PREPARING FOR WINTER IN WEST YORKSHIRE GARDEN

Every year I tell myself I will give myself less work to do in the garden, and every spring I get the fever and start propagating and potting things up, like hanging baskets, troughs, etc.  It's like a disease.  And every autumn I pay for it.  It's the beginning of November now and the temperature is decreasing , the breeze is getting stronger and icier, and the leaves are falling fast.  The leaves on my trailing fuchsias, Swingtime and Southgate, were turning yellow and that was the warning sign for me to get the more tender plants protected before frost gets to them first.  Just as I did last November, I cut back the fuchsias and put them into a mini-greenhouse.  I tell you, it's really hard cutting back plants which are covered with beautiful flowers, but it has to be done if I want them to survive to flower for months next year.




Mini-greenhouses packed with tender plants - Nov 2015

I bought a load of plant trolleys earlier in the year but I want to protect them over winter, so I've put them in the shed.  I'll spray them with WD40 when I get my energy back.  For winter, I've placed either flat stones or terracotta pot feet to raise the containers off the ground (you just have to mind you don't block the drainage holes). 

Talking of drainage; right now, I am drained of energy.  I nearly fell twice while erecting the greenhouses, lugging pots around.  It's not just gardening with a balance problem, but that the neighbouring ash trees have again dumped their load of autumn leaves and millions of seeds onto my garden and I can hardly distinguish between paving and plants right now.  I keep sweeping them up, and they keep on falling by the hundreds, with more to come. 

Some of the plants in containers may struggle to survive a harsh winter without protection.  Terracotta is more insulating than plastic and if you buy the frost-resistant terracotta, the containers should be fine but that doesn't mean the plants will.  I move my containers into more sheltered positions and wrap the containers holding the more valuable, or more vulnerable, plants with bubblewrap.  Plants like Acer palmatum dissectum Ornatum, which you can see below in all its glory (the red shrub, for those who don't know).  The two small potted ferns, Athyrium felix-femina Frizelliae (aka Tatting Fern) and the Athyrium filix femina Victoriae (Victoria Lady Fern) which you can see in the bottom-right of the photograph have each been popped inside a larger container while still inside their own small container.  The double layer should help insulate them against freezing weather although I believe they are quite hardy, particularly if planted in a garden border.  Plants which are planted in a garden border and have their roots surrounded by a mass of earth are more protected. 

Acer palmatum dissectum 'Ornatum' surrounded by hostas and ferns

And the Acer palmatum 'Katsura' which is up at the top of the garden, in a container, and tucked into a corner, sheltered by the two mini-greenhouses.  Its terracotta pot will definitely be bubble-wrapped. 

Acer palmatum 'Katsura'

The Coronet family miniature apple tree  will have its container bubble-wrapped, as will the tree peony, Paeonia suffrutocosa Shimadaijin.  The latter has not yet flowered but it is alive and healthy and I have high hopes for it being a wonderful addition to my garden. 

Also, I've brought in the pelargoniums.  They cannot stand frost.  I've been growing the same red pelargoniums now for years, all from cuttings from the original plant.  I never tire of the colour.  When the temperature drops, before the frost can kill them, I cut them down, take them out of their container and pop a group of them into a large container, all together, with their roots covered with fresh compost.  The tick along nicely on my east facing window bottom, a drop of water now and them to keep them going until they can go outside again next spring. 

Red pelargonium



I grow pink/red trailing pelargoniums too.  They are high up in corners in my south-west facing front porch which is open to the elements but fairly protected from bitter wind.  Each year they struggle along and just about survive.  I think I'll place a bit of bubble wrap or fleece over them this year to give them a better chance of having a strong start next spring. 

Last but not least, I have put tulips, tete-a-tete daffodil bulbs, and crocuses into the free-standing trough, and the trough under the lounge window, in the hope that I'll get a nice display in spring.  I was going to turn over the Crystal Palace annual lobelia, now it has almost finished flowering, and put the bulbs into the ground in their place, alongside the lawn.  But, I have seriously run out of energy, so the lobelia (which has been absolutely superb and I will certainly grow it again) will have to stay put and let nature take its course.  Why?  Because I intend to hibernate.