Tips for February

Keep glass clean in greenhouses, and regularly check that heaters are working.

Start to cut down and tidy herbaceous borders when the soil is not sticky. Epimediums and hellebores can have their old leaves removed so that the early flowers can be easily seen.

Keep off the lawns when frosty.

Order seed potatoes and start chitting them in a cool dry corner. (This means getting them to start sprouting, to give them a head start when they are planted).

The Garden Awake

Water was to be the theme again at the beginning of January. Mike and I went to check the conservatory boiler, and it was surrounded by a pool of water... the conservatory is warmed using heated water running through cast iron pipes. We had the terrible feeling that the system was breaking down.... until one of the gardeners, who shall remain nameless, remembered that he had left a tap on in the conservatory and the water had seeped through the wall. After turning the tap off the remaining water seeped away, and all were relieved!

A lot of work has been undertaken this month with the preparation of three new areas in the gardens: an extra bed in the copse, a cleared area and new bed at the top of the East Border, and a large bed up the drive that will be full of hollies and berberis. There should be plenty of interesting new plants and vistas to be admired over the coming season.

The gardens are beginning to wake from their winter slumber as the snowdrops are in bloom and early daffodils start to peep through the soil. There is a wintersweet, chimonanthus praecox, in the Stable Yard close to my front door. As I walk past in the early evening it gives out a most beautiful scent.

Unfortunately, we will be losing Richard, one of gardeners, in the middle of February as he is moving on to pastures new. We wish him all the best for the future.