Some gardeners start this in autumn once everything goes over, but I like to leave the garden to slide gracefully into winter, enjoying the frost on the seed heads, late flowers and also giving plants extra protection if we have very cold weather and deep frosts. But it is also important to get it all done before the bulbs and herbaceous start growing and emerging from the ground. Because I have so much to do in the nursery and gardens at Quercus I like to start this as soon as I come back in January after our winter break. There have been years where I have been lucky enough to get it all done before the end of February and then there are the years when I am still trying to finish the tidy up in May. This is much more difficult as bulbs are up and plants are growing. But we gardeners are always at the mercy of mother nature. I start with one border or garden area and gradually work through the gardens. Its a job that, although hard work I find immensely satisfying. Seeing the gardens going from very messy with lots of dead growth, weeds, and leaves lying over the borders to neat and tidy with the first signs of tentative green shoots poking through the soil.
Firstly I cut back all the dead stems, leaves etc from the plants and remove weeds, gathering it all up into my big recycled tyre bucket and ultimately into the compost bin. Most of the plant material goes in the compost heap unless it is very woody, then it goes on the bonfire. Cutting back the herbaceous plants, picking up dead leaves and general rubbish lying around improves the look of the borders instantly. The stems and leaves of virtually all herbaceous plants can be taken down to ground level. At this time I also cut all last years leaves off Hellebores, even though they are still green. This allows us to see the flowers when they bloom early in the season and allows new leaves to grow through. If I have had a good year in the garden there are few weeds to remove now, but there are always some tenacious ones that insist, so out they come. I also use tidying up as an opportunity to check which plants are struggling or maybe have not survived. Then I can make a decision whether to replace them or plant something new.
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| Cut back the previous year's growth close to the gorund, this is Rudbeckia lanceolate which keeps a mound of leaves all year round |
~ Re-edging lawns or fixing border edges
It's all good exercise after hibernating over winter! Once all the debris is cleared off the border I can then see if any lawns or grass paths need re-edged, which I do with a half-moon edging knife and shears. Once the edges are neatened up and verical again I then take the shears over it again to remove any last straggly bits. We were taught at college that if the grass edges look good and the first foot or two of the bed is tidy then you can worry less about what lies behind, and it does work. If larger areas need fixed, I cut out a square of turf larger than the hole and turn it 180 degrees so the grass has a smooth new edge and the hole can be filled in with some soil and re-seeded. Larger areas should have the top layer of soil loosened with a rake and then be re-seeded. If the beds have a wooden edge, etc, it's a good opportunity to do some maintenance before plants start growing again. This can be replacing wooden edges, hammering in loose pegs, etc.
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| Re-seeding areas where I've levelled the grass path or that have been worn |
~ Forking / digging / no dig
Here again there are many preferences, some people fork over the soil, loosening up compacted areas, if it's it a large area (veg beds) it can be dug over as a whole bed. Forking over the beds (taking care to avoid bulbs) opens up the soil to allow better drainage and let air in, it also looks good of course. Then there is the no dig approach to gardening. This is something I have recently been experimenting with in some of the new gardens in the nursery. Because when you think about the borders in the nursery which have a bark mulch don't get dug or forked at all and the plants grow very well......... In the nursery gardens any beds that don't get bark on them get a home made compost mulch, so the soil doesn't need forked to make it look good. Food for thought there moving forward.
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| Forking over borders |
~ Compost mulch
Finally I cover the borders (that don't have a bark mulch) in home made compost from our compost heaps. This mulch seals in moisture, feeds the plants and nourishes and improves poorer soils. The soil in the nursery is clay, so wet, cold, claggy, heavy and either dry and hard or wet and difficult to work. Adding organic matter (compost, manure, mushroom compost, etc) will open up the soil and add nutrition and organic matter. This helps with drainage and the health of the soil and thus encourages plants to grow well. Over the year worms and me hoeing the beds will work the compost in and over time the soil does improve. I did this for the fifteen years I was at my last garden and by the time I left the very poor clay soil in the borders was becoming a lovely workable soil. I also scatter pelleted chicken manure over the beds. I have previously used Growmore and other chemical based slow release fertilisers but find that the organic pelleted chicken manure is really good and the plants love it!
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| Compost on the herb garden |
~ Enjoy the fruits of your winter labours
Lastly, stand back and enjoy the really satisfyingly feeling of those tidy borders, beds and garden, ready to jump into life, even if you feel sore and tired! Have a coffee or a hot chocolate and stand at the window in the warmth and watch the bulbs emerging and the first signs of growth, that's what I do, as I plan what I'll put in any spaces I've found.
Take care, stay safe and stay well.
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very helpful information.
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