GARDEN NOTES

A Chilli Time of Year

Growing your own chilli peppers on a windowsill or in a greenhouse is remarkably easy, but they’ll need a long growing season to ripen fully. If you’ve got a heated propagator or an airing cupboard, January is a good time to start. Fill a seed tray with moist seed compost, sprinkle a few seeds on top, press the seeds into the compost and cover with a thin layer of vermiculite. If you don’t have a propagator, cover the tray with clingfilm and pop it into the airing cupboard. As soon as your seeds germinate, which should be within a week or two, move them to a warm, sunny windowsill. When the seedlings are big enough to handle, transplant them into individual pots.

BIRDY BATHTIME

Visiting birds bring life and colour to the garden in winter, and watching them from your window can provide hours of entertainment. As well as feeders, garden birds very much appreciate a regularly filled bird bath – even in chilly weather they still need to drink and bathe. If you’re looking to buy one, the RHS has a selection of attractive and practical bird baths available to browse online at rhsplants.co.uk. A chic bird bath would also make a great present for a garden-loving friend. Of course a frozen-over bird bath is no help at all to your feathered visitors, so when temperatures plummet remember to pop out every morning and gently melt the ice. A cup of warm water should do the trick. Poinsettias, with their huge, colourful bracts, are a favourite purchase at this time of year. And here in North Yorkshire we have the country’s leading poinsettia experts on our doorstep: Ravensworth Nurseries (ravensworthnurseries.com). Ravensworth is one of the UK’s only commercial poinsettia growers. Its staff carefully tend thousands of them in the nursery’s glasshouses in the run-up to Christmas. Scarlet and green is the colour palette we traditionally associate with poinsettias, but nowadays these stunning seasonal houseplants come in several different varieties, with zingy lemons or perky pinks in place of the usual red. Ravensworth Nurseries is, of course, the place to find them. Keep your poinsettias happy by giving them a steady temperature of 15–20°C and watering only when the compost is dry.

Seasonal Sensation Poinsettias

Topical Tip: A 3-inch layer of shredded bark, straw or compost applied around the base of borderline hardy plants in December can help them survive the worst of the winter

Off with Their Heads!

It makes a lot of sense to leave flower heads of plants like Sedum spectabile (aka Hylotelephium spectabile) standing until midwinter. They add shape and interest to the borders, and look especially striking when frosted or dusted with snow. Fairly soon, though – once the days begin to lengthen – new leaves will spring up at the base. If you don’t snip off the old stems promptly you may find that it’s difficult to do so without inadvertently damaging the new growth. While you’ve got the secateurs out, this a good time to cut back bush, shrub and climbing roses. Rambling roses are best left until summer.

FAB FLORISTRY

It’s unlikely you’ll want to spend long in the garden at this time of year, but at least you can still get your fix of flowers and foliage indoors. Floral bouquets, wreaths and table decorations are fantastic ways to cheer up your house over the festive season. And of course beautifully presented fresh flowers make fantastic gifts for family and friends. The highly skilled florists at Braithwaites in Leeming Bar (braithwaitesnursery. co.uk) specialise in immaculate floral arrangements. As well as taking commissions from individual customers they provide arrangements for a wide range of local businesses, large and small. They deliver locally too. Call 01677 422861 to find out more.

Tiny Tools

Rather than just planting houseplants one-per-pot, many people nowadays are opting for stylish arrangements consisting of several different plants in the same container. Terrariums in particular have become something of a social media sensation. In one respect, planting a small-scale arrangement is just the same as planting a garden border: you need the right tools for the job. And this attractive set from Burgon & Ball (burgonandball.com) is just the thing. Two differently-shaped stainless steel trowels and a miniature rake, all with nice long handles, make tending your terrarium easy – even if you’re working with a narrow-mouthed container. Much better than trying to get the job done with items plundered from your cutlery drawer!

SOW SOON

The short, dull days after Christmas are usually when gardeners pore over plant lists and order seed for the coming year. It’s also a good time to start sowing flower seeds in a heated greenhouse, conservatory or electric propagator, or on a sunny windowsill. If, like many gardeners, you leave sowing until March or April then you’re missing the opportunity to get a head start when it comes to creating a lush floral display in summer. Flowers that can be sown in January or February include dianthus, antirrhinums, lobelia, begonia, geraniums, sweet peas, petunias and delphiniums. Once they have germinated move them to a cooler spot so they grow more slowly rather than getting leggy before it’s mild enough to plant them out.

Go Buy the Book

As a novice gardener it’s easy to fall into the trap of lurching from crisis to crisis, only getting crucial jobs done at the last moment – or possibly even a bit too late! So with a new gardening year looming, how about a bit of forward planning? A good source of expert advice is The Gardeners’ World Almanac from the BBC Gardeners’ World team (BBC Books, hardback, £16.99). Study it now, before things get too hectic. With month-by-month lists, timetables and stepby-step guidance – plus seasonal suggestions about how to fill in the odd spare ten minutes – it will keep you on track with your garden or allotment throughout 2022.