Posts Tagged ‘snow’ < back
January Gardening Jobs
11th Jan:
Happy New Year from all at Harrington Porter Landscapes. I hope you all had a wonderful time over Christmas and New Year and are raring to go for the upcoming year.
We are now counting down the days until Spring arrives and if you haven’t already started now is the time to start getting your garden ready for the rest of the year.
At this time of year it is good to think about any moving of plants as they will be dormant so less chance of sending them into shock.
If it does snow again (hopefully not!) try and remember to brush the snow of the plants as much as possible. If you haven’t already try and protect as many of your less hardy plants as you can by wrapping them up in garden fleece or if possible move them somewhere such as indoors or in a sheltered position.
Also if you are thinking about having any work done in the garden now is a good time because with all your plants and shrubs pruned back and in hibernation, this will allow more room to get access to those hard to reach places.
Now is the time to start ordering your summer flowering bulbs and finally clear any debris form the garden.
Finally now is a good time to mulch your beds (about 2 inches deep) as this will not only add nutrients to the soil but also insulate the soil during the remainder of the winter months.
If we can be of any further help here at Harrington Porter please don’t hesitate to get in contact even if it is only for a chat to offer guidance.
Happy New Year
Harrington Porter Landscapes
Winter Gardening Tips
11th Jan:
Firstly, on behalf of the Harrington Porter team, let me wish you all a happy new year! I hope that 2010 is a flourishing year for your garden!
Although it is the middle of Winter, now is still a good time for maintenance, especially if your garden didn’t get a thorough Autumn tidy up last year. Now is the ideal time, before Spring, for pruning and training, especially Wisteria, Roses, Clematis and fruit trees. Also, if your garden is looking quite bare and dull at this time of year – it doesn’t need to and we can change that for you! Although certainly less abundant than Spring and Summer, there are a huge range of plants that provide Winter interest throughout the season, and not just in the form of flowers; there are ornamental stems, such as the striking red, orange or yellow stems of the ornamental Dogwoods (Cornus ssp.), or the haunting white stems of Rubus. Colour doesn’t have to be the main feature of ornamental and eye-catching stems as it does, take Corylus avenella ‘Contorta’ – the Corkscrew hazel – has a mass of twisting, gnarled stems that loop and bend in all directions, in fact this plant is at its most striking in Winter, when it has no leaves so the stems can be appreciated much more, plus it is adorned with bright yellow catkins towards the end of Winter. This is just one plant of many that really come into their own at this time of year. Contact us and we can advise on a huge range of plants to provide interest for this season, or any other, and even source the plants for you from reputable and professional suppliers to ensure the best quality.
Hopefully this recent bout of snow hasn’t been too damaging for your garden. As beautiful as snow is, it can be very destructive to tender plants, so I hope you got yours all wrapped up or sheltered before the onslaught. But, it’s not too late to protect tender plants – as long as they are still alive and not wiped out by the recent frosts, then get busy with the fleece, or drag them into a sheltered position. Not only is it the damage from frost that you should watch out for in your garden with this recent snow, but also the actual weight of the snow itself on branches and hedges can be a problem if it is left sitting there for too long. Some plants are fully hardy and will not be bothered at all by this; other plants however are hardy but they will still suffer frost-burn if left with snow on their leaves or crowns for too long. E.g. Cordylines are a good example of this, a hardly plant, but one that is quite susceptible to damage when its crown is wet and then we get regular hard frosts. When in doubt, please contact us and we can advise on particular plants and their susceptibility to frosts as well as suitable ways to protect them.
Although there’s nothing quite as fun as building a big snowman on the lawn with the children, do beware of walking on the lawn when there is snow on it, or indeed when there has been a frost and the ground is frozen. This can be very damaging to the grass which easily snaps and is damaged when frozen and then stepped on – that ‘crunchy’ sound that everyone likes to hear so much when walking on frozen lawns is actually hundreds of blades of grass snapping and breaking internally with each step. There, now, if that hasn’t guilt-tripped you into avoiding the mass slaughter of hapless grass strands then nothing will!
If you have any Winter bedding plants – i.e. in your window boxes or pots, then remember to ‘dead head’! Often people forget and this will quickly result in a plant ceasing to flower. Cyclamen, pansies, violas, primroses, all need to be dead headed before going to seed, this can keep them flowering for months as opposed to a few weeks. And, if you don’t have beautiful Winter or Spring bedding plants in your window boxes or pots – then come on and visit us! We can take care of that for you, and we pride ourselves on really eye-catching and tasteful planting schemes for such situations.
