The last one before Crimble!
Festive preparations, winter gardening, spring bulb protection, the great garden tidy, and big plans afoot!
The end of the calendar year is fast approaching. The momentum towards the festivities is ramping up and I’m filled with the usual ambivalence… trembling, stomach churning anxiety mingling with heart-pumping, mind-tingling excitement. It marks a stark change from the usual proceedings!
If you’re new to the publication, you should probably know I am bipolar and usually encounter one of my depressive episodes around now. Historically, I’ve had about as much Christmas cheer as the Grinch’s foul-tempered, misanthropic hermit brother, always requiring a vast amount of alcohol for a self-medicated cheer. Quickly followed by implosion.
This year is very different! This year, I have a naturally induced glow of positivity. This year, I’m actually looking forward to the gatherings, the food, the drink, the stand-up comedians filling the uncomfortable family silences.
In a stroke of pure irony…
…or Sod’s Law, whatever you want to call it… this year I appear to be the only one. And for good reasons. There’s been grave health scares, poorly relatives, frequent visits to the hospital and there’s an overwhelming consensus that Christmas can just go **** itself.
I myself have a New Year’s appointment with the urologist which can only mean one thing! 👆 However., I’m trying to not let that poke a hole in my spirits. On all seriousness, if you’re over 40, it’s never too early to get the old prostate checked! Get an appointment in the diary! Ok, enough of that cheery subject.
To inject a little cheer, here at home, I put-up the outdoor Christmas lights, in secret. All was ready for my partner to arrive home on a wet and blustery evening, tired and utterly fecked-off with work. The house looks so incredibly pretty, suitably seasonally adorned, and chocolate box cute. Thankfully, it was enough to draw out ‘ooohs’ and ‘aarrhhhs’, plus a much welcomed smile and peck on the cheek. Mission accomplished!
I’m planning all the food and drink and will be dishing out plenty thereof. Nothing fancy. Nothing elaborate or showy. Just a bottle of bubbly, a hearty roast and a good wine. I’m not expecting visitors, but thinking back to how my parents used to do their double trolley ‘big shop’, apparently it’s always best to have enough food for forty guests… just in case!
Ah, the good old, slightly disturbing Costco ‘12s’ of Christmas - 12ltrs of coke, 12 tubes of Pringles, 12 family bags of fun-size choccie bars, 12 cases of beer, a 12kg turkey, and seemingly 12kg of sprouts. Oooff! Ridiculous amounts of food that would still be clogging up the utility room in February.
This year, we’re going for le beouf. It’s been a very modest turkey crown for the previous three years. This time, it’ll be a prime rib. We don’t really ‘do’ red meat these days. In fact, we’ve massively cut down on meat altogether. If we do partake, we want it to be special and savoured, not the everyday, run of the mill, joyless, mindless consumption. It’s also simple! Way easier than a turkey. For a single rib, all that’s required is a rub of olive oil, seasoning, a quick browning on each side in a searing hot pan, in the oven for half hour, rest for half hour, serve. Easy peasy!
I was hoping for garden leeks in cheese sauce, to accompany the beef, but the leek moths have decimated the crop. My own tardiness is to blame, failing to put on the row covers, that I so vehemently promote to protect crops. Yes, I think the word you’re looking for is ‘idiot’… Feckless?? A tad harsh, but probably fair.
Stepping into the garden…
…it’s looking suitably battered from the succession of autumn storms. Broken stems, propped up by shrubs. Plants on the perpendicular, strewn across the paths. Molinia and miscanthus stems scattered across the beds. Plus that familiar nostalgic air of fungal mustiness rising from a carpet of fallen leaves and birch tree twiggy bits.
The Flower Garden has been rather badly smashed this autumn. There are plenty of plants still standing for winter interest. They provide excellent cover for overwintering insects and other invertebrates, plus seed for hungry birds. Although I will try and leave as much as possible, the time has come to cut back the broken stems and the mushy remnants of collapsed herbaceous perennials.
Winter’s glow
During winter, the only part of the entire garden that still shines in the weak, glancing sunlight is the furthest corner of the Flower Garden, i.e. the potting shed end. The rest of the garden is in permanent shade. As such, I felt duty-bound to celebrate the crisp winter sunlight and create a mini-winter garden, all around the potting shed.
Each winter, as I clear through the borders, I take great pleasure in the gradual reveal of the fiery ruby and amber dogwoods, rich and glossy green skimmias and sarcococca, with the proud white and silver trunks of the birches. Amongst the evergreens shrubs and dogwoods, we have winter-flowering honeysuckle (Lonicera × purpusii 'Winter Beauty’) with its absolutely gorgeous perfume, white and pink hellebores, and a scattering of wild snowdrops.
A tidy terrace
I’ve just cleared the terrace of fallen leaves. It was growing more treacherous, especially with the balled rose blooms dropping and squishing underfoot, like a particularly plump and mushy slug. Yuk! They really make a mess of my slippers!
In autumn, I usually clean the sandstone slabs with the pressure washer, just to remove the algae and grime for winter. It’s north-facing, so the algae, moss, and black-spot lichen are quick to establish. A twice-yearly blast with the pressure washer is enough. I use a Karcher surface cleaner that keeps the water contained, rather than spraying mud and dirt up the walls and windows. Highly recommended!
I try to avoid chemicals wherever possible, but for the really sticky bits I use a dilute solution of bleach, poured over with a watering can. I leave it to work for a few hours and rinse off. It does the job and is good enough. I’m not looking for pristine paving. I prefer the old, weather-worn appearance, just without the super-slick algal slime.
Rose pruning
The weather forecast is set fine for Christmas week (for the moment at least) and I’m planning to get out into the garden to start my winter rose pruning. Over the years, I’ve pruned in either late autumn or late winter, occasionally early spring. I defoliate the roses completely, cutting down shrub roses by roughly one-third, maybe half.
I perform the usual 3Ds ritual: pruning out dead, diseased, damaged, and crossing stems. Plus any stems thinner than a pencil as these will not support large blooms. I always aim for an open, strong structure and regularly stand back to make sure my pruning is well-balanced. I’ll write a detailed post on this soon.
This year, I am pruning earlier. The last two years I have pruned late and suffered noticeably more rust, compared to when I used to defoliate the roses in December. I think this is an important consideration. Removing the leaves, removes the spores and the potential for rust to overwinter and infect new growth. Increasingly important with these long wet springs.
So, I will prune off every single leaf, and rake out all the fallen leaves and old mulch from beneath the roses. After pruning, I’ll give them a thick layer of fresh garden compost or manure. I’ll track the developments of rose rust next year and I’ll then know, if it makes the difference, that I feel in my gut to be true.
Spring bulbs
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that I’ve been getting in front of the camera once more. It’s not something that comes naturally to a photographer that has spent his life being very comfortable behind the camera. But the little videos are always well received and I’m planning to make them a regular feature. You’ll have to let me know if that’s something you would like to see here on Substack, or keep ‘that kind of thing’ for Instagram.
The rodents attacked some of the pots during the last cold snap, so all my bulb pots and planters are now all firmly secured under two layers of galvanised mesh and chicken wire. I also have a half-kilo bag of dried chilli flakes that’ll be sprinkling over, liberally! If it’s war they want…
Ok, a bit extreme, but it can be heart-breaking and demoralising to find your hard work destroyed, not to mention the cost! A little chilli can be a useful deterrent. It all looks like ruby-red Christmassy sprinkles too! I often marvel at the extremes gardeners will go to in order to fend off a few slugs, when a single rat or squirrel can lay waste to an entire display. If you have pots of bulbs sat around, be sure to chew them regularly and protect them if you can.
P.s. It’s not too late to plant bulbs, but don’t delay.
Cutting garden
Elsewhere around the gardens, I still have a few dahlias to lift. It’s not exactly been cold and they’re in raised beds, so waterlogging and rotting isn’t an issue. It’s just that I’m not exactly sure what I’ll be doing in the Cutting Garden next year. This year, its first incarnation, was definitely a success. Bountiful dahlias, trugs full of sweet pea ‘Cupani’, armfuls of Larkspur and nigella. I’m glad that I limited the variety of flowering crops, rather than be over-phased.
Next year, they’ll be the dahlias, grown from seed this year, selected, and lifted. Larkspur from
was outrageously prolific and practically 100% germination without stratification. Result! Nigella hispanica has become a firm favourite. There’s always room for Ammi and sweet peas! But what else? Answer in the comments! Aside from crops to deliberate over, I am planning on reconfiguring the rows to make access better and watering easier. That project will definitely feature as a post in spring.Upcoming plans
As the New Year beckons, I have a few gardening plans in mind. As I’ve always said, Winter is the perfect time to make your plans! To scan through all the photos you took of the garden the previous season and see what needs improving. I often accomplish a great deal during winter. The ground is clear and accessible. It’s rare for waterlogging on this sloping site. With winters being so mild, the ground is barely frosted, let alone frozen.
This winter, my primary project will be centred around the Cottage Garden. The wonderful people at Agriframes gifted me a large gothic rose arch which has been temporarily installed. The two dwarf weeping cherries at the front, either side of the steps, will be lifted and replanted down near the potting shed - to bolster the early spring display.
In their place, two James Galway roses will (hopefully) smother the arch with deeply ruffled, fragrant pink blooms. The cherries are gorgeous, with their cascades of white blossom, but their showtime, no matter how beautiful, is very brief. I also felt the garden was lacking height at the front, to balance the mature trees along the embankment at the back. So the rose arch will counter this and provide fragrant blooms from June to October. There are plenty of spring bulbs popping up earlier in the season, so we won’t be lacking in blooms.
Lastly, but most assuredly not least…
I’d like to say Merry Christmas… Happy Holidays… Season’s Greetings… and from me to you, from mine to yours, I wish you joy and contentment for this festive season… oh, and a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year! Wherever, however, with whomever you celebrate the festivities, I hope it’s wonderful, heart-warming, and kind. Stay safe. Stay well. And let’s meet up again in the New Year.
Very best wishes, Elliott 💚
Coming up…
As we approach the New Year, I wanted to share something a little different, very much more personal. I am going to share part of my journey from a mentally ill, physically weak, very overweight and beleaguered 40-something, to a happy and contented, fit and strong 50-something. This is post will be all about the physical transformation!