GINA PARKINSON takes a guilty turn round her seasonally neglected garden, pausing to admire the frost and to begin planning the year ahead.

FOR the past three weeks, the garden has lain silent and deserted, coldly frosted and sparkling in pale sunlight.

The recent chill has given it a sheen of winter beauty, but apart from a quick foray collecting holly for the wreath, I haven’t been out there at all.

This leaves me feeling frustrated and guilty, but Christmas cast its usual list of tasks that remained unfinished until December 24. Before we know it the holiday has gone and we have reached January, fed up with the house and ready to get outside to greet the beginning of another gardening year.

Neglect is benign at this time of year for gardens; Christmas in December is ideal and couldn’t have been organised better. There is little to do, the lawn won’t thank the passage of boots over its wet or icy surface; beds don’t need to be dug and there is almost nothing to plant, especially if the temperature has dropped.

The only exception is bare-root plants; these are usually dispatched in November, but may still be sought from suppliers. These plants are often much cheaper than potted specimens, making them a good purchase where a number of plants are required, for hedging for example.

If they arrive during bad weather, find a sheltered place to temporarily heel them in. If this isn’t possible, put them into large compost filled containers until the conditions improve.

 

January jobs

DESPITE the quiet time of year, there are jobs to be done. Gravelled areas can be resurfaced, a task that needs to be completed every few years to top up areas that have grown thin.

Gravel looks lovely as a filler or path and is an economical solution if paving is too expensive. A few years ago, we lifted some concrete slabs from a south-facing patio at the back of the house, initially for small sections to be planted with sedums and thyme to make it more attractive.

Enthusiasm got the better of us and the whole lot was lifted, carted down to the veg patch and used as a base for a shed.

By then the area was looking pretty bad, and since it was right by the house and the first thing to be seen from the conservatory, it needed to be sorted quickly.

Pea shingle was the most economical solution and, as is often the case, becomes more so if a large amount is required. We got an enormous sack delivered and spent a weekend shovelling it into the barrow and wheeling it around to the back of the house to be tipped onto the denuded patio. It looked lovely, especially after rain, and the sedum and thyme soon began to spread themselves over the sun warmed stones.

The patio needs resurfacing this year and although we like the look of the pea shingle, we will probably choose to put a slightly larger stone over the top. This very small gravel sticks into the ridged soles of wellies and shoes which is irritating to walk in and gets deposited on the lawn or in the house.

On the plus side the cat has to pick her way over it very slowly so the birds she spots on the lawn have plenty of time to make their exit.

 

Weekend catch up

KEEP an eye on deciduous ornamental grasses.

New shoots will start appearing at the base of the plants surprisingly early in the year especially if the weather is fairly mild. It is at this point that all the old stems need to be removed, a task best done before the new growth gets too tall.

Using sharp shears, just cut away the whole lot just above the level of the new leaves taking care not to damage the tender fresh shoots.

 

Gardening TV and Radio

Tomorrow

6.15am, BBC2, Great British Garden Revival. How to use a kitchen garden to provide produce all year round.

7.15am, BBC1, Glorious Gardens from Above. Christine Walkden visits Bodnant Garden in Snowdonia.

8am, BBC Radio Humberside, The Great Outdoors. With Blair Jacobs and Doug Stewart.

9am, BBC Radio York, Julia Lewis. News and features from around the countryside of North Yorkshire.

9am, BBC Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther with Joe Maiden.

2pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Panellists Chris Beardshaw, Pippa Greenwood, Bunny Guinness and chairman Peter Gibbs advise the audience at the Garden Museum, in central London.

Friday

3pm, BBC R4, Gardeners’ Question Time. Eric Robson fields questions from an audience in West Yorkshire as experts Bob Flowerdew, Christine Walkden and Matthew Wilson solve their horticultural problems.

7pm, BBC2, Great British Garden Revival. Toby Buckland looks at the fortunes of the scented garden whilst Tom Hart Dyke wants more gardeners to plant tulips.

8pm, Sky1, Show Me Your Garden. Britain’s best back gardens are visited in this series. This week, Sussex is in the spotlight.

9am, BBC2, The Big Allotment Challenge. This week, the contestants have to grow then use larkspur in a bound bouquet, produce frozen lollies and syrups and produce two uniform cucumbers. Innuendoes will abound no doubt.