Gardening Tips
Your fortnightly gardening tips for indoors and outdoors |
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A look into the garden in the depths of winter reveals
whether or not we have managed to create an all-year-round garden. The design is laid
bare. We see the infrastructure, the walls, paths and buildings as well as pergolas,
screens and garden ornaments. Deciduous shrubs and trees are silhouettes, and afford a
contrast to the evergreens that take on an even more important role in the overall plan.
Now more than ever we are able to appreciate the interplay of shapes: the lines of
deciduous plants and of path and border edges against the masses of conifers—green
and gold—and the comforting bulk of clipped hedges. Colour may be added by the rusted
brown of beech. The higher structures are more noticeable now then in the summer;
then there is hectic activity close to the ground, herbaceous plants and shrubs
extrovertly calling attention to themselves. Now we see trees reaching for the skies,
spreading wide-armed above. The arched pergola suggests shelter, as well as making a
determined effort to haul down some of the space above our heads into the garden design.
Life is easier if tools are kept in good order and live in a designated place A few really
good, well-cared-for tools, stored sensibly, are far more useful than a haphazard
collection including gadgets made for every possible specific task. Tools can become old
friends and seem extensions of one’s own body; you hardly notice their independent
existence when working. Stainless steel trowels and spades can last decades, their initial
high cost being repaid time after time in ease of use, ease of maintenance and pleasure in
ownership. After you have finished using your tools, clean off any soil and plant
debris and store them in a shed or garage. Most can be hung on the wall out of the way.
With the weather often preventing work in the garden, now is a sensible time to
check all those tools with cutting edges and mechanical parts, so that reliable servicing
can be completed well before they will be in use again. Grass cutters, secateurs and saws
need inspecting and should be left lightly oiled after sharpening and cleaning. Abandon
any tools that are hopelessly broken or unlikely to be used again, and dispose of those
gadgets, which were going to save so much time and effort but proved next to useless. |
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| Embarrassing
Stories |
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I'm usually quite tired after working the
night shift, and before going to bed I fed my cat. But all I had in the house was a tin of
sardines, half of which, spilt on my carpet, so I grabbed the nearest thing, wiped it up
and went to sleep. Later that day when I went out, all I could smell was fish - in my
haste I'd cleaned the sardines with my jacket!
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