CREATE FERTILE SOIL

CREATE FERTILE SOIL

We are all aware as gardeners that to grow plants at their best we need to cater for their own particular requirements, and that can vary tremendously. Cacti need sandy soils with perfect drainage, water lilies need a pool of water, rock garden plants like thin stony soils with good drainage and vegetable crops like fertile soils.

Digging up some good compost

Allotment plot holders and others with gardens around their houses grow a lot of flowers, shrubs, roses, fruit trees and bushes and a wide range of vegetables. These all need fertile soil, which is often not what we start off with. Even allotment plots over fifty years old can be infertile if plot holders over time never added any compost or manure, but always took a crop of vegetables every year, then wonder why their potatoes and cabbages are not vey big. It is quite surprising to see many allotment plots with no compost heap.

Clover green manure ready to dig in

We can do many things to bring our soils up to a highly fertile standard.

First look at what kind of soil you have. Angus and Tayside have a great variety of soils from the fertile alluvial plains of the Carse of Gowrie, the sandy soils around the coast to the boulder clays inland deposited after the last ice age. Some parts of the central belt on higher ground are wet and peaty, but with good drainage can be quite fertile. Over the years the boulder clays have had the bigger stones removed to assist cultivation, and these soils can be very fertile as clay particles hold a lot of nutrients which can be released by encouraging soil organisms to break down the clay. If these soils are acidic adding lime is very beneficial as it assists nutrient release as well as helping to create a crumbly soil structure which in turn drains

Some good compost

better. Get a small garden soil test kit to find out just how acidic your soil is so you can be guided as to how much lime to add. For allotment holders who grow cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and kale in their rotation it is normal to lime a quarter of the plot once every four years to that area allocated to brassicas.

Adding manure and compost creates humus which darkens the soil and helps it warm up quicker, as well as adding nutrients for crops and food for soil organisms which open up the soil.

Digging manure into the border

Every garden should have a compost heap for all the garden waste, kitchen waste, leaves, grass clippings and annual weeds. Old compost from used growbags, pots, tubs and hanging baskets can all be added, but check for signs of vine weevil grubs before you mix in the compost. Although it may be hard work it is very beneficial to help the compost heap rot down if you can turn it twice a year. This way you can get well rotted compost ready to use in nine months, or less during summer when soil organisms are at their most active.

It is normal to add manure and compost to the soil ahead of digging and then incorporate this into the soil as digging proceeds. Digging in early winter and leaving the soil as rough as possible allows weathering by frosts over a large surface area. Most gardeners dig the normal full depth of the spade, but for some permanent plants such as trees and fruit bushes which will be in the ground for years it is better to double dig the soil to break up subsoil and give them a deeper root zone.

Mulching some pumpkins

Mulching with well rotted compost around trees, roses and fruit bushes is of great benefit to retain moisture during the summer, control weeds as well as supplying a steady stream of nutrients.

Grow a green manure crop of clover, ryegrass, vetches or field beans in early spring and late summer before and after crops when land is vacant helps to break up soils and adds humus when the crops rot down after digging in.

Wee jobs to do this week

Making pumpkin soup

When the winter colds bites and snow covers the ground, now is the time to lift just a few leeks, pick some kale, raid the freezer for some broad beans and bring a pumpkin out of storage to make a large pot of pumpkin soup. Anna chops up the kale finely, slices a couple of leeks, adds the broad beans and prepared pumpkins without the skin and adds to the pot with some stock left over from a cooked gammon steak. After thirty minutes and a sprinkling of pepper, the pumpkin soup is ready to serve. On a cold winter’s day this is the perfect tonic.

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POTATOES

POTATOES

The potato planting season is not too far away, so now is a good time to give it thought and decide what varieties to grow and get them ordered, so there is time to chit the seed potatoes in advance of planting. Make sure land intended for potatoes has been dug and well manured or composted. Potatoes grow best in fertile well drained soil especially if it has had a green manure crop grown on it, but make sure this is dug in well ahead of

Planting Casablanca potatoes

planting in March for earlies and April for maincrops.

Varieties

There is a very wide selection to choose from so individual taste determines whether you prefer a dry or wet potato. Blight is always a problem especially in a wet warm year like 2017, though every year is different so maybe 2018 will be just fine, but if you don’t want to take the risk go for

Two favourite potatoes

Sarpo Mira which has some resistance to blight. It also produces huge tubers, perfect for roasting and peeling. There are quite a few blight resistant varieties in the Sarpo range. Another potato with large tubers is lady Christl, an early variety, but if you like an early salad potato choose from Casablanca or second early Charlotte, both with excellent flavour. Tuber size is a bit lacking with the early salad varieties, but flavour more than makes up for this and I was picking some decent spuds of Casablanca at the end of June last year. A couple of years ago I tried Gemson, another salad early variety, but even as a salad potato size was desperately not in its favour.

Casablanca potatoes

My heaviest cropping maincrop potatoes last year were the Sarpo Mira, Lady Christl and Amour which had massive tubers, but was not a good keeper as it started to sprout in store in December. Most others will keep a lot longer, especially if you can store them in a cold but frost free, dark place with good ventilation.

Cultivation

The practice of chitting the seed potatoes in a light, but cool location, to encourage formation of short sturdy green sprouts is often under debate. I have always been in favour of the practice and start mine upright (rose end up) in seed trays as soon as I receive them about mid February. Planting of first early begins about mid March, second early at the end of March, then maincrops by mid April, but all depending on weather. No rush to plant if you get a cold or wet period, but if some warm dry spell happens along, then get them in.

Chitting seed potatoes

Space rows about two feet apart for earlies and a wee bit wider for maincrops with the tubers getting spaced a foot apart. I take out a deep furrow and line the bottom with well rotted compost, placing the tubers onto this before filling in the furrow to leave just a small mound to mark the rows. Add some potato fertilizer along the rows. Once shoots appear they will need the first earthing up for protection, as late frosts are still likely. Then once the shoots are more than six inches tall give them a final earth up. Earthing up kills weeds, then once the canopy covers the soil weeds have no chance to grow. Water in any dry spells, and a few weeks before lifting sprinkle some slug pellets along the rows as slugs can be a real

Earthing up potatoes

menace with potatoes. Start lifting early varieties a few shaws at a time to see if they have enough size for a meal. I start mine at the end of June, and am happy to get one meal per plant at the beginning, as they are at their most flavorsome while young. Otherwise lift on a dry sunny day and leave the potatoes on the ground for an hour or so to dry off as they need to be dry for storing. Hessian potato sacks are still favourite for storing.

Repotting a phalaenopsis orchid

Wee jobs to do this week

Phalaenopsis orchids that flowered towards the end of last year may need repotting if the plant is getting too high for its pot and becomes unstable. Remove it from its pot and take away all the old orchid compost plus any dead roots. Shorten existing roots and pot up in fresh orchid compost. Do not remove the aerial roots and make sure some stay outside the pot as these absorb moisture from the atmosphere. Keep the plant warm, moist, but not wet and give it plenty light but not direct sunlight, though in Scotland our winter sun will not harm them.

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BERRIES

BERRIES

Saskatoon berries

There is an assumption that we all overindulge during the festive season, and that is hard to avoid as the boxes of delicious chocolates and biscuits appear in great quantity under the Christmas tree. However television and the press are taking this opportunity to address the problem of those of us who have gained a few extra pounds. There is no shortage of recommended gentle and strenuous exercise regimes to follow with music so we can go with the beat. Then advice on diets is very popular with information on both balanced diets, good foods to eat, foods to avoid and just how good are our super foods should we wish to add a plentiful supply of these in with our daily meals.

The jury is still debating exactly what is a superfood and just how beneficial these are. Many of our berried crops often fall into this group due to their red colour, vitamin C content, high in fibre and antioxidants. However our breeders have been adding to the list by crossing one with another so it can be quite confusing to know where we are so I am hoping to clear up some of the mystery.

Blackcurrant breeding at James Hutton Institute concentrates on varieties suited to commercial production where harvesting is done by machines, but some varieties are brilliant for the domestic market as not many amateur gardeners machine pick their berries. Ben Connan has large sweet fruit and is a heavy cropper. Big Ben is similar but with even bigger and sweeter fruit.

Gooseberry

Redcurrants and whitecurrants have smaller berries but still give heavy crops, but with bigger seeds in the fruit are more suited to jelly rather than jam use, and make brilliant wines.

Gooseberry breeding is currently looking for spineless bushes resistant to mildew with upright growth and a good yield of berries with flavour. Several new varieties are under trial at James Hutton and RHS gardens in Wisley.

The Worcesterberry a separate species, ribes divaricatum, originally from North America makes a huge and very spiny bush producing small black gooseberry looking fruit.

Boysenberry

The Jostaberry on the other hand is a cross between the blackcurrant, the gooseberry and the worcesterberry. The fruit is similar to the worcesterberry but the bush is thorn free.

The Boysenberry has an even more mixed up parentage. It is a cross between the raspberry, the blackberry, the loganberry and the American dewberry. The fruit is similar to the blackberry and though the bushes may lack vigour the stems are thornless so picking is easy.

The blackberry, loganberry and tayberry all grow in a similar fashion but fruits vary from black to red and breeders have now got most of them in thornless forms.

The Japanese wineberry is an asian form of raspberry with small sweet fruit but very spiny stems.

Chokeberry

The Chokeberry, Aronia melanocarpa, the Saskatoon, Amelanchier alnifolia and the blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum and the honeyberry, Lonicera caerulea are all separate species of plants having edible sweet black fruits all high in vitamin C and antioxidants. They can be eaten fresh (though the chokeberry is a wee bit astringent) or used for jams, summer puddings, added to yogurt or brewed for a delicious red wine.

Goji berries gained popularity as the new superfood, but claims were not conclusive, so by all means try them out as part of a balanced diet, but other fruits may be just as beneficial. I tried growing goji bushes on my allotment but after three years of great growth but not a single berry, they got dug out.

Wee jobs to do this week

Kale ready for steaming

Both kale and Brussels sprouts are very tolerant of cold weather so picking these fresh healthy greens can continue for many weeks, but keep them netted from pigeons as their food

supplies in winter are thin. Pick young leaves of kale to leave the older leaves to keep the plants growing. Sprout buttons may show weather damaged outer leaves, but after these are removed there is a lovely sprout inside ready to be cooked. Anna’s favourite is to chop up both and steam for five minutes after adding some garlic, ginger and onion, salt and pepper.

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CREATE A NEW GARDEN

CREATE A NEW GARDEN

Everybody, at some point in their life will have a new garden to sort out or create. We leave the comfort of home, we get married and find our own home, move location to suit our job or get promoted and move to another town. Some of us will stay put and inherit property and the garden from our parents. The garden is now ours, but just where do you begin. This all depends on whether you are faced with an existing garden or a

Lunch on the patio in spring

totally new one around a new house just vacated by the builders. This new garden gives us a blank canvas with nothing to stop our creativity.

Walls needed for steep slopes

If you have come into an existing garden do not rush to make changes. Take a year to see what the garden has to offer but keep the grass cut, hedges trimmed and weeds controlled. During this time analyze the site and note trees, shrubs, hedges, roses, rock garden plants and other features worth retaining as well as marking those that have to be dug out. Think about paths, walls, patio and fences, garden sheds, ponds and flower borders. Take time to gather all your ideas together and draw up a plan on how best to fit everything in.

Aspects to consider include the following. Do you need a patio in a sheltered sunny spot for relaxation and will this need some degree of privacy. This is always a good location for scented climbers, tubs and flower beds to create an attractive surrounding.

Upright cherry for small garden

If you are in an elevated location and subject to winds then shelter is important with hedges, tall shrubs and trees if space allows them, although there are many columnar types suited to the small garden. The upright flowering cherry, Prunus Amanogawa and the white Eucryphia Rostrevor are very attractive and ideal for small gardens. Trees are also important to give the garden scale and add specimen plants for impact.

If your garden is on a slope you will need to consider terracing, walls, steps and some cut and fill of some slopes to create flat areas. Use plants such as dwarf conifers or even London Pride if the slopes are very steep as they reduce maintenance and stabilize the soil.

Areas in the shade can be planted up with Euonymus, heathers, azaleas and variegated ivy if the shade is very dense. Use Pyracantha or Camellias against walls in the shade. Keep sunny areas for the more special plants, bedding plants, herbaceous plants and if drainage is good try some of the exotics such as figs, grape vine Brant and the palm tree, Cordyline australis. Climbing rose Dublin Bay is brilliant on a sunny south facing wall.

Climbing rose Dublin Bay

While putting all your ideas together keep in mind the garden impact of flowers and lawns for recreation and tranquility. If you have a young family lawns are essential, but give thought to whether the lawn is to be your challenge to create a bowling green surface mowed with manicured straight lines or just flat and full of dandelions, buttercups and daisies which are much more attractive to the kids.

Now the plan is in place it is time to look at the soil. Is it clay, sandy, loamy, deep, well drained, devoid of life

Small trees in the landscape

and full of stones, boulders and builders rubbish. This is where the hard work begins, clearing up debris, digging over the soil and adding manure, compost or whatever you can find to add organic matter to relieve compaction and put life back into the soil. If you are not in a hurry you can plant up the garden with potatoes which are great for breaking down heavy soils, then add a green manure such as clover after harvesting. This will break down the soil further and add nutrients once it is dug in and rots down. You are now ready to order in plants for planting from late autumn till early spring.

Wee jobs to do this week

Spreading lime

Cabbages, cauliflower, kale and sprouts all like an alkaline soil rather than acidic, so it is a good idea to grow them all together and add some hydrated lime a couple of months before planting. As it is normal to rotate crops only lime about a quarter of the vegetable plot and lime another patch the following year. Potatoes prefer acidic soil otherwise they are liable to get scab, so they come last on the rotation after liming.

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LOOKING AHEAD

LOOKING AHEAD

Gardening and information technology have one thing in common, that both move forward as new ideas emerge, though in gardening the pace of change may be just a wee bit slower. The dark cold days of winter give us the chance to sit down and make plans for the year ahead. We may be trying out new varieties in the vegetable garden,

Phlox with tulips

buying in a new flowering shrub or rose or grape vine or just looking forward to seeing the result of new plants and bulbs planted last year. Control of plant pests and diseases and weeds is always worth looking into as many can devastate crops such as rose blackspot, slugs on everything, vine weevils eating roots of flowers, clubroot of brassicas, caterpillars on cabbages, cauliflower, sawfly on gooseberries, carrot fly, and the list just goes on.

Tulips with narcissi

Then breeders bring out new varieties of fruit, flowers and vegetables for you to try out.

Flowers

Last spring my crocus and tulips put on such a brilliant show, that while we stood and admired them, we decided to extend the show next year where ever possible. Although our garden is a fair size we still struggle to grow all the plants we love so we now try to intercrop bulbs with shrubs, roses (Tulip Sunlover) and herbaceous plants and are trying one area with layers of bulbs planted at different depths and

flowering at different times. This area is a carpet of grape hyacinths. These start to grow in autumn but the leaves bed down in winter to allow my new planting of crocus bulbs to flower in March quickly followed by the grape hyacinths. Underneath these bulbs is a layer of narcissus to grow above them and flower at the same time as the grape hyacinths. When this spring show ends another layer of lilies appear for flowering in mid summer. By this time the spring bulbs foliage is dying down so I can scatter some fast growing annual flower seeds such as Candytuft to accompany the lilies. It is an ambitious plan, but time will tell how successful it turns out to be.

Crocus have been so colourful that I decided to clear out a drift of peonies growing under my apple trees and replaced them with 1000 mixed crocus. Looking forward to seeing these flower in spring.

Tulips and Oriental lily bulbs were purchased for mass planting at a few strategic points for impact and near the patio and entrances for scent.

Fruit

Older strawberry beds have been replaced but I have gone back to reliable varieties such as Honeoye for early summer, Symphony for late summer and Flamenco for the autumn.

New fruit plantings last year of Raspberry Glen Dee, Peach Avalon Pride and Pear Concorde will now begin to crop as they are in their second year. As land is limited and I came across an impressive pear called Beth, so I will get some shoots to graft them onto my family pear tree, which  has Comice, Beurre Hardy, Conference, Concord (from last years grafting) and The Christie.

Vegetables

Plans on the vegetable garden include using clubroot resistant Cauliflower Clapton in three monthly sowings to give curds from summer to autumn. With Swedes I will go back to standard varieties which have turned out to be more reliable and better flavoured than clubroot resistant varieties.

I will no longer be adventurous with onions, so it is back to well established varieties, and same applies to Sweet corn Bountiful as the cobs were rubbish. The pollination failed to set the corns.

Wee jobs to do this week

As winter weather starts to bite and restricts our outdoor gardening activities, take time out to browse the internet on the ipad, mobile, laptop, tablet or computer in the comfort of a warm room and look out some information on any number of gardening problems. Pruning apple trees, plums, pears, grape vines, blackcurrants, gooseberries, brambles and roses of all types. Methods of growing all plants and crops are only a few clicks away, with YouTube videos are plentiful and all my gardening articles for the Dundee Courier magazine going back nearly ten years can be looked up on my blog, archived in date order at scottishartistandhisgarden.blogspot.co.uk

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THE GARDENING YEAR ENDS

THE GARDENING YEAR ENDS

As the gardening year draws to an end, now is the perfect time to look back and compare our hopes and expectations of creating a great garden with this years choice of plants and seeds, but working with the weather which is not always in our favour.

Best wishes for 2018

Gardening activities are an ongoing process, so success in one year is often the result of the previous years planning and purchasing of plants, bulbs and seeds. If I was to choose the best success of 2017 it would have to be the spring bulbs with tulips making a massive impact. The previous autumn I had bought in a batch of the tall bright red Apeldoorn and Golden Apeldoorn Darwin hybrid tulips to

Tulips with wallflower

make a bold splash of colour, and also a large batch of dwarf early tulips to plant amongst my roses. As they are dwarf and early they would not interfere with the roses which would grow strongly once the tulips were over. The display was immense but weather was on my side. The spring was dry and sunny but never hot so the show lasted from early April till the end of May, then in June the rain came on and lasted for months. This year may have gone down as one of the warmest on record, but not up north. We got a really wet summer which wiped out my sweet Spanish onions with white rot. Next year I will go back to established varieties.

Lily Casa Blanca

Crocus Yellow Mammoth

However my tubs of geraniums and tuberous begonias put on a brilliant and very long lasting display. Impatiens and lobelia were also favourites but petunias all died out from lack of sun and too much rain. Azaleas all enjoyed the spring weather with a mass of colour for a couple of months.

Although there was a lot of wet weather and we may have missed out on heat waves, it was warm all summer so many crops excelled. Berries of all kinds produced heavy crops and right into late autumn for my star performer, autumn fruiting raspberry Polka.

Red tuberous begonias

Strawberries were also cropping well except my new variety Colossus, which was not all that big and cropping was very light. It is getting dug out along with blackberry Reuben which is very highly rated in catalogues but just does not live up to the description. The fruit is not big and the flowers are so late that most of the fruits do not ripen. Bramble Helen is hard to beat and very early fruiting in August, so it would be good to find one that crops into autumn. The search goes on.

Sarpo Mira potatoes

The warm wet summer suited all the green leafy vegetables from lettuce to cabbages, kale and Brussels sprouts as well as all the root crops, especially potatoes. They grew so well early on that even those that got blight still produced a heavy crop. Star performer was Sarpo Mira with massive spuds, but Amour which also cropped well turned out to be a poor keeper as shoots started to grow after a couple of months in store. Afraid it is off the list for 2018.

We have a big problem with clubroot disease on the allotment so I use a lot of resistant varieties of cabbage, cauliflower, sprouts and Swedes. Made a sowing of clubroot resistant swede Invitation and standard variety Best of All. None showed any sign of disease

Berries in abundance

but the best roots came from the cheaper Best of All. Clubroot resistant cauliflower Clapton was sown in mid March then again in mid May. All were successful but as the whole row is ready at the same time, next year I will sow smaller rows with three sowing dates a month apart.

Grape vines

Black Hamburg grapes

both outdoors and under glass had a growth year, though continual summer pruning kept them under control and there was no wasp problem this year as they were discouraged by the continual rainfall. Outdoor varieties Solaris, Muscat Bleu and Polo Muscat all failed to impress so after several years of trial they have all been dug out. Rondo, Regent, Phoenix and Brant all gave good crops so they will remain for a few more years. Grapes gave me four demijohns of wine, but I had to add some sugar to give me 11% alcohol, as the autumn sun did not last long enough to sweeten up the grapes. I will rest the wine for three years in a cool room to let it mature.

Wee jobs to do this week

Impatiens rooted in jars of water

Pot up Impatiens cuttings taken in autumn and rooted in small jars of water. They soon grow roots, but water has no nutrient value so potting them up will get them growing strongly. Keep them watered and warm and even in winter they can begin to flower and add colour as a pot plant.
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TIME TO RELAX

TIME TO RELAX

The festive season is well under way with Christmas just a few days away, but the keen gardener finds it hard to hang up the spade, put away the secateurs and relax, as there is always just one wee job needing attention.

Merry Christmas from John and Anna

The Christmas tree has been brought out from the attic, dusted down and put in place and I had every confidence the ten year old Christmas tree lights would still work. Decorations now add a wee bit of festive cheer around the studio. That’s one job done.

Festive poinsettia

Sorting out some festive flowers was not easy. My Christmas cactus which is normally in full flower by now has totally failed to produce a single flower. My pink Phalaenopsis orchid has dropped its last flower, but considering it was in full bloom from August it has done us proud, so it can have a rest in a warm light room and with some occasional feeding it will build up strength for next year. Amaryllis is a great Christmas flower, but our bulb was started too late so will miss the festive season, though it is looking

Green manure ready to dig in

very strong with two large flower spikes. So it was down to the supermarket for a decent poinsettia to give us a splash of colour. There are plenty around of all prices and sizes, so choose a good one as they can last many weeks.

Winter weather has come early this year, but the autumn was quite dry so winter digging has just about been completed apart from the areas with clover and tares green manure which I may leave till the end of winter. This gives them more time for root growth which helps to break up the soil and improve drainage. Nutrients retained in the foliage will be released back into the soil in spring after they get turned in and rot down.

Winter veg in abundance

Garden and allotment weeds were also removed in late autumn and falling leaves collected for the compost heap. The compost heap was getting quite big so it got a final turn over so that fresh material can rot down and be ready for use next spring.

The weather has been kind to winter vegetables so there is an abundance of brussels sprouts, cabbage, leeks, beetroot, swedes, parsnips and kale but my cauliflower Clapton grown from a late sowing were brilliant, but now all used up as they do not keep long once the curds have formed.

The garage has been perfect for storing onions, apples and pumpkins, and the freezer is still bulging with strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, saskatoons and chokeberries, so we have plenty of choice for the Christmas dinner.

To keep up the festive spirit, a few demijohns of three year old homebrew got bottled up as we will expect a few guests over

Selecting some refreshments

Christmas and New Year so it is hard to know where to start. Will it be the saskatoon, blackcurrant, gooseberry, apple or chokeberry wine or my special Brant grape wine. Three years ago when I started this brew the yeast on the Brant grapes got really excited and kept fermenting as I gave them a bit more sugar, but after reaching 19% alcohol the campden tablets came out to put a stop to the fun. I think this may be better for New Year rather than Christmas.

Now the garden, the store and the vegetables have been sorted out we cannot forget our feathered friends outdoor, so we keep the bird table topped up. The Joseph Rock rowan is loaded with berries which a thrush and our local blackies go to war over, but good luck as any time now we expect swarms of waxwings to appear and clear every berry in site. However I see nearby cotoneasters are just laden with berries so this should keep birds fed for a wee while longer. As I go through stored apples and pick out any with signs of brown rot, these can be cut in half and left out for the birds which seem to enjoy the change in diet.

Browsing through catalogues

Wee jobs to do this week

As most of the wee jobs have now been taken care of we can relax with a wee drink and ponder seed, fruit and flower catalogues to give us inspiration for new ideas and new plants to try out for 2018 to replace those which never reached the grade in 2017.

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WINTER COLOUR

WINTER COLOUR

Winter has arrived as Carolina sweeps over the land and many of us wake up to a covering of snow plus a few trees, fences and sheds blown about. No doubt this will be followed by more

Rowan Joseph Rock

winds, snow and frost.  Gardening is now enjoyed looking out of a window from the comfort of a warm room. Then a few days later the sun comes out and we can wander round the garden enjoying a bit of winter colour, and catching up on winter

Outdoor fuchsia

digging, raking leaves and repairing any wind damage. Having had many years to indulge in planting up those must have plants, I have also been careful with their placement in the garden design. I know there are many winter days when you just can’t get out so the design is geared to making those areas in front of windows attractive in winter.

The summer flowers have gone and the spring ones yet to appear but there is still a few shrubs flowering in winter as well as plenty berries and plants with brightly coloured stems

maple

and variegated foliage. It is during the winter months that these plants are appreciated as they have no competition.

Flowers

Holly

In some sheltered spots the spring bulbs are pushing up into the daylight with promise of flowers to come. Snowdrops are favourite to appear early in recent years with mild winters I have a small drift that are at their best in full flower at the end of December. They are assuming we are getting another mild winter as the flowers are four inches tall and just about ready to open up.

Snowberry

Back at ground level the heather Erica carnea is adding a bit of pink and white in the heather garden, and the yellow Jasminum nudiflorum grown against a fence is always very reliable as it will flower even when covered in snow.

Mahonia Charity

Mahonia Charity

will grow at least six foot tall and is at its best in December covered in bright yellow sprays. Another shrub, the Fuchsia Mrs Popple continues to flower even though we have had several frosts, but although very welcome at this time of year, its days will be numbered. Last winter it suffered a lot of die back, but it always recovers strongly in spring.

Foliage

Euonymus

Some evergreen shrubs are winners in winter with their variegated foliage such as the gold and silver Euonymus which is also brilliant for ground cover smothering any weeds under its branches.

Houttuynia is more vibrant with red variegation but not such a good ground cover, and it tends to meander well beyond its allocated spot. Ivies come in a wide range of colours and are great for sunless dark and damp corners, but they need an annual trim to control their spread.

Brightly coloured stems

Cornus

The winter garden would not be complete without a range of red, yellow and grey stemmed Cornus, as well as Salix britzensis, Kerria and the grey stemmed Rubus giraldianus. Grow all these as stooled shrubs cutting all growth back to just above ground level at the end of March.

Berries in abundance

Cotoneaster frigidus

Cotoneasters are the most prolific plants for berries in red, orange and yellow. The Firethorn, Pyracantha is also dazzling when covered in bright red or orange berries, and for white berries try the snowberry, Symphoricarpos. Holly is also great for berries but can grow quite large.

Wee jobs to do this week

Topping up the bird table

Cold weather combined with frost and snow can give our garden birds a problem finding food, though there is still plenty berries on cotoneasters and some rowans. This is a good time to put up the bird table and a few feeders with some quality seeds. Birds are fussy eaters (except pigeons which will eat everything) and if you have put out some cheap seed mixtures you will find some types getting left behind. Put out a dish for clean water and if weather is frosty make sure water is warm enough to last a few hours before freezing up. Keep all water dishes, bird tables and feeders cleaned regularly.

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