
I hope you had a good Christmas season. We stuck to our principles again and had a chicken rather than a turkey. We prefer chicken (as does Mia the cat) and there is room in the fridge for nice things rather than a huge turkey carcass. I won’t pack away Christmas quite yet but my attentions are turning to the New Year now. And not a huge party but the garden. It looks as though, after a bloody start to the week, things will be settled but cooler – an ideal time to get that winter digging done.
I quite like the dullness of the week between Christmas and New Year and, whatever the weather, am overwhelmed by the need to get out of the house. Whether it is a walk in the countryside, by the sea or just in the garden, I need some fresh air and gentle exercise. Now is the traditional time to sow onion seeds, for giant onions. I am sure that it is not necessarily the best time but that men (for it is usually, and traditionally, men that grow giant veg) want to get out of the washing up or sitting with more neighbours and relatives. Of course, things are not quite like this these days.
Although I always say that autumn is the start of the gardening year, it is a good time to take stock now. I like to look back through photos of the garden and sit down with a cuppa and think of ways I can change and improve the garden.
And I get out all my seed packets, sort them out, discard some that are really out of date and plan what to buy for the year ahead. It saves buying things I don’t need. I don’t know how it happens but every year I find at least one packet that has been out of date for ten years. It must be the same phenomenon that ensures that there is aways a pack of gravy granules or a pot of jam at the back of the kitchen cupboard that was out of date before I even moved into the house!
I then sort the seeds into groups, according to sowing times. So there are hardy plants for January, antirrhinums, onions, petunias and chillies for February, tomatoes, lettuce and most bedding plants for March, Cosmos, zinnias and hardy annuals for April, kale, cabbage and more flowers in May and then biennials in June. That way I don’t tend to miss sowing something by accident. But you will have your own way of organising your seeds.

It is also a good time to take some leaf cuttings of houseplants. You can remove a few leaves of echeverias or begonias and make new plants. There are various ways to propagate begonias and tall, cane begonias are best grown from cuttings. But the bushy kinds that do not have stems can be easily increased by removing a leaf with the ‘stalk’ cut to about 3cm long and pushed into gritty compost. Keep moist and place in a clear bag or propagator and a few months later small leaves will appear, showing that the leaves have rooted and new plants are forming.

It is a good time to plant trees and shrubs too. If you were given some money for Christmas why not buy a tree. Apples trees are a good choice and they are attractive as well as productive. The flowers attract pollinators and fallen fruits will delight local blackbirds. I stored lots in the garage and as the wrinkly ones are not so tempting now I throw a few on the lawn every morning and the blackbirds and thrushes are having a great time eating them.
When planting, make sure you prepare the soil well, forking in lots of organic matter and that you stake your new tree. You do not need a long stake. It only needs to keep the roots steady in the soil. Invest in a proper tree tie to prevent the tie damaging the bark of the young tree.

If you already have apple trees, you can spend time pruning now. After the wet summer, fungal canker has been a problem. It kills the bark and can actually kill branches. The affected stems should be pruned out to avoid the problem spreading. Some varieties are more prone than others but wet weather always makes it worse. You can shape and thin the trees but do not prune too much because you will be removing potential flowers and fruits.
This is also the right time to prune grapes.
Never prune plums, cherries, apricots or peaches at this time of year because the cut surfaces will be infected with silver leaf disease. They must only be pruned in summer.
Whatever you do, have a Happy New Year. Spring is not far away.