The question most often asked me at this time of year is “what do you do in the winter?”. The winter season is often one of the busier time in the garden and certainly the most physically demanding. To date I have cleared and dug the vacant areas of the vegetable garden, created and planted a new shrub border and pruned our shrubs and trees on a continual maintenance and renewal plan. The tender plants have been lifted, potted and kept sheltered in the greenhouse, cuttings taken and seed sowing has begun for the summer. As this winter has been somewhat ‘breezy’ at times I have spent quite a time picking up twigs, branches and other debris blown about the place. I have now started cutting down the herbaceous plants which we leave through the winter as the seed heads and stems provide food and shelter for wildlife. The garden machinery is serviced and mower blades sharpened but I have to confess to doing my upmost to put off my least favourite winter task that of cleaning the trays and pots needed for the new crops.
28 February 2014
