Working through winter as a gardener, is definitely not a Monday to Friday 9-5 type of job. Shorter day light hours and inclement weather definitely has a knock on effect to productivity. Last week owing to sub zero temperatures, meant that I could only work for 2 days . I should have been pruning dozens of roses and many shrubs, but it was -3 C , so I couldn’t.

However, there are still plenty of gardening jobs that you could be getting on with if the weather is not so good.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays find me working at Wildegoose nursery in Shropshire. (www.wildegoosenursery.co.uk ) This time of year , we only sow seeds which require the cold winter weather to break their dormancy. This is referred to as natural stratification, and to break seed dormancy the temperature needs to drop below 0 C for at least 3 weeks over the winter.  

The images below show how we use 10cm pots, with a mix of 50/50 peat free compost to perlite. The seeds are sown onto the surface and then topped with a coarse grit. We label them and put them outside and then wait and watch for germination in spring. This was my first job of the new year, and I would go as far to say it was a perfect start to my working year. Why ? because I was doing something that I consider fascinating – in that I was sowing saved flower seed from Wildegoose perennial nursery stock , and many will be flowering by the end of the autumn season. 

Cold stratification seed

At home, I really have not done a great deal since autumn and this is how my garden looked today. With dozens of birds visiting to take seeds, I will only start to cut stems back in the next month or so. For anyone who has not read my blog before, my garden transforms into a billowing mass of perennials in the summer. The following link late summer, is full of images when it is entirely full of gorgeous tall stems and beautiful flowers.

Cardboard is gathering momentum in my greenhouse , and it will be used to mulch over the nettles in the orchard over the coming months . Plants bought at fairs and visits to nurseries last year have been gathered together. I really enjoyed spending time just thinking where they will all be planted out while it was starting to get quite wild and windy in the garden .

I took a walk around the orchard today, and will be up the ladders pruning the apples and pears over the next few weekends ( and I will write a blog about this)  I am considering undertaking some quite large scale pruning on a couple of the apple trees, as they have reached over 15 foot, and stems are crossing and becoming congested. Last year I started writing about the orchard A new project. and I think it is likely to be my main writing focus for this year.

The orchard today, prior to any pruning.

And finally , this is going to be my new no dig veg patch, which is at the entrance of the orchard. 

So, as you can see, there is plenty to be thinking about for 2024. Here’s to a great gardening year for all of us.