Bedding down for the winter


While not as spectacular as Floyd the Mini storm last weekend accompanied by continues heavy rain put paid to any semblance of flowers that remained. So there was not much choice but to put the garden to bed for the winter. The summer flowers disintegrated with the continues gusts of strong wind, and the window box plantings were reduced to mush and were only fit for the compost bin. There was not even any decent cutting material worth retrieving. The hanging baskets also took a battering and apart from the Fuchsias, which seem to be able to withstand any amount of abuse, everything else had to be consigned to the bin.

When the initial clean up was done, and that did not take long as I don't grow as many annuals as I used to, it was time to bed down the rest of the garden for the winter.

A quick tour of the scree beds to see what needed attention produced some nice surprises. The Colchicum's or autumn crocuses as some people erroneously call them had all popped above ground and I had not noticed them two days before. The cyclamen Hederifolia planted underneath the Daphne Retusa are all white this year.

Two years ago they were almost all pink, last year they were a few pink ones amongst them, but this year they are all white. I wonder what it is that causes this phenomenon in Cyclamen? The autumn gentians are in full bloom and only required a fresh collar of grit. Because we get a lot of rain here in the winter rather than frost I like to put a fresh collar of grit round sensitive plants at this time every year. Apart from removing a few seed heads that was all that was required in the front garden.

The bulb frame.

As I grow most of my bulbs in pots for easy handling the bulb frame is an essential part of the growing process. The new bulb frame which is at the south side of the new alpine house, but which is still partly shaded will be more than adequate to hold my bulb collection.

The pots had been placed there on a temporary basis during the construction work and now had to be bedded down for the winter.

The copyright of the article Bedding down for the winter in Gardening in Ireland is owned by Michael Campbell. Permission to republish Bedding down for the winter in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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