Flowers in January

The berries have all been eaten by the birds but now the colour in the garden is coming from flowers.

Winter aconites are the first to appear, the yellow buttercup type flowers surrounded by a ruffle of leaves, look great under the old pear tree.

Winter aconites

Snowdrops are also coming through now. A larger early one was given to me several years ago, I do not know its name so I called it after the donor, Mrs Robinson.

The other snowdrops are coming through under a hawthorn tree.

One of my favourite plants is the Hellebore, I have several patches now and let them self seed, one day I may get a lovely new flower as the seeds never grow true to the parent.

Hellebores

Last week I cut off all the old leaves, this helps show off the new emerging flowers, removes chance of disease from the old leaves and makes room for the new leaves coming along with the new flowers.

Before old leaves have been cut off

After, new leaves and flowers on show

Mahonia is also in flower now and a spot of sun this morning brought out the honey bees to have a feast.

Mahonia flowers, early nectar for the honey bees

Not forgetting the vegetables, today we had winter lettuce salad at lunch and for tea will have roasted carrots, celeriac and beetroot, fresh from the garden. Swiss chard is still ok, it will survive until a heavy frost then hopefully regrow for an early crop when the weather warms in the spring, something for tea tomorrow perhaps.

January

We check the weather forecast daily to see if it will affect plans in the garden. Also to plan ahead if certain jobs need to be done if it is forecast to be dry/wet/cold etc.

Early last week it was forecast for -5 degrees over night. Action was required. Most plants that are frost sensitive are already being protected in the greenhouse. There are however a couple of things that needed attention at this time.

One is the Celeriac. We have not harvested it all yet but a heavy frost will turn it soggy and unusable. If left in the ground it can have a thick mulch of straw for protection, or, as we did, cover over with fleece when temperatures are due to drop.

The other plant is the Globe Artichokes, again they can survive some cold but too much or they will also go soft and rot to a slime. With the warm autumn and early winter they have unfortunately put on a lot of new growth which makes it a bit more awkward to cover. Out came the fleece for them also.

Globe artichokes protected from the frost

The remaining celeriac harvest under cover

A lovely sight this week was the blackbird eating the Cotoneaster berries. Some years they have been stripped in a matter of days well before Christmas. This year there must have been better pickings elsewhere. But now January comes and they appreciate the feast in our garden, but it will not last for long. They are also enjoying the Pyracantha berries around the garage.

Blackbird eating the Cotoneaster berries

Harvest 2018

We have been growing our own fruit and vegetables for many years and are self sufficient with the exception of bananas, mushrooms, oranges and lemons.

Last year we thought it would be interesting to keep and record to see exactly what the harvest was.

It started in March so is only 10 months, next year we will do the full 12 months.

Below is a list of all we harvested in the 10 months March to December 2018.

Some crops did not do so well mainly due to the hot weather and lack of water. Potatoes, onions, brussel sprouts, broccoli and Kale were very poor but the soft fruit were very good with loads of strawberries, raspberries and currants.

That’s gardening for you, we will see what happens in 2019.

TWKG 2018
crop: grammes or single	Totals
Achocha	870
Apples – grenadier	216g
Apples dessert Worcester/greensleeves	6212g
Apples- cox	3886g
Apples- Bramley	lots
Apples -Blenheim Orange	lots
Artichokes-globe	20
Asparagus	11300g
Beetroot	48
Black berries -cultivated	821g
Black berries -hedgerow	1224g
Blueberries	1294g
Broad Beans	26162g
Brocolli	0
Brussell sprouts	0
Butternut Squash	14
Cabbage	19
Cabbage -RED	1
Calabrese	4
Carrots	8738g
Cauliflower	20
Celeriac	4
Chard	4628g
Cherries	0
Chillean guava	184
Chilli peppers	88
Courgette	82875g
Cucamelon	66
Cucumber	82
Currants -black	7927g
Currants- red	14305g
Currants- white	3700g
Figs	390
Forced Rhubarb	5580g
French Beans	14068g
Garlic -elephant	27
Garlic	112
Gooseberries	7657g
Herbs basil
Herbs borage flowers
Herbs chives
Herbs coriander
Herbs dill
Herbs mint
Herbs parsley
Herbs rosemary
Herbs sage
Inca berries	900
Leeks	22
Kale	0
Lettuce	78
Loganberries	3496g
Mange tout peas	739g
Okra	19
Parsnip	400g
Pears	1206g
Peas	752g
Plums	1745g
Potatoes grown in Bags	2329g
Potatoes grown in ground:
Red Duke of York	3772g
Charlotte	3060g
Rocket	3500g
Kestral	6266g
Pink Fir Apple	8050g
Cara	852g
Nadine	4260g
Sharpo Mira	10870g
Purple sprouting	0
Raddish	44
Raddish seed pods	4
Raspberries	15016g
Rhubarb	16800g
Runner beans	5216g
Sczonoria	2
Spring onions	5
Strawberries	11735g
Sweetcorn	12
Sweet peppers	117
Turnip	1
Tomatoes	44088g
Winter salad leaves	1492g

Items in Bold Italics were measured per piece rather by weight. Herbs were not weighed but were used during their growing season.

Plectranthus

In September 2017 I went on a propagation course and was able to keep some of the cuttings I had taken.

One of these was Plectranthus purperea. I had not heard of this before but, seeing it in the garden from where the course was held, I loved the dark foliage.

Plectranthus

It is not a hardy plant in the uk, in fact it is more a house plant, which as probably why I had not come across it before as I am not a fan, nor have the room for many house plants.

Dark red stems and dark underside of leaves

The cuttings grew well over the summer and looked lovely in their pots in the garden.

In October I took some more cuttings ready for next year and as insurance in case the main plant does not survive the winter. Also brought the plant inside.

Now it has pretty white flowers which is a lovely surprise.

pretty flowers, white with purple specks inside

New Trees

In the January gales 40 metres of our wall fell down, crushing half of our espaliered  apple trees. The wall has now been rebuilt and it is time to replant some trees.

We decided to go for cordons this time as to replace the matured espaliers would be very expensive, if available, and would  take a long time to grow from a young tree. Bare root trees were chosen as a wider range is available, they are  cheaper and are planted in the winter when they are dormant.

One of the surviving espalier trees

Cordons are single stem trees grown on wires at an angle of 45 degrees.

Newly planted cordon trees

It is not advisable to plant a pip tree in the same place as another pip tree was, and likewise do not plant a stone tree where another stone tree was. However we are able to plant more apples (pip tree) where the other apples had been as all the soil was removed when the foundations were made for the wall to be rebuilt.

We wanted to grow mainly dessert apples as we already have two large Red Bramley and two large Blenheim Orange and two early cookers called Grenadier so we have more than enough cooking apples. All the espaliers we lost were dessert apples.

I am also keen on the more unusual so here is the list we have just planted, mostly dessert but a couple of cooker/ dual purpose which tempted me by their name or the dark foliage.

Katy, Red Devil, Surprize, Winter Gem, Christmas Pippin, Scrumptious, Herefordshire Russet, Adam’s Pearmain,  Bardsey, Chivers Delight, Pitmarston Pineapple and Sops in Wine.

Christmas Wreaths

I like to make my own Christmas Wreaths to decorate outside the house.

Using materials found in the garden and hedge.

This year I have used holly with berries, ivy( again with berries), apples, long pine cones from the tree in the front garden  and  pyracantha berries, we had yellow, red and orange, the orange looked the best this year. 

Some years I have also used laurel leaves, rosemary, satsumas, etc. whatever is available and looking nice at the time.

Wreath on the big gates into the walled garden.

As you can see I favour a very loose design.

Gate into the garden

By the front door. 
 The base was made many years ago from ivy stalks twisted together and can be used year after year.

Add some battery LEDs with a timer and looks great when darkness falls.

Mistletoe

The time of year has come round again and the trees are full of mistletoe. We have several old apple trees and each has much mistletoe growing in it. Left alone the mistletoe would eventually suffocate the apple trees so each year we harvest about a third of the mistletoe. Great for Christmas decorations. We sell a lot in aid of charity and this week someone collected some for a mistletoe ball.

Lovely white berries this year