Winter slip sliding

Design and construction

Slip sliding away

Although the shortest day has been and gone now (hurrah!), the winter really takes its grip in January and February. The frosts have been particularly hard in December and although I’ve enjoyed the winter wonderland they create, it’s hard work being on the ground when it’s frozen like iron. The cold seeps right through your boots and into your toes and it isn’t long until you can’t feel your fingers. All you accountants and bankers out there who dream of a life out in the open during your stuffy summers in the office, be aware of the realities!! Brrrrrrr.

Most gardens are looking downright miserable now. Even all year planting doesn’t look pretty when it’s limp and frozen solid. I have been visiting clients with all kinds of paving and decking in their existing gardens. An early morning appointment can make it quite apparent if their garden surfaces are a death trap. Frosted paving slabs, frost covered decking – it looks pretty, but the snowy white plaster cast that can follow straight after a walk round the garden isn’t so inviting!

Most of us will avoid the garden at this time of the year – it’s just a dash out to the bins, to feed the birds or to bring in more logs. However, make sure these key walkways are safe and non-slippery. Don’t just think about your own family either. If you have elderly neighbours or parents, take a bit of time out to look at their gardens too. They will often use their garage in the cold – we hardy youngsters don’t mind a bit of scraping and de-icing. Make sure their garage paths are safe and lit. Check their walkway to the bins and their security lighting. As you know, a broken bone for us will heal quickly and easily (ha ha, she says, now off her crutches and driving again!) but a broken bone for an older person can be very debilitating.

I do quite like decking again. It seems to have come full circle, and now we’re using the smooth side and wider boards it does look really good. However, it is the worst culprit for a slippery surface. Please don’t put it outside any main exits from the house unless it’s a particularly resinous wood – a hard wood deck is best – and this prevents it from becoming too lethal. Point out to your client that it can be dangerous (or to yourself – if you like a chat) and try and put paving or another hard landscaping material at the point of exit and entry. Decking is still the best material for going over the top of a difficult surface when it’s too expensive to excavate below the damp proof course and lay a new paved surface.

2008 is supposed to be a difficult year financially for all of us. Getting the garden done may not be a priority, but amidst all the doom and gloom somewhere lovely to escape in the evenings might be just the ticket!

If you want an idea of what can be done and how much it might cost, do please call. Appointments are free and good fun!


Plants

Alpines

Alpines are such hardy little plants in their natural environment. They grow on the sides of mountain in very chilly conditions. Nature, as we know, is absolutely wonderful, but how these wonderful plants suddenly emerge in Spring after being covered in snow all winter must be one of the great miracles. The key thing with these plants is that they grow on the SIDE of the mountain. This means that any moisture just whizzes past them. It doesn’t settle around their roots and they never get the chance to sit there with their feet in a bucket of water. They grow in scree – which is basically bits of rock that’s slid down the mountain or broken up at the surface, and created areas of stony ground. The alpines put their roots down into this inhospitable ground and grow away. Some of the most beautiful plants are alpines. The alpine house at Wisley was always a favourite of mine in the winter. To see such perfectly formed flowers in miniature! One day I would like to have an alpine bed dedicated entirely to these lovely plants. 

They are often grown in an old sink, or a special container. They need to grow in a very free draining soil and you can buy special alpine grit for this purpose. Some are better than others at growing in ‘normal’ soil. There are good websites on how to create an alpine, or rock, garden. If you can view the plants at close quarters so much the better. Taking time to look and wonder at life’s small marvels is better for you than any trip to the sales!


Things to do

Books for the soul

Book vouchers and the like. Did you get money or book tokens for Christmas? If so, lucky you! I always think that book vouchers are one of the nicest presents I can ever get. My mum says she doesn’t like buying vouchers as it doesn’t seem like a proper present, but to me it’s not a voucher but somebody treating me to a whole afternoon in a bookshop. Come some rainy Sunday I can think to myself “Oooh I‘ve got vouchers to spend!” and off I can go to the best bookshop I can find. As you can imagine, I have hundreds of gardening books, but that doesn’t stop me getting excited about a new one. There’s always something to learn and you can start off generalising with plants and then get on to specialist and specific plants when you’re hooked. My favourite gardening books of all time are the ones by Rosemary Verey and Christopher Lloyd. Christopher was irreverent and funny. I remember visiting his garden and wanting to buy a special plant from him. He took me up the garden with a spade and fork and we dug it up there and then! A year at Great Dixter was one of my first books and I still love it today. Rosemary was also great at encouraging young enthusiastic gardeners (it was me once!) and her English Country Garden and The Garden in Winter are wonderful too. Add to this Gardening at Sissinghurst, by Tony Lord and The Small Garden by John Brookes. Oh, and The making of a garden by Deborah Kellaway. I remember my passion first kindled by these wonderful gardeners. I hope they can do the same for you.

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