like the preceding week, the weather was mild and damp - but we did find the first flowering clump of snowdrops of the winter (Galanthus elwesii) - so a white Christmas of a sort.

A White post-Christmas

Two days later, however, and here we are with another dump of the white stuff - about 4 inches overnight (not forecast).  I've been out again shovelling snow, and knocking it off the same lot of shrubs as last time.  The sun is out and it all looks very pretty, but it will freeze tonight so tomorrow is going to be rather icy.

There has been very little gardening in the meantime; too much to do festivity-wise, and the weather  has mostly not been encouraging.  I have managed to cut off some of the branches damaged by the first fall of snow, but not all; there were more than I had realised.  The other Viburnum tinus ('Gwenlian', further down the garden and out of sight behind other shrubs) also needed surgery (more still to be done there; it is seriously overgrown).  Other forays into the garden have mostly been to fetch vegetables (kale, and the last of the little carrots in the trough in the greenhouse, which we had for Christmas dinner), to cut evergreens for Christmas decorations and to feed birds.  Bird notables this week have been a pair of bullfinches, eating buds on the winter honeysuckle (Lonicera purpusii), which fortunately still has plenty of flowers on it, and a wonderful sighting of a red kite hunting low over the field opposite the house and even over the lane outside our front gate; it was riding a stiff wind, with wing- and tail-feathers tilting and angling as it fought to hold its position in the breeze.  Sadly the camera was out of reach at the time!

Looking a lot like ....

Christmas doesn't normally look like this, so it looked a lot like .... well, Norway actually.  The forecast gales passed us by, but the cold weather arrived as promised, with about 6 inches of snow on Saturday night which brought Gloucestershire pretty much to a standstill on Sunday and Monday.  Unlike our usual wet stuff, this was a heavy thick blanket, sitting densely on the trees and shrubs and pulling them down, and lifting in big solid slabs when shovelled up.  It all looked very wintry, and pretty when the sun came out on Monday and Tuesday, but it limited movement out of the village, especially as it was very cold on Monday night and the roads became very icy.  However, since it isn't Norway, it hasn't lasted long; temperatures slowly started to rise on Tuesday, and rain today (Wednesday) has cleared about half of the snow away; however there's a lot of wet that is going to have to make its way somewhere!

One good thing about the snow - I haven't seen the vegetable garden looking so tidy for a long time ...

A tidy-looking veg plot ...

A thick blanket on the viburnum

The snow had to be knocked off several plants to prevent them from being damaged, including some of those I was praising last time - the hellebore and the little bay plant among them.  Rosa dupontii, which was flattened by the fallen holly branch in the early summer but recovered remarkably well, is prostrate again under a covering of the white stuff.  Worst-hit is the big Viburnum tinus at the side of the house; it has thick clumps of leaves at the ends of long branches, and some of those branches have snapped under the weight of the snow.  It was scheduled for some major surgery in the spring, with those branches about to be cut off anyway, but that will have to be brought forward once I can get out there with the pruning saw.  Nearly all the doubtfully-hardy plants were already in the greenhouse or, in the case of a penstemon and the phygelius, tucked up in a corner; I have my fingers crossed for one pot with another penstemon and osteospermum, which had been looking really rather nice! (although the red chrysanthemum in the pot behind them is now looking very sad after the snow.)  The blue echeveria, which was up against the patio doors so benefitting from some indoor heat, was eventually moved under the bench for protection, but last night, with the temperatures forecast to plummet, I relented and popped it into the greenhouse, snow covering and all, where I think it had better stay for the winter.  We've been trying to keep the birds well fed; apples for the blackbirds, fatballs and seeds for the smaller ones.  A pied wagtail turned up, as did a greenfinch and a few chaffinches, and at one point we had three robins on the patio, eyeing each other rather warily.  The highlight, however, was a brief visit by a redpoll, something I don't think I've ever seen in the garden (and I'm not sure I had seen one anywhere at all).

Penstemon and osteospermum

Ahead of the wind and cold, I managed to get most of the autumn leaves stacked for leaf-mould, and last year's lot was spread over a layer of cardboard on one of the veg beds.  That particular bed has been fallow for a while and has a few big tree roots from the adjacent ash tree, so I'm hoping that the cardboard and leaves will add to the organic matter in there; I plan to put salad crops in it in the spring.

Fatsia japonica

My comments about plants looking good in December made me notice and appreciate a few more plants that I'm apt to take for granted.  Before the snow flattened everything, other good lookers were the hebe (despite the blackened remains of the peony behind), the Fatsia japonica and a pot containing a fern, cyclamen and Carex 'Evergold'.

Hebe

Carex 'Evergold' and friends

Looking good for December

Helleborus argutifolius

December is a month in which the garden doesn't look its best, but it's at this time of year that you really appreciate the plants with good shape and evergreen, or wintergreen, leaves.  Right now the big hellebore (H. argutifolius I think) is a highlight, just coming into flower though it's the bold shiny leaves that are the big attraction at the moment; Viburnum davidii is also looking good, standing out from its tatty surroundings, as are Mahonia 'Winter Sun' and my little bay tree in its pot.  And I'm grateful for the orange berries on the Iris foetidissima, although they would look better if their stems and seed-cases weren't so dead-looking.  There are other plants that would look good if they weren't so crowded out by other things (Epimedium sulphureum, I'm thinking of you); December is also a good time for looking around and seeing all the tidying up that is needed!

Viburnum davidii

My bay plant

Iris foetidissima berries

Hedychium and osteospermum, ready for the greenhouse

The hedychium (ginger lily) in the big pot on the patio was also looking pretty good, but it and its accompanying dahlia, lily (a proper lily) and osteospermum have been dug out and brought into the safety of the greenhouse for the winter.  This proved easier said than done.  They were obviously very happy in that pot and the hedychium and osteo had expanded greatly, which made them difficult subjects to pot on.  There was no question of taking the whole potful into the greenhouse - it literally wouldn't fit through the door - but I don't have other pots big enough for them in their enlarged state.  In spring the hedychium will be split in two, but I don't think this is a good time of year to start sawing it in half, so it has been 'potted' up in an old plastic compost bag with a load of the old compost around it, and I hope it'll be ok in that.  Two of the stems that were dying back have been cut off, and I've shortened the other two (so that it will fit under the greenhouse staging!); it has also started to throw up a new shoot (just visible in the photo, on the extreme right), which suggests that it's hardier than I have given it credit for.  I've now got three plants, all divisions from the one original plant, so perhaps next year I'll try one of them in a border with winter protection and see what happens; if it doesn't survive, there are always the others to fall back on.  Now all I have to do is find something to put the osteospermum into, and I've a feeling it will be another old compost sack!

The dahlias have now all been dug up and are drying off in the greenhouse.  The two oldest 'Bishop of Auckland' tubers had a lot of slug damage; one of them and parts of the other are destined for the bin, but there are easily enough good tubers for next year.

Pinks - looking good for December!

The weather this past week or so has been mostly fairly mild and mizzly, so such flowers as there are have not been hit hard yet.  There's wind and rain on the way, to be followed by more cold weather, so the pinks have been cut for a vase indoors - looking very good for December.  I also cut more of the winter honeysuckle today, and there was a bumblebee buzzing around in there - I hope it finds shelter before the cold kicks in!  Also still in flower is a prostrate plant with white flowers that has seeded itself in one of the camellia pots; it looks like bacopa, and I don't know whether it's hardy or not, but we'll soon find out.

Bacopa??

Having said a few weeks ago that we had had very few wildlife casualties to bury this year, there have been two this past week; a nuthatch found dead under the ash tree at the side of the drive (probably left by a cat, as they patrol that area), and a few remains of a female pheasant on the lawn.  The latter is probably the work of one of the sparrowhawks as nearly all of the victim has gone, leaving only a few feathers and a bit of breastbone.  Live birdlife is still very active, though; this week's sightings included a male bullfinch (eyeing up the buds on the winter honeysuckle) and a jay enjoying the last apples on the tree.