Weeding the Web

Planning a Winter Garden with Roddy Llewellyn

Sometimes nothing is drearier than a winter garden, especially in the wet. If you’re like me, you mostly grow annuals and perennials, and only clear up and cut down in early spring, in order to leave seed-heads for the birds and protect the soil over winter. So, right now, you and I are both looking at a drab, untidy muddle of rotting leaves and stems. Every year, I’m more tempted to do an autumn clear-up for that very reason.

But the view could look better with some structure and, in the post-Christmas lull,now is the moment to resolve (after all, it's nearly New Year) to create interesting view in time for next winter. I have a rather imprecise box ball coming along, but evergreens are not the only solution.

For other ideas, you could read The Winter Garden, an article on the website of well-known garden-designer, author and TV presenter Roddy Llewellyn (and while you’re thinking, “Wasn’t he…er?” Yes, friend of Princess Margaret).

Happy Christmas from Weeding the Web

I'll be off screen until next week now.

Whatever your circumstances, I hope you find this Christmas a restorative, inspirational and comforting break.

Happy Christmas!

Sloe Gin Fizz Cocktail

By now your sloe gin should be about ready for drinking. That’s if you haven’t been tesht – sorry – testing it too often to check progress and drunk it all. It’s so gorgeous that I can’t bear to dilute it with anything. However, if you fancy a cocktail, here’s quick YouTube tutorial for Sloe Gin Fizz (scroll down the page;it's there below the fold). The recipe uses something called Sweet and Sour, available in the States as a proprietary brand; it’s really a lemon and lime syrup, which you can make fresh with this recipe. Happy sipping this Christmas!

Bird feeding problems?

Problems with feeding the birds are not uncommon. You wouldn’t think it could be too difficult putting out a bit of seed, but wind can blow over the table or whisk seeds from the feeder. Changing your brand of seed can ruffle our feathered friends’ feathers, too. And then there’s the battle to keep the bigger birds - pigeons, rooks etc - from bullying the little ones off the tables. Not always successful, as you can see from the picture.

An easy way to clean your garden tools with recycled oil

“Lazy man always works hardest.” My father’s voice rings in my ears every time I guiltily slide my mud-smeared spade back into the shed.

But here's an idea for keeping tools clean, rust-free and well oiled. In the video below, American gardening expert Joe Lamp’l shows you how to clean your shovel by ramming it repeatedly into a bucket of oil-soaked sand. Keep the bucket just inside the shed door and you can clean it after every use. The abrasiveness of the sand should help keep your tools sharp, too.

The Eden Project's Time of Gifts Video

And for anyone frustrated by Friday's posting, here's the link to the Time of Gifts video on Eden Project TV, as it seems too shy to appear here!

The Eden Project

The Eden Project, Cornwall, grasped technology with both hands earlier this year and took its own channel, Eden Project TV on myCornwall.tv, which aims to unite all things Cornish on the internet, using video and social media.

Five-minute programmes are regularly added, featuring events at Eden, local designers, seasonal gardening ideas and showing what’s blooming and fruiting with the help of Eden’s horticulturalist Catherine Cutler. CEO and co-founder Tim Smit, champion of sustainability and eco-campaigns, rants monthly in What’s Eating Tim Smit?

Other films make it on to the Eden Project blog, where a bit of lateral thinking has the Plant Records Manager, Chris Bisson, recommending a favourite plant “record” each Friday. So far we’ve had The Who’s Pictures of Lily and, in festive fun this week alt rock group Weezer's Buddy Holly (groan. But a must for fans of Happy Days).

Eden’s very busy this month with Christmas workshops, Cornish choirs, skating and curling (featured on West Country Tonight), late openings and a display of Christmas trees. Get a flavour in the Eden Project's Time for Gifts Video.

Books for Gardeners: Rhapsody in Green by Beverley Nichols

“The difference between a plant in a pot and a plant in the soil is the difference between a man in a hotel and a man in his own home.”

 

Rhapsody in Green: The Garden Wit and Wisdom of Beverley Nichols is a collection of quotes from this prolific writer, drawn from fifteen of his best titles, and edited by Roy C Dicks, an enthusiast who now lectures on Nichols, using actorly skills to bring him to life.

“One of my grandfathers died of a clump of iris stylosa; it enticed him from a sick bed on an angry evening in January, luring him through the snow-drifts with its blue and silver flames; he died of double pneumonia a few days later. It was probably worth it.”

Creating an allotment: Doctor knows best

Allotments are hot property these days. If you’re thinking of taking one on and are lucky enough to live in an area where there isn’t a waiting list, then you should get going now. You’ll need the winter to prepare the plot in time for spring sowing.

The best websites make no bones about the work involved. Dr George Cook- a GP with fifty years’ gardening experience – has an allotment in Liverpool which he transformed in only seven months (though, having it almost on his doorstep must have helped).

Last month the Liverpool Federation for Allotment and Leisure Gardeners* awarded him Third Place for the Best Plot in Liverpool 2009. His allotment website includes loads of information, including a thought-provoking monthly breakdown of the hours spent working it (a hefty 78 hours in June, only 5 in December). When I first visited over a year ago, he’d included the sobering calculation that a standard plot takes ten thousand turns of the spade to dig over and added, “the basic requirement…is exercise and commitment. If you are afraid of these, then try knitting.”

Presents for Gardeners from Hen and Hammock

Christmas presents with a provenance can be found at Hen and Hammock, a company that looks closely at its products and their suppliers. They believe that all products should be made to an ecologically conscious design, but should also be attractive. They give 10% of their pre-tax profit to non-profit organisations and in the last year have contributed £450 to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.