January February – the quietest months in the garden?
Do you love winter? Cold, crisp days where you can view the world and your garden with clarity. These are the months to prepare and plan, to prune, weed and add dormant plants ready to burst to life in Spring. When you see you see the bare structure of your garden you can plan where to fill in gaps and add more plants for later in the year.
We often see mid-winter as a time when nothing is happening in the garden, but it is an excellent time to spend some time outdoors. This is a good time to attack perennial and persistent weeds by digging them up from the roots and to mulch around the base of plants to add nutrients. Most plants are best left overwinter for wildlife, but you can start a slow cut back as plants start to look the worse for wear. Greenhouses and sheds also benefit from a clean and tidy up.
If you have never tried growing potatoes (seed potatoes can be purchased at our Trading Centre or online) this is the best time of year to start this process. Chitting potatoes means sprouting the potato tuber – putting it, most eyes upright, in a light, cool but frost-free place at about 50F (10C). If you have only a few potato tubers, you can line them up in egg cartons or a shallow box, taking care to separate the potatoes and keep them upright. After 4-6 weeks strong, short green shoots should appear about 2-3cms long from the eyes of each tuber. These can then be planted out once the soil has warmed up, anytime from Mid-March. There are many creative ways to grow potatoes if space is limited (deep pots or sacks) and this is certainly something our younger gardeners might enjoy getting involved in. There is nothing tastier than a freshly dug potato!
AGM and Event News
In late November we held our AGM and were pleased to welcome members for an annual report followed by an enjoyable light buffet and a quiz. The President’s Award was made this year by Ray Jones to Anthony Athill for his outstanding and tireless work in The Growing Together Project – working on Gardening Clubs and projects in the local schools. This rewarding works reaps benefits for the pupils and if anyone is interested in getting involved, please do get in touch with us on: admin@hihs.org.uk