Christmas rescheduled

In just a few short weeks time my personal Christmas Day will arrive.  Forget the dark, damp, miserable twilight half days of mid-Winter and December 25th.  My gifts arrive in the full, fresh glory of May and provide me with enormous joy and wellbeing for the weeks which run into June.  My sparkling presents are Alliums.

I have long adored Alliums and planted many thousands of bulbs over the years wherever we have lived.  I plant them in meandering, winding drifts of purple and white.  I entwine them around and around beds and borders.  I dot them here and there.  Set them aganist a background of Spring's fresh vibrant green and you have, to my mind, a truely perfect combination.

There is a feature on our garden which has just appeared in Country Homes & Interiors (May 2015) which shows the abundance of Allium planting.  These pictures, taken in late May 2013, show how quickly Alliums establish and thrive.  So, if you have never planted Alliums before, then do so.  Come this Autumn, plant as many as you possibly can and enjoy the visual feast of colour and vibrancy in your own garden next Spring and for many Springs to come.

Momentum

I have collected my supply of pea sticks from a local hazel coppice as I prepare the vegetable garden for what I hope will be a productive Summer harvest of Mangetout.

The Test Valley is blessed with woodland, properly managed in a totally sustainable way. This is becoming rare nowadays but management of woodland by skilled coppicing lets light in, allows rare floweres to thrive and is the ideal habitat for butterflies and many other forms of wildlife.

We have reached the Spring equinox, when day and night are of equal level.  From this point the growing cycle accelerates.  It's important to get ahead of the game.  I have new herbs to plant which I am bringing on.  The vegetable beds have been prepared, dug over and fed. Large numbers of Foxgloves have been planted to create drifts of towering spires.  Herbaceous beds have been cleared, weeded and plants divided and moved.  Alliums, hundreds planted since we moved here 4 years ago, are appearing with their dagger shaped leaves stabbing up through the earth - they are a signature plant in this garden and create the early injection of vivid colour in late Spring.

But this weekend has seen me up a ladder with a jet hose blasting the Orchard Room's cedar shingle roof.  The whole oak framed structure now looks fresh and almost new.  Scarifying the grass and the mowing of all the lawns which surround the house has now also begun.  Soon the grass will need feeding too.  So begins the momentum - many small tasks that each week will prepare the garden and take us into Spring and beyond.

Neat and tidy

This is a time of year to get ahead of the game. From March onwards, everything accelerates, growth spurts and the garden divests itself of is overcoat of Winter dullness for a tracksuit all bright and fresh. This is when we like to get the garden neat and tidy.  Prepare the veg beds, clear and begin to feed the borders, edge the lawns, give everything a bit of a Spring clean.  Doing even the smallest of tasks now, ticking through our checklist item by item, pays dividends when things really start to shift come the end of March. It's a process and one I enjoy greatly for I like the bare bones of the garden, the formality and pure form just as much now as I like the frothiness of high Summer.  There is also the tantalising hint of promise in the air.

Not that we have much real colour yet. The mono-chromatic months of Winter with its shades of grey and brown, may be drawing to a close but, what colour there is, is strictly rationed.  Hellebores are now entering stage left but centre stage are our Viburnum Tinus 'Eve Price' standards which perform beautifully and so delicately each and every year.

Winter pruning is done, soon we shall divide and move plants around while adding those we have grown from cuttings or seed.  Those left over can be sold at our garden openings this Summer. But for now we enjoy the simple metronomic rhythm of the process itself and the small gains which keeping ahead of things brings.

The gift of time

The seasonal present I treasure the most at Christmas is a luxury one. It comes with no wrapping paper, no bows or gift tags and costs nothing.  But it lasts from Christmas to New Year and each day it is as fresh and new as the day before. It is the gift of time.

As I work full time, time itself is a limited commodity. But the seasonal break provides me with far more time to spend in the garden working on small and large projects uninterrupted over a number of days. It offers me time to plan and assess the future of beds and borders. It gives me time to while away on nothing in particular.

This particularly enjoyable present has been put to good use this year as I have been able to work, over a number of days, planning and creating a new floor for the oak framed gazebo built in the far corner of our small orchard which we rather grandly call 'The Orchard Room.' It was constructed in the Summer of 2012 using seasoned local New Forest oak for the main frame with chestnut batons and cedar shingles for the roof, topped off with an onion shaped oak finial. It is entirely open on all sides and so sits perfectly with its rustic surroundings amongst the fruit trees and long grass.

For some time now The Orchard Room has been the subject of some debate. What do we do with the grass floor which has become dried and and worn away.  Do we pave it? Too heavy handed. Do we simply lay gravel? Not particularly creative. Do we lay cobbles or granite sets? Too formal. In the end we elected to use up an odd selection of left over sandstone slabs and granite sets, that we had laying around, in a random sort of pattern. Using up this stock of unused materials made the whole project inexpensive other than the purchase of the mortar, some small bags of Cotswold chippings plus my own time and efforts levelling and laying the materials. But the effect is pleasing and in keeping with the nature of the structure under which it now sits. We are happy with the results and the aesthetic.

At least it kept me active and away from the sofa and TV controls which at this time of year is all too easy to retreat to. Much more fun to enjoy my present and that most precious of gifts....time!

The Great British Garden Revival

The second series of 'The Great British Garden Revival' begins on BBC Two - Tuesday, 6th January, 2015.  We hope to see the garden in Episode 5 (scheduled for Monday, 12th January) which specifically features Lavender and is presented by Diarmuid Gavin.  It will take me away from these dark and gloomy Winter days to another much sunnier, warmer and pleasant place!

See Episode 5 (Lavender and Knot Gardens):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-2z42Krp0k

In quiet repose

There is a quiet solemnity about the garden at this time of year which I like greatly.  None of the frenetic rush and bustle of late Spring and Summer.  The garden is in quiet repose.  Mornings often see mist hang in the air drifting up to our hedge line from across the fields that surround us.  We are like a ship on a ghostly white sea.

Apart from the lengthening hours of darkness, the hours that are spent in the garden are even more treasured.  Now that all the hundreds of bulbs have been planted, the borders cut back, shrubs and bushes shaped and made tidy, there is a restful almost monastic peace about the place.  This serenity is far removed from the growing mayhem that is the build up to Christmas and the neon lights of the towns and cities.  But I like the garden all the more for being a refuge away from the crowds of shoppers.  The greatest gift for me at Christmas is one of time and a luxury present it is too when the majority of my time each week is at work.

I am particularly looking forward to the time I will have this Christmas to begin work on creating a floor for the Orchard Room.  I will replace the grass, much dried out and worn, with a more solid base which will look so much better.  The hard labour will do me no harm while keeping me active and away from the sofa and television for a while which seems to be the habitat of most at this time of year.  I just hope that the weather will be kind.

But that is for a month or so away.  In between times I can now just potter around the garden attending to the odd task or chore and letting myself drift along just like the garden seems to be doing.  Quietly, peacefully, serenely.

The check list

It may feel like the end of the gardening year but in so many respects it is the beginning of the next one.  This is a time of year for a check list and we have been slowing working our way through ours each weekend.

Hedges all around the garden trimmed - check.  Shrubs including all roses cut and shaped - check.  Garden furniture cleaned and stored - check.  Cuttings taken (the Penstemons are doing great) - check.  Central round bed cut back and many more Alliums added to enhance the display - check.  Tender plants in pots placed undercover - check.  Last month all box balls and lavender trimmed and shaped - check.  Compost bins turned and processed compost laid - check.  All lawns edged - check.

The main herbaceous bed is next on the check list for many plants need cutting back and dividing.  Plants will be moved or potted on to sell at garden openings next year.  Then comes the planting of hundreds of bulbs which sit awaiting planting at present in their netted sacks.

The clocks go backwards next weekend making our time in the garden all too short now each weekend.  Less time means fewer items can be ticked on the check list.  But at least the hard work done now will mean that we will reap the rewards next Spring and that in itself will get me through Winter.