Gardening Tips for Early Winter from ‘The English Lady’

Hello everyone; so much to do and so little time in this holiday season …

Remember to breathe, stretch and take personal time for yourself each day. Take a walk around your garden to enjoy the fresh air and gentle exercise.

And a reminder – as I just received this question from one of my fans – there is still time to plant your spring bulbs as the earth is still workable. 

Plant bulbs at three times their height in their upright position. For example, daffodils should be planted nine inches down, below the frost line. Then spread composted manure on the soil where the bulbs are planted. Hopefully you have a supply of manure in your shed. But no need to worry if you don’t, because you can buy the composted manure from garden supply stores when the bulbs peek up from the soil in spring.

Fragrant Winter

I just came indoors after my stroll in the garden, and I am sitting in my armchair with a delicious cup of Earl Grey tea. As I draw in a deep breath, I inhale the fragrance of cloves wafting from the kitchen. Clove fragrance comes from an old family tradition that I follow each year on the first of December when I fill my great grandmother’s newly shined brass saucepan with water, add whole cloves, bring the water to the boil, then turn it down to simmer gently. 

This fragrance is a cherished memory of Christmas in the kitchen of gran’s thatched roof cottage on the grounds of our plant nursery in England. 

On this side of the ‘pond’ as I sat by my warm fire, I reached for my gardening notebook and wrote down the material that will be needed for the construction projects I need to accomplish this winter.

1. Build a new bluestone patio off the sliding glass doors in the rear of my home together with a new pond off the patio.
2. A new wood deck on the west side. 
3. Repair the old dry stonewalls on the north side of my field off the road. 

It is important to complete these tasks in winter; then I will be ready to plant in the spring. A comment I have suggested to my radio listeners and lecture audiences is as follows: “Planning is more important than production in order to have a rewarding result.”

If you are not into the heavy work that I just noted, may I suggest you call a landscape company that you trust to give you an estimate for your project. Now is the ideal time to plan and design your outdoor space. 

With snow at our doorstep forecast in the next few weeks, I hope you have the snow shovel handy. Or perhaps you decide you need a new one. If so, buy a lightweight, wood-handled plastic shovel instead of a heavy metal one. And when the storm has passed and you are ready for clearing the paths and driveways, don’t load the shovel heavily. Instead, scoop lighter loads. You will get done faster and with less pain or risk of injury. If you cannot clear the snow yourself from driveways, walkways and steps, I’m sure there are some teenagers in your neighborhood who would be willing to help you out.

I know that many of you spread salt on walkways and driveways to thaw ice. However, the salt ruins plants when it seeps into borders. Use an alternative like unscented kitty litter or sand. In spring, just hose off steps and paths; the sand and kitty litter are good additions to your soil.

If you have not already done so, mulch around the trunks of roses, mounding at least six to nine inches from ground level up the stems. Buy a few extra bags of mulch and topsoil and store them in the garage or shed.  

Tie the long, whip-like rose canes of climbers to supporting structures so they are not broken off by strong winds. If the shrub roses are planted in an exposed area, cover them with a rose cone. If they are larger, cover them lightly with burlap until April.  

There is still time to prune dead or diseased branches from established deciduous trees and shrubs; this is much easier to accomplish at this time of year, as you are able to see what needs to be done without foliage obstructing your view. If you would like an early winter pruning and are wondering how much it will cost, call a reputable arborist for a quote and their representative will come and use their practiced eye to give you the answer to this financial question. 

Last winter, squirrels, raccoons or whichever creature managed to invade the birdseed in the milk shed. After I discovered this problem, I bought out the supermarket’s supply of cayenne pepper and sprinkled it on my birdseed to keep the marauders at bay. This trick will also keep those critters out of your garbage. I sprinkle cayenne pepper in the bird seeders for the feeders and on the suet blocks. The birds do not feel the heat.   

When a plant is knocked askew by wind, ice or snow, do not be in a hurry to straighten it, quite often the plant will bounce back on its own. However, uprooted trees or shrubs should be straightened immediately then staked, then cover their roots with soil and mulched, then resettle the plant in the spring. When snow is heavy on the branches of the evergreens, gently brush the snow off with a broom – “gently” being the operative word.   

Amaryllis

I just walked into my living room to check on my amaryllis bulbs, which have striped blooms. Amaryllis can be enjoyed for a long time with little effort. As the flower buds begin to open, remove the pollen bearing anthers with tweezers before they begin to shed. This will add days to the flowering period. And don’t forget to water. Once the bloom is finished, deadhead it, remove the bulb from the soil and let it dry off. Store in a basement or other cool dry place at about 55 degrees for 10 weeks without watering. When you want to start it again, pot up the bulb tightly in fresh potting soil and begin to water again. 

By the way, amaryllis is poisonous so keep it away from children and pets.

Outside my kitchen window, I am enjoying my holly bush with its lovely red berries. I cut some of its branches to decorate the house.  Holly is a good weather predictor; few berries mean a mild winter, whilst many berries denote a harsh one. 

My red and black friends, the ladybugs, have begun to come indoors, earning their keep by consuming white fly and aphids, which often gather on houseplants.      

Inside, I am planting up my first group of paper white narcissus in order to get some early bloom to brighten a winter day with a heady fragrance that is just delightful. I will store the extra bulbs in the vegetable keeper of the refrigerator, away from food in a brown paper bag. I will plant these bulbs about a month after the first bulbs go in; by this method I will have continuous bloom and fragrance throughout the winter months. By keeping the bulbs in the refrigerator, they remain dormant until planted. 

I plant my bulbs in pebbles, with just enough pebbles to anchor the bulbs and enough depth for the roots to grow. Put a lot of bulbs in the pot so they are touching each other – the more bulbs, the more vibrant the display. Make sure the bulb pots do not have drainage holes; if they do, cover the holes with shards of broken pottery.  

I place the planted bulbs in a dark cool room or cupboard, always keeping the pebbles moist. In a few weeks, when the shoots of the narcissus are about 6 inches tall, I will take the vases into a cool room on the south side of the house and place them about 6 feet away from the window in indirect light where they remain, keeping the pebbles moist. When the buds appear and the stems are about 12 inches tall, place them into the area of the house to be enjoyed about 6 feet from a sunny window and away from draughts and heat. Keep the soil or pebbles moist throughout the life of the plants.

The tall stems of paper whites may sometimes topple over; however, I use tall glass vases which do not allow this to occur. If you don’t have tall containers, here is a “gin tip” from an English gardening colleague of mine: Pour a dessert spoon of gin (not the expensive stuff) on the soil or pebbles around the plants every couple of weeks after watering them. This limits the height of the stems, so they do not collapse, and the gin does not affect the bloom.

Regarding alcohol, another tip my grandmother whispered is to add a few drops of brandy or port to invigorate potpourri that has gone stale. Personally, I pour a few drops of lemon oil or lavender oil on the potpourri. 

Poinsettias

I receive many questions about how to keep poinsettias alive. I have a friend who has kept the same poinsettia alive for eight years. After blooming, she places the plant in a cool room, watering when the top of the soil feels dry. Then in late May she places it, still in its container, in the garden. In September, she brings it into her porch and begins gently watering. A combination I enjoy is poinsettias in a container with ivy and forced spring bulbs.  

I was always curious as to how poinsettias got their name. Then I heard an old story on that very subject. In a small Mexican village, it was traditional to leave gifts at the church’s Nativity on Christmas Eve. A poor boy, with nothing to give, knelt in the snow and prayed. A bright red plant appeared, which he joyfully offered to the Christ Child. Known as Flor de la Noche Buena (Flower of the Holy Night) and said to resemble the Star of Bethlehem, the plant was later brought to the U.S. by Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett.

English Trifle

On a delicious note to end my tips this year, I present my recipe for English trifle, a scrumptious dessert at Christmas.

This dessert is made of layers over a three-day period; it requires this length of time for each layer to set. I use a 9-inch-tall glass bowl, as the appearance of this dessert is as mouth-watering as the taste.  

Ingredients:

2 pints of strawberries or raspberries (you can use frozen strawberries or raspberries, and omit the sugar)

2 tablespoons of sugar on fresh fruit 

1 package ladyfingers, sponge cake or pound cake

1 cup Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry (omit the sherry if you do not want the alcohol and use water instead)

1 small package strawberry or raspberry-flavored Jell-O

1 small package of vanilla custard mix or Birds English custard (see note)

1 pint whipped cream

Combine washed and drained fresh strawberries/raspberries and sugar in a bowl and set aside at room temperature for about an hour.

In a 9-inch glass bowl, cover the bottom of the bowl with ladyfingers, sponge cake or pound cake. Cut into 2-inch slices.  Drain the strawberries and reserve the juice. Cover the cake with the fruit.

Add sherry to the reserved fruit juice to make one cup. Prepare Jell-O using the fruit juice-sherry mixture for the cold-water part of the Jell-O mix, and hot water for the other part. Pour the Jell-O over the fruit and cake layer, then refrigerate until it sets (that is usually about two hours or overnight).

When the Jell-O is set, prepare the custard and spread over the cake/fruit/Jell-O layer.  Refrigerate until custard is set.  

The day you serve the trifle, spread a thick layer of unsweetened whipped cream over the top.    

If you are serving more people, repeat the cake, fruit, and Jell-O layers and top with the whipped cream.  

The 9-inch bowl serves 6 to 8.

Note: I use Birds English Custard mix, which can be found in specialty food stores and most supermarkets.  

 Have a wonderful holiday and I’ll see you in your garden in January.  Be safe, healthy and enjoy.

Maureen Haseley-Jones is a member of a family of renowned horticultural artisans whose landscaping heritage dates back to the 17th century. She is the founder, together with her son Ian, of The English Lady Landscape and Home Company. Maureen and Ian are landscape designers and garden experts, who believe that everyone deserves to live in an eco-conscious environment and enjoy the pleasure that it brings. Maureen learned her design skills from her mother and grandmother, and honed her horticultural and construction skills while working in the family nursery and landscape business in the U.K. Her formal horticultural training was undertaken at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in Surrey.