Well, the brake is most certainly off because there is so much we can be getting on with in the garden.
From my wee office window, the eye is drawn to patches of colour provided by heathers.
These are the spring flowering Erica carnea varieties. Not so far away, there are other members of the family that flowered last summer and autumn.
Over the last few months, their dried seed heads provided a wee distraction, but now these summer-flowering Ericas like E.vagans and E.tetralix and varieties of our native Ling – Calluna vulgaris will receive their annual haircut.
Callunas, in particular, are inclined to become very woody and straggly if left unpruned; indeed it shortens their life span!
When single plants are clipped, removing the old flower shoots you create a bit of a dome shape, but where they are planted in a group, I much prefer to allow them to merge, losing their individuality in favour of a patchwork effect.
I use sheep shears for the job, but most gardeners will probably use hedge clippers.
When the clippings have been removed, the heathers will be given a dressing of organic fertiliser (at the moment, I am using pelletted chicken manure), which is pricked in to the surface using a border fork.
That conveniently takes me to the next job.
Part of our front garden is covered in gravel and slabs (downsizing included reducing the workload).
Into the gravel I have planted specimen shrubs and one or two conifers.
Before planting, I dug out sizeable holes and that was a nightmare of a job – first, clear the gravel away from the chosen spot, then cut a large cross in the landscape fabric and fold it back to be able to excavate a decent-sized hole.
This was the difficult part because I was going down through hardcore and mair hardcore and mair hardcore – stop for a rest, a cuppa, then start again.
Tools for the job? A hammer and a big cold chisel.
It took ages to create a decent-sized hole, but what is a decent sized hole?
I settled for a hole about 40cms deep and the same across the top. At that depth, I was down to subsoil. I slackened that with a pinchbar before filling the hole with growing medium consisting of equal parts John Innes Compost, multipurpose and rotted leaf mould. Plant and then replace the fabric and gravel.
The three deciduous plants so treated are a Japanese Maple, a Hamamelis and a Euonymus (Spindle Tree).
They are fine, but naturally quite slow growing.
My next job is to open up the tops, scrape out some of the old compost and replace with new, liberally laced with chicken manure.
That should give them a bit of a kick in the pants! Maybe some of your woody perennials, especially those in large containers, need a bit of the same treatment.
Beechgrove is back
Yes indeed, the team are out and about preparing for the new series which returns on Thursday, April 3 at 7.30pm on BBC 2.
Following the success of last year’s exploits, each programme will then be repeated the following Sunday morning – across the whole of the UK. Check the press for details.
What’s new? To be frank, I don’t know where to start.
Let’s start with the new boy on the block – young Mr Beardshaw. He did so well last year we’ve decided to keep him on.
One of the reasons for the Beechgrove’s continuing success is because we listen to what viewers tell us.
One topic that comes up every year concerns the (mainly) young families who move in to a newly built property and face a problem they have never dealt with before – a barren piece of land that has had tractors and diggers over it in all kinds of weather to ensure that it is as solid as the M1 or as wet as the Somerset levels.
Our Chris will be visiting two such situations, not just one flying visit but with returns to monitor progress and help the family on to the next stage.
With a tight budget in both cases, Chris will have his work cut out. The other interesting thing about the choice is that one family are keen on “grow your own” food theme and the other family are more interested in the aesthetics – they want a bonny garden. I am certain that many valuable lessons will be learned.
What about the other members of the team?
Well, I get tae ging as far as Mintlaw whilst Miss Baxter hobnobs at the Palace; aye Scone Palace that is! More of that next time.