One can be excused for inactivity during January – after all, Christmas is exhausting – but with the arrival of February the garden begins to demand one’s attention again.
First of all there are the early signs of spring. Snowdrops are starting to bloom, tiny blue anemones poke tightly curled buds and bronzed leaves through naked gravel, the odd daffodil stands proudly above a pert bundle of bluish leaves, and sweet box starts to fill the air with its honeyed perfume. Nature is on the move, with full-blown spring only weeks away. Beneath the ground roots are forming and reaching out for water and nutrients; buds are swelling in readiness for warmer weather. The garden is priming itself for action and so must we.
Then there’s the forward planning. My pile of seed, bulb and plant catalogues is now 6″ high. Despite my best efforts to carve out time to sit and peruse them, the pages remain largely unthumbed. (January, February and March are my busiest months at work, leaving precious little time to consider anything other than which bauble / wreath / Christmas card I am going to sell the most of in 11 months’ time.) Each glossy brochure is oozing with temptation, like silky macarons glued together with too much delicious filling. I have to be highly selective about what I order from now on to avoid becoming totally inundated by plants come the summer (let’s see how I get along with that resolution ….. place your bets now!).
I normally rely on a proportion of winter casualties to make way for new plants. This is not a good way to go on either financially or professionally, so I am trying to do a better job of keeping my charges alive this year. My workshop resembles a bomb shelter for plants – hardly the ideal conditions, but just providing the best chance of survival available. A few daylight bulbs might improve matters, but that will have to be an investment for next winter.
If I wish to make any major changes to the garden’s layout, now is pretty much the last chance to decide upon them. I am in a ‘Do I? Don’t I?’ situation with several plans at the moment, mainly because of time and budget. Lack of either resource is a complete bore, especially when one is anxious to get on, however constraints are a fact of life and the mothers of creativity. There’s nothing like telling me I can’t achieve something to make me want to achieve it more.
Sunday was a perfect day for gardening – fine, dry and warmish in the sun. Having assumed I’d have very little to do, I found myself pruning, tidying and re-arranging for a good four hours, forgetting the trials of the previous week in seconds. Over Christmas I’d forgotten how marvellously distracting working in the garden could be. My mind very quickly got to thinking about adjustments I need to make before the coming summer. The raised bed around the edge of The Jungle Garden really needs treating as a backdrop for all the plants I grow in pots, which means it needs a little more height and permanence. The look I want to achieve is jungle-edge exuberance, with more foliage than flower. I shall probably tackle the job of moving things around in May, by which time seriously cold weather is unlikely. The original planting plan was devised for a much sunnier situation, so I’ll be removing plants that require more sun than they’re ever likely to experience again. No room for hangers on in a small garden.
Without irrigation the raised bed is now good for nothing except very drought-tolerant plants, since the trees draw up an extraordinary amount of moisture. Even after last week’s rain and sleet the soil is like dust. For someone who grew up gardening on heavy clay it is incomprehensible that a garden might need watering in February. I am thankful that my water supply can’t be metered, giving me the flexibility to run a soaker hose a couple of nights a week when needed. The difference this has made is staggering, allowing me to grow thirsty plants such a colocasias and bananas towards the back of the border. Neither died down naturally this year, so I had to crop them for their own good. If the cold doesn’t take them out, the wind will.
If you’re still languishing indoors, waiting for spring to arrive in earnest, use February to plan ahead. Before you know it there will be plants and weeds springing up everywhere and you won’t know how to keep on top of it all. TFG.
Categories: Bulbs, Flowers, Foliage, Our Coastal Garden, Practical Advice, Small Gardens, Weather
OMG Dan – yes time to get back to it and plan your summer garden. Lot to see you plans – I have found camellias do very well with not much water and deal with the very heavy frosts and cold temps we have in winter, so maybe they would work for you.
I am totally green with envy…no water meter!!! I think I need to move….our water bill this quarter will be well into the 4 figures. We had had one of the driest January’s on record, and the hottest January ever on record. Our ffont ‘grass’ is brown and crisp – the kangaroos are so hungry they are coming very close to the house so there is roo poo everywhere…and a lot of damaged plants as they have decided they like the apple trees I have in pots, marigolds, all my new cornflowers , and have even got to the dahlias. Fortunately we have the veggie patch in a cage… not a good year for that either yields right down…anyway there is always next year to look forward too…xx
We’ve been hearing all about your record-breaking weather Helen. I do hope it does not start triggering off fires again. That would be the last straw.
Although not perfect our climate is very moderate, as you know, so extremes such as these are rare. And we don’t have kangaroos, obviously!
Sadly I have the type of alkaline soil that camellias loath so I can only grow them in pots. Still love them though. You may need to start growing cacti at this rate. D x
Your words and pictures are inspiring. I just can’t seem to get in the mood to go out into cold damp air for much of anything. The real cold is coming back upon us starting tonight. Plus a promise of several inches of rain before the freeze. I can dream though. Just seeing those little irises and the camellia blooming. I must get out tomorrow to see if any more Hellebores are sending up buds. It is too bad I am not a gambler. I could probably make some money. Cheers…
Yes, those weather conditions don’t sound at all appealing Lisa. Stay in the warm and dream!
Helen, let’s say Autumn and Spring, I would not bet for next summer being any better, well you might get more rain than us in the west. Keep cool, I envy Dan’s early spring.
The top layer of soil in my garden is frozen solid, and the snowdrops have lifted quite a big clod in their eagerness to grow. I’m impressed by their strength. A whole day of rain is forecast so that will remove their burden.
All good wishes to you and to Beau from Sarah
Thank you 🙂 Nothing will stop a snowdrop, nevertheless that’s quite a feat they’ve achieved.
It is great to get the opportunity to get outside and garden as early as possible. I went out for half an hour yesterday and hours went happily by until it started raining.
No lack of water here! Lots of mud from clay soil.
Hellebores blooming in the garden, a few scattered crocus that the mice have not found and snowdrops in the hedges. Spring is definitely underway.
Lovely. I don’t miss the West Country wet. We’ve had a wetter winter in Broadstairs than any I can recall, and that’s enough for me. Enjoy those hellebores!
We had freezing rain overnight, and will continue all day here. All the schools have shut down, and my daughter put the ice grippers on my shoes to walk from my car to the office door. There is no spring in sight yet, hopefully in March.
That’s harsh, but it will kill off all your bugs! We’ve a long way to go before spring arrives in earnest. Last year the Beast from the East kept us all in the deep freeze for most of March.
I’m not feeling any urge to get doing anything – I’m just gazing out the window watching the birds at the moment. Wondering now if it’s going to hit me at 3am some morning soon. Hope not.
Well, there’s no urgency is there? That is a nice thing about winter. One can take one’s time and put things off for a few weeks. In spring and summer the garden dictates the pace!
Love to follow your blog and journey now I have more time for my garden! You inspired me to go and add more bulbs to enjoy in March and April.
Lovely to hear from you Jacqui! I say it to myself every year: ‘you can never plant enough bulbs!’. Even though it’s a huge chore at the time, the rewards in spring outweigh the effort tenfold.
Lovely post, Dan. Just across the way in Sussex I’m waiting to see if anything has not survived winter in my new garden. I’m where you must have been a few years back, with just baby climbers and trees that will one day provide lots of shade–but right now they barely cast a shadow. And shadows there were none all winter, since I’m in a valley surrounded by other buildings and the sun is only just getting high enough at midday to light up one corner. But by July my garden will be a suntrap and watering will be vital…and new houses have water meters 🙁
Fabulous photos Dan. Hope you have been enjoying the unusual weather down your way. I cannot say how much I have loved the sun this past fortnight after what seemed like months of damp, rain and drizzle.
It was a lovely interlude wasn’t it? Not as warm as London, which was almost tropical. Cold and damp has returned to Thanet now but it won’t be long before the sun returns …. I hope. Have a lovely weekend. Dan
And you!