A Programme for the Coming Year
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
A Programme for the Coming Year
January. Just browse the seed catalogues and, if you do venture into the garden, consider whether you’re going to make things worse by compacting the soil and trampling the bulbs that are doing their best to come up straight.
February. Weather permitting, look out for the crocus and snowdrops brightening up the garden in the last month of winter. Plant tomato seeds and put on the window sill; it’s a good feeling to see them poke through the compost.
March. Now we should have lots of colour in the borders and pots with daffodils and anemones signalling that spring is here. Weeds of course are the first to realise it’s spring and will cover the borders in no time unless we curb their activity. Do not be tempted by the new young plants in the garden centres unless you have a warm place to store these tender plants.
April. Now some of the earlier bulbs like daffs are starting to fade, you need to be deadheading and give them a liquid feed on the leaves to ensure a good display next spring. Tulips come to the fore now with brilliant displays to gladden any heart. The end of April is a good time to purchase annuals from the shops.
May. The greenhouse is full of plants that are ready to go into the garden. Look for a good spell of weather; you don’t want to put them out to get battered by heavy rain and wind in their first few days in the open and ruin your good work. Plant kidney bean seeds now, they’ll soon catch up with some you were tempted to put out early which were attacked by slugs.
June. Patience will be rewarded if you resisted the temptation to put your hanging baskets on their brackets until now. That’s why professional people always have great displays. The gardens and allotments are in full swing now. Allotment folk will be carrying water daily to look after their precious crops while house holders will be wishing they’d installed an extra water butt
July. Controlling weeds and deadheading is the order of the day. In the greenhouse tomatoes are coming faster than you can eat them. You’re afraid to go on holiday as all your hard work in the garden will just shrivel up.
August. Everything is at its maximum now and you’re starting to look like a kidney bean because you’ve eaten so much of this king of veg. The longest bean you’ve kept for the village show has been nibbled by a pest. Start to pick some apples to give the rest of the crops a chance to get bigger. Dahlias are starting to show why we love them with gorgeous displays. The village show is at the end of the month in the community centre.
September. Here we go, it must be Sept as the garden centre shelves and most of the floor space are full of Christmas stuff. If you don’t like it you have to go and look around the aquarium section with only the odd Father Christmas in a fish tank. Plant some potatoes in a spare pot to ensure new potatoes for Xmas lunch. Foxgloves, hollyhocks and Canterbury bells need to go in seed trays now for displays next year.
October. Leaves starting to fall in abundance now. If you can bear it leave the ones on the border, it’s a great mulch and the worms love them. We now buy a load of pumpkins and carve them for the kids, then leave them outside until they’re mushy and try to stuff them in the food bin.
November. A dreary month, but force yourself into the garden to tidy up; you’ll be so glad you did come the spring. Everyone loves a bonfire, so get your hedgehog recipes out in case one has decided to hibernate in yours.
December. Rummage through the shed looking for the Christmas decs and lights, wishing you’d put labels on the boxes, then finding stuff you were looking for in the summer. Give the garden waste collection workers a tip, don’t leave it all over the road. Then cancel your subscription.
January. Start again!
Take care and happy gardening