I hope you like the main picture, which is (supposedly ) me sipping a hot drink in the garden. I don’t think it’s good enough and certainly not pretty or stylish enough to be me but the picture editor is officially an intransigent idiot and we have now fallen out, hence some facile images on this blog. My apologies.
No matter. As I sit here sipping a warming cup of Lady Grey and gazing at my sad winter pond, (with my eyes closed apparently, Why?) I am suddenly made aware that we are in that odd part of the season where we are now past new Year, heading for February at high speed but still having to wrap up in scarves, hats, gloves and vibrant, coloured wooly tights (that may just be me) in order to go out for more than five minutes. It’s been frostier than Donald Trump’s reception at the annual National Organization for Women conference.
So questions…
Q1: What am I doing out here in my bijou gardenette in the cold?
A: Wondering what to do with my garden this year.
Q2: What am I going to do with my garden?
A: I have no idea right now.
Q3: What colour are my wooly tights?
A: A very rich burgundy thanks for asking.
Q4: What have I done so far?
A: Well, following Drew’s excellent advice as laid out in his blog from last week, firstly I have kept myself warm (yet again I highlight the fab woolly tights) every time I have been out here. I have kept myself off the lawn while it is frosty as tramping across the glistening cold stuff can cause damage to the lawn underneath.
On Drew’s advice, I have lopped down any loose, broken branches from apple and pear trees. I have done a general clean up of the garden, removing all the detritus that builds up and harbours pests and so on. Well, I say I have. Actually, as I’m sure you suspected, I got my friend and grumpy gardener extraordinaire Brody to come in and do it for me. Can’t be snagging these excellent woolly tights on thorns and branches now can we?
I have also pruned my rose bushes while they are are as dark and stark as Edgar Allen Poe’s diary. Yes. Did it myself…shock horror. Holly prunes
Holly…
…Prunes
Oh very funny and not at all childish!
(Sighs) But now it’s the planning stage and while Brody can help, it’s pretty much up to me. I’m thinking I might try growing some vegetables this year. I’m hardly Barbara Good but I’m tired of my plot-holding friends getting all smug, like Brody handing round Tupperware tubs of lovely strawberries at the pub or Alistair telling me how amazing potatoes are when you’ve just yanked them from virgin soil. or Janice trying to get me to drink her pea-pod wine. (I did try a few glasses once. I woke up next day in my wash-basket wearing a traffic warden’s cap.)
I might try some onions and garlic, some new potatoes and some asparagus. That would do me and, in fact, sounds like a pretty good lunch into the bargain, perhaps with a little prosecco, prosciutto and parmesan (they’ll have to come from the Deli, I’m not about to start producing hard cheese and meat products no matter how hard Jamie Oliver tries to make me.)
Raised bed. This now beyond a joke!
Yes. It’s definitely the time to start planning your outdoor space for the season. Are you going to fill it with flowers? Will you follow the growing trend for a smart,
striped lawn? Do fruit trees float your boat or do you want to turn your space into a market garden full of edible green treasures? Do you want to buy or scrounge some water butts to collect free water? What about compost bins, maybe this is the season to start doing that properly? Perhaps you want to put in a raised bed? Now is the time to be thinking about all of it.
And when it comes to equipment, you know where to go don’t you? Of course. MowDirect has everything you want from scarifiers to prepare your lawn to the best range of mower deals available on the web and we have a whole team of experts to help with impartial and friendly advice. Just call 0345 4588 905 and get help and guidance on anything plus FREE delivery, FREE oil with any petrol machine and the best backup you can get on the net. Nuff said. See ya. Holly.
