This six thing is a good discipline for me. At the first sign of cold weather I am very tempted to hunker down but I know there is plenty to do and walking round the garden this morning was a good reminder to get on and do it. Here’s what I found. Be warned: there’s a bit of a brown theme.
One
I have been mulching and manuring this week and the less than productive veg beds were beneficiaries. I still have more to empty out, but the calendulas need to be pulled up first.
Two
The gooseberry bushes need to be pruned. I have watched the RHS video three times now and so I should be fully qualified to be let loose on them.
Three
A week of cold weather, rain and a light frost has moved the garden firmly into winter. It now looks soggy, brown and collapsed. It’s about now I start having ‘the cutting back’ debate. Does it get done now or in the spring? I will try to do it now as I am always surprised by how early the garden comes back to life and I inevitably end up cutting back both the dead and the emerging shoots in spring.
Four
This is one of the allium heads I missed in the summer cut back. I have managed to get all the alliums for next year planted but I still have about 75 tulip bulbs to put in the ground. I overestimated the numbers for one grouping and the extras will be planted up in pots, which is on my list for this weekend.
Five
Whilst most of the garden is shutting down some plants do manage to keep up the show over winter and even look good in the rain. This is euphorbia characiassubsp. wulfenii.
Six
There’s also some colour in the front garden coming from the cream edged leaves of this variegated pittosporum. Thankfully I can just enjoy this display.
I hope there is something to enjoy in your garden at this time of the year and also that we all get some time to be getting our (northern hemisphere) gardens ready for next year. The Prop’s blog will give the links for today’s SOS and there’s sure to be some colour from gardens in the southern hemisphere if your soul needs an uplift!
n20gardener 
I’ve often left the cutting back to the spring but, in my case, that’s sheer laziness. This year I’m going at it with a vengeance, driven by the fact that I know I have a critical group visiting in January as part of a “look at gardens when they’re dead” project. So I have to get the place looking tidily dead. Or else. And I, too, am behind with the bulb planting. And yesterday I had a delivery of plants for autumn planting that I’d totally forgotten I’d ordered. I have, I guess, about a week to get them all planted before the soil becomes too cold. But where? No rest for the wicked is there?
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I hope you will give us a write up on your ‘look at gardens when they are dead’ . I’ll look forward to that – honestly!
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Thank you for sharing the RHS video about gooseberry pruning. I watched it and learnt a lot. You must know that I always prune mine at random (even if I have a lot of fruit ) and there I think it will be a little more tidy…
Beautiful Euphorbia picture !
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Yes, I have always been a bit of a random gooseberry pruner and every year I say I will improve. I’m hoping to get a start made on them today.
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I used to chop back at this time of year but these days I tend to leave it until the spring. Part laziness but also it provides a bit of cover for wildlife apparently. I wish I’d mulched now. Maybe it’s not too late. Love the structure of the allium seed head.
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IMHO not too late to mulch – partly because I’ve only just done it!
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Me too – leaving dead stuff over winter and then too late, trying to cut it down in Feb/March with new shoots coming up underneath everywhere. Maybe the answer is to just pop out and do a bit when the mood takes us and the day looks nice.
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That’s a perfect description of me in Feb?Mar! Let’s hope there are a few good days to come in the next few weeks/
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I slowly cut down throughout the winter so that some structure remains in the borders. The Euphorbia looks great
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Thank you! And yes bit by bit it will all get done!
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It wasn’t too terribly brown. Besides, this is autumn. Things are supposed to be brown in the garden now. In our mild climate, I prefer to cut back most perennials in the autumn because they start to regenerate early. Also, because winter is so mild, we do not need the debris to linger for frost protection.
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I chop everything here right back at the end of July, which would be the same as January for you. It seems to work quite well, and the perennials are out of the way for the bulbs to start appearing. Then I mulch all the prunings and put them back on the garden. I love your Euphorbia photo with the raindrops, and also the Allium photos. It’s surprising how it’s possible to find something interesting in the garden even at the least colourful times.
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It does remind me to go and take a look even on a gloomy day!
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