December is a month of inclement weather- the ever present looming grey skies, with little sign of any sunshine for what felt like weeks and the constant threat of approaching storms. The month began with the arrival of Storm Darragh. With the pre-warning, we were able to ‘batten down the hatches’ before ‘his’ arrival, with damage to the glasshouses being limited to only a couple of broken panes in the Carnation House. Some of the taller grasses in the Melon House border took a bashing, with gusts of over 50mph swirling around the garden, but thankfully we came off lightly and it could have been a lot worse. However, It makes one wonder, with the frequency of these storms, must we now anticipate this potential large-scale disruption every year?
With the limited hours of daylight and the squally weather we endeavoured to complete any outstanding jobs in the garden before the end of the year. The remaining bulbs were added to the meadow area, and the large pots in the terrace filled with Tulip ‘Black Parrot’, ‘Doll’s Minuet’, ‘Brown Sugar and Narcissi ‘Delnashaugh’ and ‘Acropolis’. Both areas will bring wonderful displays of colour for us to look forward to in the spring. But it always amazes me, how there are always a few packets of bulbs that are later discovered, just when you think it is all over!
The infamous back beds of the Cutting Flower area were finally emptied and meticulously weeded. The remaining perennials were relocated and then this area covered with a thick black sheet to hopefully supress the weeds’ vigour. As mentioned in previous Gardener’s Journals, the plan is to use these beds to grow our annual flowers, enabling us to weed the area successfully between plantings throughout the season. I am feeling very grateful to have finally completed this mammoth task, fingers crossed my plans work.
We were thrilled to have a visit from RHS Wisley’s Edibles Growing Team at the beginning of December. Julia and I gave the RHS team a tour around the kitchen garden area and glasshouses and discussed the ways we try to work closely with the chefs with regards to what we grow and how they use it here. It was very interesting to hear how they work with the restaurants at Wisley too, obviously on a much larger scale. These connections with fellow gardeners are so important when developing a garden, with the exchanging of knowledge, experiences and ideas. We are really looking forward to our return visit to Wisley in the new year.
The remainder of the month was spent looking ahead to 2025. It is going to be a very busy year in the garden. We are adding to our successful ‘Season By Season’ workshops with five new ‘Kitchen Garden: Season By Season’ workshops. Plus, also introducing a new range of in-depth one day workshops ‘Digging Deeper’. More information for these can be found on the Water Lane website. So exciting times ahead.
December was yet another busy month – but with beds cleared, bulbs planting completed, planting plans in progress, propagation house tidied, and tools cleaned all ready for the new year; and we could leave it for the Christmas break with a clear conscience and ready for a fresh start in the new year.