Brrrrrrr, gardening will be the last thing on peoples minds on bleak cold days but sunny days following a hard frost will allow at least half a day to garden with cold, rose pricked fingers and cold feet. No such luck further inland though with frozen ground, maybe the perfect garden planning time beside the fire to be a step ahead before spring.
If you have a sheltered glass house getting sun for most of the day or a well lit garden shed, try raising some early bedding plants from seed. The problem for seedlings in winter is the shortness of daylight so by raising seeds in a place where artificial light can be given for a few hours once daylight has gone will encourage germination and seedlings to grow. Some seeds you can get away to an early start are sweet- pea, lupin, pansy, viola, poppy, hollyhock, primula and vegetable seeds for spring planting.
I have started the winter rose prune here in my garden, the time by which rose pruning should be completed varies by several weeks from the warmest to coldest gardens. It should be done and dusted by the time of bud burst so we have a good two months to get rose pruning out of the way here on the coast and a little longer further inland. There are new seasons roses on offer now and this is the time to get them planted and settled in for summer flowering. If planting new standard roses they will need staked to keep them secure until enough roots have taken. Newly bought roses also need pruned, growers just lop them back before sending them off to Garden centers so cross over branches need cut out and all others cut back to an outward facing bud.
While roses are completely bare, spray all over with Lime sulphur, this will kill off over-wintering rose scale, some fungal spores and lichen. Rose scale clings tightly to the main stems and will gradually build up until it covers the framework of the bush. You can remove by scrubbing with an old toothbrush immediately after the lime sulphur application. Lichens are close relations of moss and algae and are spread by airborne spores. In general the cleaner the air, the more likely it is that lichens of all kinds will become established on stone, roof slates and tiles, wooden garden structures and slow-growing living woody plants. This includes the bright orange dusty-looking lichen as well as various yellow and greyish crusty and mossy-looking growths.
The lichen on mature trees and shrubs is not weakening them or even inhibiting new growth, but its presence is an indication that they are growing very slowly or simply down to their age. For nature to take care of removing it clear away any invasive undergrowth around the base of each plant, give each a couple of hand fulls of a balanced general fertiliser (blood, fish and bone) in spring, mulch them and prune annually at the appropriate time. Or do what I do and get going with a wire brush after lime sulpher has been applied.
The bulk of new seasons bare rooted deciduous trees are arriving into retail shops now and the ground is perfect for planting but avoid times when the ground is frozen or excessively wet, no roots like sitting in water especially new young roots which have not yet made a root ball of feeder roots. Young deciduous trees and shrubs can also be moved at this time, trim any damaged roots and cut back any that are inconveniently long.
Evergreen trees and shrubs are on offer as well, but don't be in a hurry to plant them. Keep in bags outside in a sheltered place to harden off, they can sit like this and be planted out at the end of winter. Choose now and plant later to give them a good start. I am still enjoying digging out shrubs and plants that have not worked where they have been planted and filling the gaps with a new look. Erica's I planted 30 + years ago are still looking wonderful, I managed to get hold of a number of small grade erica's that will in time give drifts of bright clear colour through future winter months. Erica's are low maintenance plants, most are winter flowering, they look great planted around and among conifers.
Fruit and Veg.
Keep planting deciduous fruit trees and bushes in a sunny site, avoid frosty hollows for early starters such as plums and pears. Frosty sites are ok for soft fruits as winter chills will stimulate fruit buds.
Continue to shelter young citrus in frosty gardens, mature citrus should be offering a lot of fruit to pick now.
In cold wet areas start garlic and shallots off in containers and plant out later when the ground warms up.
Cheers, Linda
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