Garden Centre

Monday, January 11, 2010

Still snow – garden a no-go area

It’s getting really depressing now – how do people who live in snowy zones cope with weeks or months of blanket whiteness? My Resolution #3 is a non-starter still, there's nothing to enjoy except the view from the window!

I’m also getting a little concerned about what will happen when the thaw finally arrives – I know that shrubs and fruit trees are very vulnerable to dying off through sitting in waterlogged soil in cold weather. This is because they don’t put out new roots nearly as fast as other plants and so can’t cope well with what is essentially an underwater experience.

So, to be on the safe side, I’m taking a few cuttings as soon as the weather warms up because I fear that plants that may seem to make a good recovering will still die off in the summer as a result of root damage. And as soon as the plants are no longer frozen, but before the spring starts, I shall probably prune back a lot of my ornamental perennials and shrubs really hard, so they aren’t supporting a lot of new leafy growth on starved and loosened roots which can lead to root rock. That’s going to mean that the garden looks pretty dire for a while, but better that than losing established plants.

And because snow, like rain, washes away nutrients, I shall be getting out there as soon as it’s warm and dry enough, to mulch the roots of all my shrubs to try and give back some of the goodness the winter has stolen.

This is what the garden looks like today … sad or what?

Labels: garden snow, january garden tips, plants in snow

The All Seasons Gardener at 8:34 AM 0 Comments

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Tips for January Gardeners

It’s come to my attention that there’s something called a recession happening. For those of us who spend as much time as possible in the garden, this comes as a bit of a surprise, but there you are, I’ve caught up eventually.

So on that basis, I’ve been thinking about tips and tricks that make life in my garden cheaper, or easier, or both and perhaps this is a good time to share them with my lovely readers.

First – seed packets, especially flower seeds, always have many more seeds than you want to plant in a year. To keep them viable, beg, steal or borrow those black capsule containers that 35mm camera film arrives in. My local photo processor is happy to give me a carrier bag full every year. The lids fit beautifully and if they are hermetically sealed for film they are ideal for seeds. and you can write on them in white eraser fluid.

Old toothbrushes are brilliant for cleaning small pots and the corners of greenhouses (see how easily I say that, as if I’d have a greenhouse for years?) where diseases can lurk

Old tights with the toes cut off are brilliant for storing three inch pots after you’ve cleaned them with a toothbrush – just push a whole line into the tight legs and hang them in the shed. Tie a loose knot in the bottom end and then you can untie it, pull out a few pots and tie it up again. Or, if you’re bad at knots, use a peg.

The cardboard wine carriers that supermarkets give away are a really good accessory for garden maintenance day. Put your twine, labels and pen secateurs, gloves, seed packets etc in the different compartments.

Labels: gardening tips, january garden tips, thrifty gardening

The All Seasons Gardener at 8:37 AM 0 Comments

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