28th December 2017. North Yorkshire.
There is just a fleck of snow on the lawn outside my
potting shed window. The sky has that wonderful pewter hue with a slight hint
of purple, a sure sign that whatever is above is about to be below very soon.
With the Christmas Festivities a slowly fading memory and New Year just three
days away, any true gardener will shake the vacuous vapours of overindulgence
away and settle by a warm log fire to plan the 2018 horticultural campaign.
The luxury of an early and warm spring, as
experienced for the last ten years in Portugal, is quickly put aside and the
practicalities of cultivation in a land where the ground temperature struggles
to be above 2 degrees C from December to March, becomes the leading factor in
all seed buying, seed planting and seedling husbandry decisions. Sowing seed
directly into cold wet garden soil is a totally waste of effort and good seed, as
the majority just simply rot away; so the use of the new rather splendid heated
Green House (minimum winter temperature with electric heater – which costs a
fortune to power but less than smoking cigarettes – is 5 degrees C) takes
centre stage.
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| The Greenhouse bench is full of cuttings |
The use of a
small one tray propagator on the potting bench increases the chances of success
during the dark winter days (in essence horticultural double glazing). Then there
is the thorny questions regarding which mixture of potting compost to use, will
the use of a fine grade Vermiculite be the answer for top covering hasten the
process?, Should the seeds be planted in individual cells or broadcast over the
surface of a pot? A lot more logs on the fire will be needed to resolve these
controversial issues, plus copious cups of the HG’s coffee.
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| Cuttings thriving |
Seed catalogues seem to be increasingly only
available on line, the ‘dreamy browse’ has ceased to be. The old pleasure of turning back pages has gone and a computer screen can be very intimidating and the inevitable losing of the site, rather than
simply the place, is yet another example of modern technology robbing the world of past pleasures.
Buying seed
in the modern garden centre has become a very expensive pastime, with their
spiraling overhead costs due to the installation of Coffee Shops, greeting card
counters, soft toy dispensaries, carpeted floors and central heating, all it
would seem required to satisfy the taste of the ‘Urban’ pseudo Gardener. The
inflated cost of each packet of seed ( ranging from £2.29 to £7.99 for few
seeds as charged in a cross section of
local establishments) forces the intrepid ‘old school’ Gardener to seek solace
on the ever present and previously maligned internet, where an amazing choice at
bargain prices is available for the more realistic and traditional amongst the
fraternity.
So, armed with an array of well chosen seeds, the best
potting compost, the desired containers and the sympathetic and germination encouraging
temperatures ,what seed should be planted first?. Beware! It is very easy to
fill the Green House with a mass of transplanted seedlings in late January
which cannot be planted out until the weather improves and will most likely
decide to ‘Rot Off’ in the mild and moist, artificial and costly climate generated
inside the glass house.
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| Lots more cuttings1 |
As the focus for next year is for the glorious
colour and aroma of flowers – decided the vegetables in the Super Markets are
of sufficient quality and low price not to justify the effort of growing them –
the plethora of bedding plants for tubs and baskets will take precedence. The
Geranium and Fuchsia cuttings taken in October, together with cuttings from
anything else then in the garden are actually growing and the inexpensive bulbs (Tulips,
Alliums, Daffodils, Crocus, Muscari, Scillas, Chinadoxia, Hyacinths) bought in
November, are all showing a growing tip. The Polyanthus are in full flower, together
with the Christmas Roses (Helliborus Niger), Pansies and miniature Cyclamen, so there is a least
some colour even when it snows.
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| Pansies smiling in the cold! |
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| Polyanthus and mini violas for winter colour |
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| Little cyclamen looking happy with a pretty primrose |
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| Christmas Rose (Helliborus Niger) |
The late autumn planted Hanging Baskets are
flowering and growing well buffeted by the ‘Prairie Winds’ of North Yorkshire. A good liquid feed every week on the days without frost keeps up their interest
and brightens up those dark corners.
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| Hanging baskets thriving in the cold weather |
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| And the other basket! |
The Climbing Roses arrived from the local grower,
bare rooted, full of buds and are ready for the off, being planted in position on
frost free days and mulched with fine gravel (keeps the air around the plant
stems and very good insulator against ground frost). With lots of ‘feed’ and
TLC there should be an epic show by late June – thus is the way of the ever
Optimistic Gardener!!!!.
Looks like the sun is about to hide behind the ‘Pewter’
clouds and the expected snow turn the garden brilliant white for the New Year.
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| A vase full of cut amarylis (Hippeastrum) |
Here’s to you and your Garden in 2018, may
everything grow bigger, better and more glorious and may the supply of coffee
from your HG never weaken.
Must dash,
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| Post Christmas Sunset |
see you next year
Stuart.
