Wintertime in the Gardens
Winter has arrived now with the coldest day of the year so far at minus 6˚!
However, we have had lots of bright, sunny days which is a real contrast to last year when it rained continuously and prevented us from getting our outside jobs completed on time. This year we are well on track and have even had time to book a Christmas lunch into the diary for the team!
Although people tend to think that in the winter we slow down, there are still plenty of jobs to be done, especially in the borders which are now being cut down and cleared ready for bulb planting and reorganisation of planting schemes as necessary.
We also prune and tie in all the climbing and Rambling Roses on the walls and on the chains along the Spring and Summer borders. The ramblers are very, very spiky and this is the job we all love to hate! They are taken down from the chains, pruned, the four strongest shoots selected for each side of the pole, and these are then retied onto the chains. There are a lot of Roses to tie up and in the centre of the borders we have the added complication of four large arches! We have some additional bare root Roses to plant this month as well to add to the display.
We have a continuous job of raking up the final leaves in the borders and on the grass and use these to make leaf mould which goes into our growing media once rotted down.
We also have the final tranche of bulbs to plant when the soil isn’t too cold, our aim is to have all the Tulips in by the first week in December. Our pots are protected as necessary, and our tender plants have been wrapped up for the winter. The Tree Ferns have been fleeced, the Dahlias and Cannas lifted and Ginger plants have been mulched.
In the Kitchen veg garden we still have Brussel Sprouts, Kale and Winter Cabbages to harvest and the next important job for us is the pruning of the Grapevines and the tying in of the Peaches in the glasshouses.
We have also been foraging for greenery, interesting seedheads and foliage for the 3 Festive Wreath making workshops that we held last week. These workshops were great fun and certainly got us all in the Christmas spirit! Thank you to all who attended and made it such a tremendous few days, we hope you all love your new stunning Christmas creations.
A very Merry Christmas from the whole Garden Team!
