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daffodilred - Fotolia
Flower bulbs, old pot and trowel
Flower bulbs, old pot and trowel on aged wooden background.
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I love the winter, with Christmas and the New Year approaching I can confidently feel that all the mistakes and errors of the previous year can be closed off and here we are ready to run again – that counts for business, personal lives and also gardening!
There are some jobs that just must be done at this time of the year and others that would be preferable. Let me turn to hostas to start with:
- The leaves don’t need to be taken off as the plant goes dormant, but remember that old leaves will create a hiding place for slugs and snails. I suggest taking them off, mulching the plant and just leaving until that wonderful Spring time moment when they come into shoot. There are only a handful of hostas that are not really hardy – Pandora’s Box, Hope, Cherish – ideally treat them like Tender Alpines and overwinter them in a cool greenhouse – all other hostas will thrive in a harsh winter – don’t fuss over them!
- For fern,s it is a good time to take off last years growth as this will make it far easier when the new Spring growth comes through. It may appear a bit harsh to chop them back – but don’t fret - it will all be worth it.
- Bamboos can be split and propagated up to the end of October. Their new spurt of growth will come around March time. Don’t be tempted to over poit them – keep the roots nice and tight around the side of the pot – they prefer it that way.
Planting Bulbs:
Of course it is a great time to plant those daffodil bulbs, tulips and Alliums for a glorious Spring display. It’s a good idea to dot them through borders and make sure you get hold of the largest size bulbs that you can – the difference will be well worth it when you see the blooms result.
Garden Husbandry
Ideally it’s sensible to clear all those Autumn leaves – if your lawn is covered with them – you can do no worse than run the lawnmower over them to chop them up and try and get into those important little places on the flower beds as well – eradicating snails and slugs is mainly good garden husbandry – and clearing up their hiding places is a great start.
Get the tender plants inside
Tender plants – rare and non hardy ferns, cannas, restios, some agapanthus – work on bringing them under protection or fleecing them to keep the hard winter frosts off them.
Other thoughts:
Net the pond off to prevent loads of leaves clogging it up
Tie in the rambling roses to prevent wind damage
Start preparing a bonfire for the autumn twigs and prunings
Clean out the water butts and start again
Give any evergreen hedges a final trim for the Winter
And remember in all this, you are effectively hibernating the garden like a well loved tortoise…when it springs into life next year – we all start over again.
Tim Penrose
Bowdens