The Winterlude

Happy New Year and welcome to the Winterlude - the ‘dormant’ phase of the garden year and a perfect time to read, take stock and plan ahead. 

So that was 2021

2021 has been an eventful, challenging and fun year ... but it hasn't all been about the veg...

 

Hampstead Heath ponds frozen over in February

Well, there she goes ... goodbye to 2021; a bittersweet year but one that I will remember fondly. That may seem a strange thing to say, given that the country was in lockdown for the first part of the year, and held to ransom by the coronavirus pandemic, but I was one of the lucky ones who remained in excellent health and was grateful for vaccines when offered. 

So, for me, conversely, lockdown was a time of freedom; freedom to improve my run across Hampstead Heath, to potter in the garden in the morning sun, to walk by the Thames and its tributaries, and to explore the Greater London area. 

Solstice - And the world turns back to the light

The winter solstice can be considered to be a dual edged sword for it brings both the start of gradually lengthening days as well as the true start of three months of winter. Brrr... but not quite yet. And there's unlikely to be any snow over the holiday festivities, let me explain why.

 

Belated Book Review: Veg from One Bed - an excellent book for new veg gardeners

This is not a newly published book but having recently discovered it for myself, I wanted to highlight it for readers of this blog because it provides a foolproof way of building confidence and growing success for a beginner veg gardener.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid for this review; as ever, all opinions are my own. 

Less veg, more bulbs

Not quite nailing self sufficiency but very pretty

Even though I've now acquired a little christmas tree (one that I have to keep alive in its pot), I still can't quite get my head around the fact that it will be christmas in just ten days or that there’s less than three weeks to the new year. Work in the garden is never finished but I’ve spent most of last week working in other people’s gardens. However, it looks as though this will be the week that I get some time to sort out my own garden spaces and finally plant my spring bulbs. They could be summer bulbs if I don’t get on with it.

Absolutely Autumn

The quirkiness of nature - conjoined apple from my Core Blimey tree 

When I set out to write this post (a few weeks ago!) it was most definitely still autumn ... and now here we are at the start of winter. In fairness, I did take time out at the end of October to climb to the top of a small mountain in the Western fells of the Lake District - a beautiful, challenging, sometimes scary and totally wonderful life changing experience. But time in the garden is certainly marching on. The last apple has fallen, fruit trees are now almost bare of leaves, all potatoes have been lifted, lavender bushes trimmed back and asparagus ferns cut down ready for next year. But before I embrace the winter months, why not join me on a look back over the autumn?

While I was away ... how my garden fared

It’s always a worry when you go away in midsummer and leave the garden or allotment to fend for itself, especially with the fickle weather we’ve experienced this year. I’ve been away for a few days in lovely Lancashire where it rained quite a lot. (Important for such a beautiful green county!) I gather heavy rain was not exclusive to the north so, as a priority on my first day back, I went to assess the veg garden.  

Pigeons or slugs - who’s the vandal here?