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.





 

Guerrilla gardening

I've started a spot of guerrilla gardening (making use of otherwise ungardened space that doesn't belong to you).  Opposite the house is a fairly typical stretch of rough countryside road verge, mostly coarse grasses and the less attractive sorts of weed; it is occasionally strimmed by a council contractor in spring and summer but otherwise left to its own devices.  It would be nice if it occasionally had something more interesting growing in it.  I don't want it to look like a garden, just a little more cheerful!  There are a couple of good plants there already - a self-sown geranium which looks like a pale form of Geranium phaeum, and an alkanet - and I've tried to introduce the native Iris foetidissima, at least one of which is surviving - but Strimmer Man tends to cut them down before they can do anything much.  I don't want to put anything too highly bred in there, both because such plants probably wouldn't survive the competition from the weeds (or Strimmer Man) and because they would look out of place in a country verge.  The exception would be some daffodils (there are plenty of daffs, the modern large-flowered types, in the verges in other parts of the village), which would cheer the space up and would die down before Strimmer Man puts in an appearance.  I have a lot of surplus-to-requirements daffodil bulbs, dug up from the bottom of the garden, and I've started planting them in the verge; it's really a bit late in the year, and a lot of them are going in much too shallowly as it's difficult to make deep enough holes, but we'll see what happens.  They were grouped by type in my flowerbed, but as they were growing closely together they will have got mixed up as I dug them out, so they might make rather a jumble, but I hope a colourful one.  If time permits, I might also put in some of the violets that are spreading much too well down in the bottom bed, and some of the Crocus 'Whitewell Purple' which should self-seed happily around, at least until the grass gets too long for them; and I keep meaning to move some of my snowdrops in there too (that will have to wait until after they've flowered in spring).  That should provide a good bit of spring interest, before Strimmer Man strikes.

Red chrysanths

When listing the flowers in the garden last time I forgot to mention the pot of dwarf red chrysanthemums on the patio, which continue to bloom brightly.  There's also a little pot of Cyclamen coum with dark pink flowers, which is making a small but welcome spot of cheer, and as usual the pinks are throwing up some unseasonal flower spikes.  (For some reason, at this time of year the flowers open pink, whereas earlier they are mostly white; presumably the effect of the colder weather?)  Vases of cut flowers this week, however, contain the proper winter flowererers, the winter jasmine and the winter honeysuckle; the latter is making quite a good show at the moment, with lots of its little cream-coloured flowers pumping out scent whenever there's any warmth in the sun.

Lonicera purpusii, winter honeysuckle

Last week was a mix of weather, with both sunshine and rain, and strong winds; it has now turned cold, as forecast, with frosts (first ice on the pond, need to scrape the car windscreen) and bright, but chilly, sunshine.  The dahlias have finally started to succumb and some of them have been taken into the greenhouse to dry off.  The garlic was planted out before the cold really kicked in, and I've just, very belatedly, put in seeds of the autumn-sown broad beans, with a topping of good garden compost to protect them from the frost.  The beans have gone into the same bed as this year's runner and French beans, but, as most of those were eaten by slugs before getting more than a couple of inches high and the rest didn't grow well, I'm hoping that it won't matter.  I didn't dig the bed over, either; I'm giving 'no-dig' gardening a go, in parts of the garden at least.  It's supposed to be good for soil fertility, and that's something that really needs addressing in this garden.

We've cut some of the holly (with berries) and it's in the summerhouse in a bucket of water; just as well as the cold weather has attracted blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings to the tree and they've eaten most of what was left.  They're now turning their attention to the last of the apples (the last that are on the tree, anyway; there are plenty in store in the greenhouse where they can't get at them).  The smaller birds have been enjoying the fatballs, including the long-tailed-tit family; and, when the main garage door was open one day, we had a wren inside, looking for spiders and singing lustily.  Other visitors have included a bullfinch and a song thrush.  Less desirably, we had another sparrowhawk visit, from the male this time, who caught some small bird, took it down to the bottom of the garden and proceeded to eat it on top of one of the piles of branches and twigs that are there to provide wildlife shelter.  At least they are tidy eaters, and take the remains of their lunch away with them, so I don't have any grisly bits to deal with.

Preparing for winter

Storm Brian passed us by, and October was overall quite mild, even warm occasionally.  But November has brought a few night frosts and some chilly days - nothing too severe yet, and there has even been some pleasant sunshine, but it has been enough to start me thinking about preparing for winter, especially as colder weather is forecast.  I put the greenhouse bubblewrap up before the end of October, unusually early for me, but the greenhouse heater is already on and the half-hardies are sheltering inside, except for a very few plants still in mixed plantings in pots outside.  One of those is the ginger lily, which isn't showing any ill effects yet; it's sharing a pot with a dahlia, and the dahlias haven't yet blackened as they are supposed to before you dig them up.  The blue echeveria is also still outside, but tucked up against the house wall; it has overwintered there before now, but I'll keep an eye on it and move it if it gets really cold.  The other echeveria, or rather its remains, is now in the greenhouse.  That plant has had a tough life; D found it, years ago, unwanted, uncared-for and unwatered, on top of an office cupboard, and brought it home for nursing.  It responded well, and flowered, although it eventually grew into a rather ungainly plant.  For the last couple of years it has been in the greenhouse, but in the spring it had an accident: while preparing the greenhouse for our month-long absence I knocked it over, scattering its compost, breaking off most of the stems and leaving it in a pretty hopeless state.  I had no time left to repot it, so the pot and its half-uprooted contents (with hardly any compost) were dumped unceremoniously outside.  When I came to examine it last week I found that the plant had broken into four tiny pieces, all of them rooted; they have been potted up properly and are now on the greenhouse staging where I can keep an eye on their progress.  Most of the other plants are down underneath the staging where they can be watered as required, but the echeveria will need to be kept drier.

Given the lateness of the season, I'm quite pleased with the edibles coming out of the garden at the moment.  In the veg plot are kales and cabbages (the latter rather tattered, but fine for stir-fries), a couple of sprouting broccoli plants (must keep the pigeons off those), two stems of tiny brussels sprouts, leaning at an alarming angle thanks to too-low-level netting over them, leeks (but too small still to be of much use), and even a very few, very small, mangetout from a very late sowing.  In the greenhouse there are a few small lettuces, some even smaller carrots in a trough, and various salad leaves - pea shoots, rocket and mustard leaves.  And of course there are the cooking apples, of which there is a large store in the greenhouse and a few still on the tree, where the starlings have been enjoying them.  Coming along for later, there are some salad leaves germinating in one of the old growbags, and some winter lettuce seedlings planted out into the other - so there should be some greens for late winter/early spring.

Dahlias and chrysanths

Some pinks

Flower colour is rather less in evidence.  The dahlias have finished flowering; the last blooms made a vaseful with some of the yellow and red chrysanthemums, which wasn't the most tasteful colour combination but, when colour is at a premium, anything goes.  I also managed a vase of pinks, and there are still sedums to fall back on, although they are fading now.  The borage is nearly over, but I've spared it for the moment as there are still a very few flowers open, and indeed a large bumblebee was enjoying them the other day; it also found some last oregano blooms, so they have been spared too.  The 'Blush Noisette' rose still has a few flowers on, though in no fit state for cutting.  Otherwise it's the winter shrubs - Mahonia 'Winter Sun', winter jasmine, winter honeysuckle (early into bloom this year) and the winter viburnums, all of them always welcome at this time of year.  And, despite the lack of colour, the garden is looking relatively tidy at the moment; we managed to mow the lawn the other day, which must be the latest we've ever done it.  It is looking very healthily green, which may not last long if we do get a cold snap!

The wildlife is also preparing for winter.  Migrant birds are now here - fieldfares and redwings, lots of starlings and a group of collared doves - and there are more blackbirds putting in an appearance, so I'd guess that some of them are migrants too.  The mistle thrushes have been much in evidence, trying in vain to keep the newcomers off the holly tree and next-door's grapevine.  It will soon be time to cut some holly to keep some Christmas berries for us!  I put the nestbox back up (taken down a good couple of months ago for cleaning) and the bluetits have been taking a look at it, probably fitting it out as a winter roost; and the sparrows have been staking their claims to the various hidey-holes under the roof, presumably for the same reason.  There is still some insect life around; besides the bumblebee, which I'd guess is a young queen preparing for hibernation, there must be a good number of flies and the like on the plants, as we have lots of tits very actively examining the foliage.  And there has been a red admiral butterfly enjoying what sun we've had, before it too heads for hibernation.

Two Ophelias

Reddish sun and orange sky

The tail-end of Hurricane Ophelia (reduced to a Storm) passed by the UK, mostly affecting Ireland, on Monday; very strange it was too.  Storms here are usually wet and chilly as well as windy, but this one was dry and warm, and it brought dust up from the Sahara and from wildfires in Iberia that turned the sky a peculiar orange-yellow, rather like old-fashioned fluorescent lighting but in daylight.  Apparently the sun, for those who could see it, turned red; when the heavy cloud-cover here parted in early afternoon it was only mildly reddish.  I was set for a day indoors, but in fact the weather wasn't too bad apart from the wind, so I ventured outside and got on with weeding the vegetable patch.  With that and good weather on Tuesday, I cleared and forked over two of my larger beds, and dug out the weeds in the adjacent path so that (assuming I didn't miss any roots) they shouldn't creep into the planting.  One of those beds is going to have the garlic in; I had been thinking of preparing the other for the broad beans but I've decided it's too shady (and rooty) for that. 

Since then the weather has turned murky, misty and wet; another storm, Storm Brian, is due on Saturday with more strong winds.  (Apparently Monday's wind wasn't named here as a Storm since it had been a named hurricane.  I doubt if the Irish will care about the distinction; they're going to get the worst of it again.)  The winds have blown a lot of the autumn leaves away; the ash trees are mostly bare on top already and there haven't been the fine autumn colours that we were hoping for.  The hazel and apple tree leaves are still to fall, as well as those on most of the shrubs, so I should get some leafmould cooking for next year; most of the plum tree leaves are already collected.  There are also a lot of ash leaves on the drive to deal with.

The other Ophelia is the aubergine of that name.  I've had five aubergine plants this year, four of the classic variety 'Bonica' and one 'Ophelia'.  The latter seems tricky to germinate and a bit fussy to grow, and I had wondered whether to bother with her next year, but she produced the best-looking of the aubergines and I think I'll try her again.  The trick seems to be to get them going very early in the year; since I grow them on in the greenhouse rather than outdoors there's no benefit in holding back with sowing.  They also need to be grown in bigger pots.  The plants produced six little fruits, none of which would win prizes for size or beauty but 'Ophelia's was the best of the bunch.  They have now been turned into a little aubergine and tomato stew.  The tomatoes have also been picked, and the plants, and the aubergine plants, are now on the compost heap.  The courgettes are still cropping sporadically so have been left for the moment.  The growbags will be sown with salad leaves, as I did last year, to keep us going over the winter; there are also two small troughs in the greenhouse, one with red mustard and the other with rocket, to provide baby leaves.  There are half-a-dozen little lettuces in modules as well; I need to sow some more.  Some eating apples and three pears are still on the cordons, and the cooking apple tree is producing prolifically as usual (I need to pick a few more apples in advance of the storm to lighten the load on the tree).

Hedychium on the patio

The hedychium (ginger lily) in the patio pot finally flowered; I had been hoping that it would waft its scent across the garden but I fear it wafted in the wrong direction and wasn't really noticeable.  The flowers only lasted a week or so and are now dying back.  The nerine failed to flower well again this year (only three flowers); I've tied the wisteria back more severely to stop it shading the nerines out, and will try to keep the fallen leaves off it next year.  I thought I was providing it with some frost protection but the leaves would have prevented the roots (corms? rhizomes?) from getting enough sun to ripen them.  Also I really ought to feed it more.

Nerines (in vase in greenhouse)

I'm gradually going through the patio pots, repotting things and potting up the spring bulbs.  And the sweet peas have been sown and are germinating in the greenhouse.

Around this time last year I recorded finding a mouse's stash of cotoneaster berries; this year I haven't found the stash, but I have found the mouse (or more probably his descendant) - a rather sweet little fieldmouse hiding under the green wheelie bin.  I had been lopping off some of the cotoneaster branches to stop them from obscuring the view when we reverse the car out of the drive, and a lot of the berries had fallen to the ground.  I hope the mouse enjoyed them.

The sparrowhawk has been through the garden several times; a few woodpigeon tail feathers were left under the peanut container one day, probably the sparrowhawk's work as there was no carcass.  We feared for our lame pigeon Lefty, but I'm pleased to report that he is alive and well and busy feeding two offspring. 

Big things, little things

Elephant garlic cloves

Early October, and it's time to sow broad beans and garlic.  I've been waiting until I can find time to beef up the soil for them, by burying some old garden compost in the beds, with some shredded paper to help water retention in case we have a dry winter.  (Waterlogging is not a problem we suffer from here.)  The garlic bed in particular needs to be well fertilised.  A neighbour and I have entered into an elephant garlic pact: he has given me two massive cloves (each 7.5cm/3 inches long and chunky to boot) and the deal is that, in return, I give him some from my crop next year, so I need to make sure that they grow well!  Reminder to self: water well in winter and spring, and feed in January.  I'll also sow some cloves from this year's store; I got a big crop of very small bulbs (my fault - dry weather and no watering!), so there are plenty to put back in the ground.

The giant apple on the scales

Another Big Thing is the apple that was blown down from the cooking apple tree by the recent winds (the tail-end of a Caribbean hurricane; another is on its way tonight).  684 grammes (over 1lb 8oz) - the biggest apple so far this year.  I've already picked a good few but there are plenty left on the tree.  The birds don't seem to have gone for them so far; a blackbird appears in the garden very occasionally, but I suspect they're all out in the hedgerows enjoying the berries, and the fieldfares haven't arrived yet.  A pair of mistle thrushes were in the big ash tree one day, but neither they nor the woodpeckers appear to have paid the apples a visit.  As for other birds, the swallows and house martins are gone but the willow warbler is still around and occasionally coming to the patio for water; there are also at least three coal tits and a family of long-tailed tits about.  And, as I write, the sparrowhawk has just flown past the window (empty-clawed this time).

Berries in the hedgerows

Back on the subject of Big Things, the dogwood (Cornus sibirica variegata) needs taking in hand.  Last winter I didn't cut it back - latest advice is that it shouldn't be done every year - and as a result it is now a handsome bush but it has really spread beyond its allotted space, smothering a rose ('Mousseline') and in danger of overpowering the peony ('Sarah Bernhardt').  It will be butchered in the old style, ie to the base, come late winter.

Little carrots from the trough

In the greenhouse, the last of the tomatoes are ripening and the little aubergines are ready for picking.  Some rocket and mizuna is germinating in small troughs for winter greens, and the tray of pea shoots is still cropping nicely.  The lettuces have been left in their modules as they're growing well and are safer there than outside in slug-land (the beer traps have only been partially successful; the pak choi is fairly ok, but there has been some slug and flea beetle damage).  Other unwelcome Little Things are the cabbage white caterpillars on the brassicas; I've removed all I could find on the broccoli but one of the kales ('Nero di Toscana') has been well eaten.  However my experiment of growing carrots in a trough in the greenhouse has gone very well; I've just picked some small but beautiful little carrots from there.  They wouldn't win any 'longest carrot' prizes but they'll do very nicely.  That's one thing to try again (I wonder if they'll grow in there in winter....).

Another welcome little thing is the alpine strawberries that are dotted (mostly self-sown) around the place; they're fruiting nicely and providing very tasty little puddings.

The spring bulb order has started to arrive, so I need to get my pots sorted out for planting.  The big pot on the corner of the patio still has the hedychium, tithonia and dahlia combination in there; the tithonias have finally started to flower and the hedychium is just about to.  I hope it gets a move on before the temperatures drop; it needs to be potted up and put in the greenhouse very soon, or it will die of cold!