December 2019
November 2019 was one of the wettest months for a very long time. The fields around the garden remained flooded all month and as the rain increased or backed off, the flood waters rose and fell into the garden like a tide.
We have known this before and accept it as part of our winter weather but it makes gardening difficult and, at times, frankly unpleasant.
As we go into December the poor old garden feels bedraggled and battered into submission. Winter is not kind to it.
Everything is a battle with the weather and a fight against the light. These December days can be nasty, brutish and short. On a cloudy day it does not get light at all before 8am, is gloomy all day and then starts to get dark at 4pm.
But December is a month when I spend much more time writing about gardening than actually doing it (my book with Derry Moore on American Gardens will be published in Spring) as well as reading, planning and dreaming of next year’s garden - and of course taking Nigel and Nellie for a walk every day.
But the vegetable garden is still important and red cabbage, brussels sprouts, potatoes, carrots and parsnips are all an essential part of Christmas dinner and we also enjoy chard, beetroot, cabbages, kale, rocket, mizuna, chicory and leeks fresh from the garden as well as things like shallots, squashes and apples that we store.
I had an exceptionally good chilli harvest this year and for the first time froze many of them straight off the plants and this has proved to be a really good way of storing them.
And Christmas is a turning point. It is a family celebration we enjoy very much and I always buy the biggest tree I can fit into the house - and have done so from the same local grower for the past 25 years. We cut holly from the garden, make wreaths with dried stems and flowers, put up big bunches of mistletoe from the apple trees in the orchard and fill the house with green.
CHRISTMAS TREES
Until a couple of hundred years ago the only evergreens available in midwinter were Yew, Holly, Ivy, Box and Juniper and the latter was and still is pretty rare in this country. There is no reason why any could not still serve as a Christmas tree. But the vast majority of people will be buying their Christmas trees from a range of non-native specimens, the most popular of which are, Norway Spruce (Picea abies), The Nordmann Fir (Abies nordmanniana), or the Colorado Spruce (Picea pungens). All three are very good, have specific virtues and can last for a long Christmas season if looked after properly. All three will also grow in most gardens if they are bought with healthy roots and planted carefully as soon as possible after Christmas (see below).
Spruce is actually short for ‘Spruce Fir’ which is the English translation of Picea abies and a corruption of ‘Prussian Fir’. The Norway Spruce has been grown in this country for at least the last 500 years as a timber tree. Unlike our own evergreen natives – all of which grow conspicuously slowly – Picea abies grows very fast and for centuries it was the main source of softwood, or deal. Although almost everyone nowadays only comes into contact with it as a tree small enough to fit easily into the living room, it is officially Europe’s largest tree and given the right conditions of damp, cold winters and damp, cool summers, it will grow to more than 200ft tall.
It is very resistant to cold and frost-hardy although it never thrives when grown on chalk or limestone.
If you get confused between any of the Spruces (Picea) and Firs (Abies) - there is one easy way to differentiate the two species. The cones of spruces hang down, whereas the cones of Firs stand up like candles.
Abies nordmanniana, The Caucasian or Nordmann fir is much more truly evergreen than the Norway Spruce in that it only sheds its needles after about 15 years before replacing them. It also has more horizontal and rather more dense branches. The effect can make a more compact, more evenly shaped Christmas tree. It originates from the Eastern shores of the Black sea and will grow even bigger than the Norway Spruce, reaching 225ft. It grows on limestone in its Caucasian home but like the Norway Spruce it grows best in moist, cool, slightly acidic conditions.
Personally I like the Colorado, or Blue Spruce, Picea pungens, best as a Christmas tree. Although it comes from the southern states, it originates from a high altitude, so is very hardy and grows into a tall, very straight, rather beautiful tree, with glaucous blue needles the colour of cardoon or artichoke leaves. The high altitude and bright mountain light gives it a rather stiff habit which is one of its main attractions as a Christmas tree. If you do plant one in the garden it will grow much stronger if given maximum sunlight.
Whatever tree you choose here are tips to make it last as long as possible
• DO get one with roots if possible, even if you are not intending to plant it. Pot it into as large a container as you have and fill this with sharpsand or compost. Sand is perfectly good for the few weeks it will be indoors. Water it and keep the sand moist.
• Buy a tree holder for a cut stump with a reservoir and keep it topped up with water. Treat it like a cut flower. This will do more than anything to stop it shedding its needles.
• NEVER place your Christmas tree by a radiator. It will respond by immediately shedding its needles.
• Keep it as cool as possible. All these evergreen firs have adapted to cope with cold winter weather and will react to central heating heat by dropping their leaves in order to conserve moisture. A draughty hallway is ideal.
• Take your tree to the council shredder after Christmas if you are not going to plant it so it can be recycled.
WINTER WILDLIFE
As we go into December, with the build up to Christmas taking us into the depth of winter, our gardens probably seem as inhospitable and remote as they ever become. But the wildlife that have made their home in your garden need your cooperation more than ever. It is astonishing how rich and varied the wild creatures in even a very small garden can be, ranging from beetles, moths and ladybirds to grass snakes, hedgehogs, moles and of course the birds that both live in and visit our winter gardens for food.
There are a few things that we can all do to both encourage wildlife into our gardens and to make their life safer and less stressful.
The first and most important, is not to be too tidy. What almost all animals are most urgently needing at this time of year is cover, either to shelter from the weather or to hibernate in. Gather a wheelbarrow of leaves and tip it against a fence or in a quiet corner. This will make the perfect home for a hedgehog, toads, perhaps a frog or two and innumerable insects and bacteria.
Stack wood and bundles of prunings in a corner so small birds such as robins and wrens, voles, insects and again - if you are lucky because they are becoming alarmingly scarce - a hedgehog can benefit from the cover. Do not clear every weed or dried stem and, easiest of all, leave some uncut grass which, winter or summer, is still the best cover for insects.
The short days mean that the birds are busier seeking out their food whether in the soil, amongst the seedheads of your borders or on a bird table. Watching them at work is one of the great pleasures of the winter garden. Put out food for them, preferably out of reach of cats and with some of it protected by a mesh small enough to keep out pigeons, starlings and predators such as sparrow hawks but big enough for tits, finches and other small song birds to feed in safety.
What to do in the garden this month:
CLEAN PLASTIC POTS AND LABELS
We are all now trying to use much less plastic in our lives and especially so in the garden. However, the worst offender is single-use plastic and the more that you can reuse a plastic container or plant label the better. The easiest way to do that is to wash all your plastic pots and store them carefully in sizes so that they are ready for use in spring. The better you care for them, the longer they will last - and the less plastic you will buy.
As for plant labels, wash them all and then, when they are dry, take some wire wool and scrub each one clean of last year’s writing. Permanent marker, biro and pencil all comes off very easily this way. I do this every year to hundreds of plant labels and reuse the same ones many times. Not only does this cut down dramatically on plastic use but also saves money.
WASHING SLIPPERY PATHS
At this time of year brick and stone paths can be very slippery and dangerous. This is due to algae that grows on the surface, especially if wet and shaded and at this time of year they may stay wet and slippery for months. The best way to reduce the slipperyness is to wash off the algae with a pressure hose (which can be hired by the day). When this is done brush in sharpsand. If the path is brick or stone the porous surface will absorb some of the sand. A quicker - but still quite laborious - alternative is simply to work sand in with a stiff brush without the washing. Either way you have a very effective way of making a path safe without resorting to chemicals.
ONIONS FROM SEED
This is always one of my Boxing Day jobs. Onions are mostly grown from sets put out when the ground is ready between January and April, but seed sown ones have the great advantage of starting earlier so having a longer growing season and, best of all, there is a much wider range of varieties to choose from than the very limited selection of sets that any garden centre can provide.
The seeds are sown in plugs of potting compost - ideally three or four seeds per plug - and put somewhere warm to germinate. I plant them out as small blocks of seedlings in spring as soon as the soil warms up.
SHARPENING TOOLS
If it is hammering with rain outside or simply so cold your fingers cannot function, you can still go through all your tools and make sure that they are in as good condition as possible for next year.
One of the most satisfying jobs is to clean and sharpen all cutting implements. Hoes can be sharpened with a rough whetstone so they slice through weeds rather than bruise them, secateurs can have all rust removed with wire wool and a little elbow grease and then sharpened as you would a knife so that they can cut easily and accurately. Sharp secateurs are both better for the plant because they leave a neat, clean cut rather than tearing at it, and much safer for the gardener too because you can focus on where and how you are cutting rather than trying to force it at all.
CLEAR POND
The best way to introduce wildlife into your garden is to have a pond, even if it is only made in a container. However it is important to remove all fallen leaves before they sink to the bottom and start to decompose, otherwise the nutritional balance of the water will be badly affected and although you will not notice the impact of this immediately, next Spring your precious aquatic plants will suffer adversely as well as the range of wildlife in the water. Gently scoop out all fallen leaves and dead tissue, trying to disturb the water - and the life within it - as little as possible.
PLANT HELLEBORES
Every year I treat myself to a few really good new varieties of Hellebores and add them to the hundreds I already have growing. The extend of the range adds clean, clear colours that can run from pure white to the almost black inky purple of ‘Black Diamond’ or ‘Queen of Night’.
Hellebores are usually expensive to buy but they are good value because they last for a very long time and occasionally a self sown hybrid marries the best qualities of its parents rather than blending the worst.
Hellebores have deep roots and I always dig a bucket-sized hole and add mushroom compost or leaf mould to it when planting. Keep them well watered for the first year but thereafter they need little attention. However a December job is always to go through them all removing any leaves that have fallen past 45 degrees or that are affected by blight. I then finish the job in mid February so that the flowers can be clearly seen.
TAKE PICTURES
Take the time to go outside and photograph every aspect and angle of your garden. It does not matter how abandoned, neglected or empty it may be. Photograph what is there with a detached and enquiring eye. This is a process of reckoning, of stock-taking and will provide you with hard evidence of what lies at the bedrock of your garden. It is a truism that any garden can look good in high summer but only good gardens look good in midwinter. So use the pictures to plan both how to make your garden look really good at this time of year and to plan for the glorious days that will start to creep in before very long.
POINSETTIA
Hundreds of thousands of poinsettias will be given as gifts this Christmas and with a little care these can be made to last looking good for months.
Poinsettias are only really comfortable in damp warmth. Modern poinsettias grown as houseplants are treated with a growth retardant to create the familiar short, bushy shape we all know and love but in their native Mexico, poinsettias grow at the margin of the forest to a large 10ft high shrub.
They do not like cool nights, very hot dry rooms or big fluctuations in temperatures, so keep them where there is a constant average temperature, avoiding draughts, cold windows or even very bright spots that can get very hot in the middle of the day. They like plenty of water but let the compost dry out before giving them a really good soak, standing the pot in a sink full of water and leaving it to stand for 10 minutes or so before letting the excess water drain from the pot.
RHUBARB
If you have productive rhubarb clear away any rotting stems and foliage and mulch round (but not over) each crown with a generous layer of manure or compost. If your rhubarb is a little tired now is the time to divide some of your crowns to stimulate fresh vigour. The older, central section of the big, corky roots should be put on the compost and the younger, outer sections of root replanted with the buds about an inch below the surface. Do not pick any stalks from these new sections for the first year and cut the flowers off as they appear. By the second year you should have a good crop and a really good one two years after planting.
PLANTING SHALLOT SETS
Plant shallot sets close to the shortest day (Dec 21st) and they will be ready to harvest on the longest day, (June 21st). If you have a piece of ground ready that is dry enough for the soil not to stick to your boots then plant them directly outside, 9 inches apart in rows about a foot apart. This makes them easy to hoe. Do not completely bury them but leave the shoulder of the bulb and tips clear of the soil. I suggest covering them with fleece until March, by which time they should be well rooted and able to resist birds tugging at them. Check them weekly to firm back any that have been dislodged.
Alternatively, if like me, your soil is wet and heavy for months on end, you can plant them now into plugs, just burying them deep enough to sit in the compost. Keep them in a greenhouse or cold frame and then plant out when your soil is ready and has warmed up.
Suggested varieties: ‘Red Sun’ (lovely rich red) ‘Longor’ (French long bulbs with pink flesh) ‘Topper’ round, golden bulbs with a sweet flavour.
