January : Future Plans

At Christmas I was given some money to buy plants. A brilliant present!

There is always abundant space and new ideas arrive speedily.
I’ve ordered 25 bare rooted Salix britzensis, red stemmed willow, from the tree nursery. They’ll go near the end of the pond, slightly towards the south- west, so the evening sun shines through their bronzy stems in winter. Additionally, they will provide shelter for the ducks who seem to favour that end of the pond when the weather is rough.

Seed catalogues have arrived. I save seed from the previous year in small labelled brown envelopes, stacked upright in an old wooden box of my Dad’s. I collect the usual easy familiar varieties; marigolds, my Granny’s granny bonnets ( Aquilegia), nasturtium, sunflowers, forget me nots and poppies. Plus any extras that take my fancy, or are passed on by friends.

The catalogues always tempt me to try new ideas, but I had mixed results last year so will try to confine my choice. The garden is too big to fuss over once the growing season starts, and it is a shame when tiny new seedlings don’t thrive as they should because they get overlooked. Sometimes they just don’t thrive for reasons of their own.
One of the joys of having such a large garden is that if one thing doesn’t do so well there is always an array of plants that look fabulous. It’s not so obvious as in a small garden.

I also take numerous cuttings and offsets from shrubs and grasses which I overwinter in the Polytunnel. There are always spaces in the garden for them. Dogwood is quick to root and a useful space filler and ground cover. I always use straw as mulch over large new borders. It is cheap, protects the saplings and rooted cuttings, and keeps the weeds down. The yellow shade soon darkens and over a couple of seasons the straw breaks down to improve the heavy clay soil.

The annual foray to the tree nursery bare root sale usually produces some bargains. It’s an exciting occasion for me. Rather a lucky dip. I can go with a wish list, or a head full of ideas, only to find those key plants are not available; but there are always many other tempting possibilities that I hadn’t thought of, or maybe even heard of. I can never count on specific bargain choices, but that’s all part of the fun.

At the sale I get what is available at a reasonable price, then work out where and how I can use them to their best advantage. If there are bundles of virtually anything at £6 or less, I buy them regardless. They are all British native plants and ideal for our conditions. They will all provide wind protection and good cover for wildlife as they mature and naturalise.

There is difficulty in foreseeing how all this mass planting will look in years to come, when these bargain bundles are currently single leafless sticks, not even knee high.

We’ll have to wait and see – that’s all part of the fun…
We make the most of the bargains and will have to adapt our plans as time goes on; or literally cut our way out and move house.