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With climate change making the weather more predictable and extreme, our gardens need to be able to cope with both floods and drought. A few simple measures will make them sustainable.
With the arrival of every new year, there’s a certain expectation of new starts, new beginnings, new resolutions. But for me January is always much more about a continuation of the journey through the darkest season.
Moving house is widely recognised as one of the most stressful events in a person’s life, and I can certainly vouch for this after spending the last 4 months trying to sell our home. For gardeners, the whole process can be more traumatic having to say goodbye to a space you’ve lovingly created and to plants you’ve nurtured over time.
It’s a quiet time of year in my greenhouse. During the winter months it mainly functions as a home to a motley collection of plants sheltering from the cold and rain, but there aren’t many signs of life as most plants have entered their dormant phase and retreated under the soil or compost.
Over the last few days, thanks to some thick flurries of snow and frosty mornings, there’s something decidedly refreshing and crisp about my garden. Its structure is laid bare, defined and highlighted by the little drifts of snowflakes or tiny icicles that adorn and clothe the greenhouses, raised beds, metal trelliswork and rusted plant supports.