Winter’s End and Spring’s Beginning

 

This seems to have been a long, dreary winter. For us here, in central Scotland, our photos record some snow and the there were some sunny, frosty days but it is hard to recall them as there has been such a long stretch of grey, damp dullness. But Winter is coming to an end and hopefully warmer days lie ahead.

Of course, one of the first signs of the changing season is the lengthening days and lighter evenings and then with no fuss nor any sense of ostentation the snowdrops magically appear. Their gleaming white flowers seem to pierce the dreich, grey light as the ‘February Fair Maids’ draw our eyes down to garden level. Originating from south-east Europe, the earliest wild snowdrops were recorded in 1778, though they may have arrived in the 1600’s or earlier. They love shady, moist, well-drained woodland soil and if they are happy in their location the clump should double in size every 7-10 years. Just imagine how long it has taken for a large carpet of snowdrops to spread in some of the mature gardens and woodlands near your house. They may look innocent, but the plant is toxic if eaten. However, scientists are able to create a medicine for treating dementia from compounds in the bulbs. Poisonous or not, one thing for sure is that snowdrops are much loved and treasured in many sites across the country. (Please remember, if you are tempted, it is illegal to dig up or pick wild snowdrops in the UK!)

 

Winter is as busy time in the garden here, as we do much of our landscaping work, including tree-planting and pruning all the apple trees and fruit bushes. Earlier this year we decided to tackle restoration pruning of the huge, overgrown veteran apple trees which have been here for a century or more. This is not a job for the faint-hearted as it involved some high work on ladders using lengthy pole-saws to remove some of the craggy branches extending high above the main crown of the tree. We were fortunate that Colin Wren was available to guide and train us in this work, as an instructor from The Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. He expertly guided and advised us where to make the main cuts and how best to remove large sections from the top down. Two hours later, with a substantial amount of pruned branches piling up on the ground, we stood back to look at our work. Surprisingly, it was difficult to notice the difference because Colin had sympathetically worked with the shape of the remaining tree ensuring that it was balanced and healthy. We are grateful to him for his expert guidance, but there is more to do and it will take a couple more years yet before we have them pruned to a manageable height and shape.

Many garden manuals, written by gardeners working further south than us, suggest St. Valentine’s day ( Feb, 14th) as the time to start planting seeds for the coming summer but here we tend to wait at least a fortnight or more before it is warm enough to consider sowing in unheated conditions. In the poly tunnels we are beginning to sow our vegetable seeds, broad beans and onion sets, as these are not fazed if the overnight temperature drops too low, but it will be a few more weeks at least before we plant the main vegetables ( courgettes, pumpkins etc) as they need heat to start them off. Chitting seed potatoes need to be in a light, cool but frost free place and they need about 4-6 weeks to develop the shoots before planting so keep an eye out for patches of lower temperature to keep them safe. Our vegetable beds are weeded, mulched and ready to go and we may well put some black polythene over some of them now to help warm up the soil over the next few weeks. Who knows what the growing season will be like this coming year but despite the wet winter, we may well have a long sunny spell with near drought conditions, or more weeks of rain and muddy boots.

Don’t despair, today’s rain is tomorrow’s whisky! Happy Gardening!

 

 

Written by Margaret Pollock, Head Gardener for Bannockburn House 

 

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