Sweet Pea - Gardening Advice with an Environmental Slant

Well we are past the shortest day but some of the coldest weather is yet to come. Sweet Pea is about to give you some contradictory advice. Both to tidy up and to leave untidy.

The cold weather is a gardeners friend it helps reduce pests and disease so get out in your garden and tidy away old pots, slabs, ornaments and general rubbish. Cut back all of the woody stems of perennials like phlox. This will prevent a lot of our garden enemies such as slugs and earwigs having somewhere cosy to pass the winter before coming out to renew the onslaught on our planting. Wash all of your old flower pots and make sure the greenhouse and cold frame are clean. Their time is coming up fast. Put some fleece over treasures that may not be fully winter hardy and trim back items that can be damaged by wind and weather.

Our friends and allies in the form of birds (I’m not sure about pigeons though) need all of the assistance we can give them. So leave a few fallen leaves in odd corners. You will see blackbirds constantly raking through them. Do not be hasty to remove anything with berries, even Ivy. They are invaluable food sources and can be left to stand for a month or two yet.

Make sure that the bird tables and feeders are well supplied and don’t forget some fresh water.

Go through your seed collections and be ruthless and throw out anything that is really out of date. Remember you can always get fresh discounted seeds from the Chinnor allotment and Garden Society on Sunday mornings.

Finally, get planning for 2018. What worked, what didn't and what new wonderful things to try this year.

Happy New Year and Good Gardening
Sweet Pea

Latest update from Sweet Pea

Exciting times for allotment growing

If you think that the season is all over then you are wrong. We are just getting started. The mild autumn means that we can really get an early start for improved crops for the early start of next year.

Jobs

Clear as much of your ground as possible. Don’t leave any hidey holes for slugs and pests to overwinter. Old beans can be kept for drying to give you some free seed or used in the kitchen. It is a good time to dig or rotavate whilst there is not too much moisture in the soil and it is still very friable. That’s the hard bit done, now for the pleasure.

Planting – It is getting to a perfect time for planting the following.

• Broad Beans – buy from the Chinnor Allotments and Garden Association (CAGA) shed
• Onions, garlic and shallots as sets (nearest for sale is Haddenham)
• Chard and Perpetual Beet – buy from the shed
• Last sowings of lettuce such as Winter Density – buy from the shed 

Some of the sowings will benefit from a covering of fleece and you know where you can get it cheaply

Finally the seed catalogues are dropping through the door. These are best perused with a glass of wine or beer. Suttons are selling an exciting dwarf mulberry.

Happy Gardening

Sweet Pea