Keeping Busy...(always jobs to do!)

Firstly I would like to wish all of our readers a Happy New Year and look forward to a successful gardening year! My first wish has to be for the ground to dry up so that I can catch up with digging on my allotment, which is now badly behind schedule. Last year was the same; I had to spend some long hours digging in February to catch up. Ideally I will get one of my two plots single dug. I start by taking out a trench to a spade’s depth and moving the soil from this to the other end of the plot in my wheelbarrow. Any debris and annual weeds are then skimmed off the top of what will become the next trench and buried, face down in the bottom of the first trench. These are then covered with the soil from what will become the second trench and so on. Any perennial weed roots such as Couch Grass and Dock Leaves should be removed and burned, but not composted. The soil should be left in large clods and can be broken down to form a ‘tilth’ with some vigorous raking nearer to the time of sowing and planting. My second plot will be used to grow potatoes and later crops, such as squashes and runner beans. I like to manure the ground for these when I plant them out so the soil does not need to be prepared so far in advance!

Philadelphus SilberregenI have managed to spend some time in the garden this week and pruned some of my shrubs. We have a Parrotia persica (Persian Ironwood) which will eventually become far too large for the space it occupies, but it is one of my favourite large shrubs with beautiful orange and red autumn colours and small red flowers through the winter on the bare, grey branches. Left to its own devices, Parottia makes a wide spreading shrub or small tree, so I have to prune off branches every so often to keep it in bounds! My Cornus (Dog Woods) were all pruned hard back to a basic framework last winter, so will not need any attention now. They continue to light up the garden with their sealing wax red and olive green stems that give a good vertical accent.

Philadelphus are some of my favourite summer flowering shrubs with their creamy white flowers scented of orange blossom. It is easier to see the shape of these and other deciduous shrubs at this time of the year and a light prune to tidy them is a good idea.  The Holly was given a trim just before Christmas and I will tidy up other evergreens later in the spring, when they begin to grow again. My ornamental Grape vine Vitis vinifera ‘Purpurea, grew really well last year and I have pruned it back to a basic framework. Each shoot has been taken back to four buds and some of the weaker growth removed. My Clematis are looking very untidy, but I must be patient and wait until next month before giving them their annual haircut!

Mr McGregor