Owner of Barnsdale Gardens, Nick Hamilton, shares his expert tips for cold-weather gardening to keep your garden thriving through the winter months.
Words: Nick Hamilton. Images: Steve Hamilton, Shutterstock, Pexels.
This is the time of year when our thoughts tend to focus on Christmas, New Year, and all the festivities that surround it.
However, it is important not to forget the garden, with all these other distractions taking our attention, because there is still plenty of gardening to keep us occupied. Of course, what we do and when we do it at this time of year is very much dictated by the weather conditions but, as you will see, there are not only outdoor jobs but also ones that can be carried out in the comfort of your favourite armchair.
Your December checklist
Order seeds
By now, you should have amassed a good pile of seed catalogues that either come free in gardening magazines or through the post if you have ordered before or requested one from a particular seed company. Whether you are a keen veg grower or want flowering plants, then any grotty winter’s day is the perfect excuse to sit back, relax and start perusing these colourful and all-too-tempting publications.
Cut back grasses
This is a topic that might divide readers, as there are some who have to cut back everything as soon as it has finished flowering and then there are some, like me, who like to get maximum interest from those spent flowers. Such grasses as Panicum and Miscanthus have spent flowers that do not disintegrate quickly over winter, which gives them a second wind when we get frosty weather. Other grasses have non-interesting flowers or ones that have already disintegrated, so these can be cut back to ground level now. I find either shears or secateurs to be perfectly adequate for the job.
Tie in climbers
As the autumn winds start to blow in November, it is easy to see which climbers need a bit more tying in. If this job has not already been done, now is the time to do it before the stronger winter winds come. Left untied, the climbers risk being snapped, which can affect not only their shape but also their flowering potential.
Prune blackberries
I grow my blackberries on a straight line of posts, with three equally spaced strands of wire. The length of the run will depend on the variety being grown, so consider this when buying your plant, because different varieties can put on between 2.4m (8ft) and 4.5m (13ft) of growth. I chose a variety that only grows 2.5m (8ft), so my run of post and wire is 5m (16ft) long.
This is because blackberries fruit on 2-year-old wood, so I train all the stems that grow in that year on the left side of the plant and tie them in. The following year, when I am picking fruit from the left, all the stems that grow are tied to the right and will fruit the following year. I repeat this practice each year, which means that this year it is easy to prune, as I only need to cut back to the ground all the shoots tied into the left side.
Clean paths and patios
Remove moss and algae from paths and patios before they become dangerously slippery. I find a pressure washer an invaluable tool for this job, if you have one, and much easier than a stiff brush and bucket of water.
Prepare for early crops
If, like me, you are keen to get your veg growing as soon as possible and you grow on the same heavy ground as we do at Barnsdale, then you need to get covering. Heavy ground can get very wet in the winter, and wet ground is not ideal for early crops. All you need to do is to cover part of your plot with a cloche or a sheet of polythene so that you can manage how wet it gets. You do not want it to dry out completely, but covering it and keeping it drier will warm it up perfectly.
Buy Pelargoniums
Whether you want them for growing in the greenhouse, windowsill, or for planting outside, now is the time to buy and pot up your plugs, but only if you have a heated greenhouse or conservatory for growing them on.
Nick Hamilton is the owner of Barnsdale Gardens in Rutland, an eight-acre site featuring 38 individual gardens to explore, plus tea rooms, a nursery, and lots more. For more information, visit barnsdalegardens.co.uk.
