New England comes to Mid Wales!
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Even though it is my birthday month, November is probably
my least favourite month of the year, when it can be
difficult to find newsworthy items to report on. The short day
lengths, generally very variable weather, everything looking
a mess, a range of jobs that need to be done urgently before winter
sets in and the lack of colour does not lift the spirits or the
gloom so accurately recorded by Thomas Hood in his famous poem
entitled "November" (what else). Go to to read the full poem.
Please accept my apologies but I cannot get the link to work for
this web address or the one below for Hardy Plant society.
Looking on the brighter side, I have nonetheless managed
to find some items that I hope you will find interesting and
informative.
Surrounding woodlands looking like New England? Fanciful
but still very attractive!
Weather
Until the last 3 days of the month we had a nice mix of weather,
typical of an average November, but then we had 3
consecutive storms. Fortunately unlike last month there was no
serious damage. Rainfall was the predominant weather
feature which exceeded the average November rainfall of 4" in
Llangadog, our part of Carmarthenshire. December is the next
wettest month.
There were 11 rain days, 10 sunny days and 9
changeable.
Max temperature 15.4C on 7/11, from that date onwards we had 13
consecutive days in double digits. Min Temperature -3C on 27th and
only one other date below nought degree C
Rainfall was a total of 5.2". The gauge measures the rain over 2
exceptionally wet days.
April is the driest month, no wonder we celebrate April
showers!!
A particularly wet day!
The sun did however shine even if the sky was
often black and a storm never far away
The frost or beaver moon. Not quite a full moon but the
next day it was when it rose a vivid orange but cloud cover spoiled
the chance of a "money shot" picture
Garden Update
Almost all the colour has leached out of the gardens thanks to
the early, quite severe frosts in October and the storms. The
ground is still very wet so it is best to stay off the soil with
next year in mind, to prevent treading it down too much, except
when harvesting the remaining vegetables, notably the few
brassicas. They are still struggling, but there are some quality
parsnips which are a real winter stand by.
Savoy Cabbages are a real treat but this is all we have
left after a terrible year for them.
Leeks are coming on slowly after a late planting but are now
beginning to bulk up. All the rest of our veg is in store - root
crops, onions, dried beans and red cabbage.
Beans ready for shelling the big tunnel
Spot the cat buried in fleece on top of the stored
root veg,
Very pleased as always with our salad potatoes the only types we
now grow after years of growing many other types. "Charlotte" and
"Venezia" are exceptionally versatile for a number of recipes
and make some of the best chips and roast potatoes you will ever
taste, not that they are ever recommended for those purposes! They
do not mash or jacket well so we have to buy in a few and I must
say that the quality of them in many retail outlets leaves a lot to
be desired, scab, splits and funny shapes bearing testimony
no doubt to the dry summer which must have been a challenge for
those growers who did not have the water to irrigate regulary as we
were able to do. Disappointingly I have not been able to purchase
anywhere our favourite main crop potato "Desiree"
We are still cropping lettuce, mostly "little gem" and romaine
types, some of the latest we have ever had outdoors thanks to that
wonderful invention horti. fleece. Not many left now so we will
enjoy them until we have to buy them which rarely ever taste
as good.
Lawn mowing has all but finished except to pick up recalcitrant
leaves for which the rotary mower is very accomplished piece
of equipmment.
Most of my outdoor work is now as an odd job man; tasks include
repairing sheds and other outbuildings like tunnels and frames,
steps, fences, lawn edgings, - like us they are now so old they are
falling to bits!!, and the river bank following the flood last
month.
And more directly horticulture related, removing all the 500 odd
fencing stakes from the 17 flower borders prior to cutting back
with a hedge trimmer, all the spent flower stems. The haulms will
stay where they are cut to provide some winter protection before
being carted away early next year.
Cold frame awaiting substantial repairs as so called
marine plywood disintegrated.
I used to call this the leaning shed of Cilgwyn!
as the structure started to fall to bits. So repair was well
overdue!
A gap in the retaining bank needed another railway
sleeper which I completed after taking this pic. just before
another storm arrived.
Fashioning a new sluice gate to control the flow of
water from the stream into the Paddock Pond
Time to put up the electric fence to keep otters
at bay
Picket Fence border
The first border to be cut back after Moira had removed
all the metal stakes
The stakes are heavy and substantial
What is/was looking
good?
The very early frosts, some quite severe, at the beginning of
last month put paid to any prospect of many flowers into November,
so sadly there are very few plants now in flower. Often hydrangeas,
salvias and asters will keep going for some time but this year they
will not be making their usual contribution.
The remains of one of the Paddock Garden
borders.
The loss I most regret is a wide range of saxifraga fortuneii
which usually keep going until well into November but were turned
to mush before they had a chance to shine. The Dancing Ladies
therefore will not be taking their star billing on the stage this
autumn.
In the gardens the fine show of autumn leaves on many trees and
shrubs just about saw the beginning of the month and the intensity
of the colours was quite staggering. A couple of windy days and
most were gone. However the native trees all around us kept going
longer. See Wildlife an Countryside in the next News Item.
Physocarpus "Darts Gold" has never been such a vibrant
yellow
Stem colour from Acer "Sango Kaku" the so called
coral bark maple. With cornus sibirica in the
foreground
And the sad remains of the lovely liquidamber battered
by storms in October. As the leader is still intact I have
hopes that it will sprout from the remaining branches
Pieris "Valley Valentine" is colourful even on
newly emerging buds.
There are still however a few stalwarts that whatever the
weather can be relied upon to put on a show until late in the year,
a range of herbaceous and shrubs.
Mahonia x Charity
Viburnum tinus is a reliable winter flowering form
as are many other varieties of the genus for winter, with fragrant
flowers often followed by black or purple
berries
I never tire of iberis "Betty Swainson" which is in
flower almost all year from April onwards
One of only 7 herbaceous plants in flower Verbena
"Sissinghurst"
Seedheads can make a contribution to interest in
the border when all else has gone, and they feed the
birds.
In the early years of this century we had several very mild
autumns and early winters , so much so that I recorded in
2002, 35 plants in flower all over the gardens. (This year there
are not many more than 10!) I kept a record of them all and I well
rember that roses were particularly numerous and several lasted
until Christmas when we had small bunches on the dinner table.
Unfortunately I cannot find the records I made which would have
been most illuminating when set against the background of this
year.
It is in years like this when the protected areas come into
their own, the 2 tunnels and my one currently used greenhouse. All
of them heated and some with hot benches, which make them
delightful spaces to be in, fully justifying the cost of heating
them. The colours lift the spirits on the dullest of days as does
the perfume from plants like brugmansias and gingers all many miles
away from their tropical homelands.
Brugmansia what a treat!
One of the many choice and wide varieties of
begonias in the tunnel is b. fuchsioides a genus that is
really growing on me and is one the largest genus in the plant
kingdom with new ones regularly being found in the wild. Recently
one the size of the nail on your small finger in a bat cave in S.
America.
All my pelargoniums were cutback earlier in the
month and cuttings taken. It is remakable how well they strike at
this time of year especially when placed on one of the hot
benches.
New to me this year is the delightful ornithogalum
thyrsoides.
Always the last ginger to flower is "Luna Moth" It
seems to flower better when congested in its pot.
Delicate scented flowers open from elongated buds
over a couple of months.
Part of Moira's succulent bench after a winter
tidy up which yielded masses of cuttings shared with members of our
HPS Group (See below)
Wildlife and Countryside
The local fields are full of sheep, hopefuly for our neighbours,
all in lamb. An enduring scene in this part of Wales with most of
the cattle now indoors.
Little Bo Beep has lost this sheep!
As mentioned earlier the autumn colours on native trees has
been fabulous, a show that has only recently come to an end
here, although a few stalwarts are still hanging on. This was still
particularly noticeable in eastern Wales along the A40 corridor
from Brecon onwards which we visited a few days ago..
Memories of autumn colour near Cilgwyn. This Wych
Elm turned a rich butter yellow. It looks almost like a designed
garden!
Oaks have put on a great show
You scarcely notice starlings during the summer months and
yet with the changing of the seasons, here they are again, their
twittering groups putting on an aerial performance the Red Arrows
would be proud of - the famous murmuration of starlings. One of the
highlights of the back end of the year.
They spend a lot of their time on the ground rooting for
food.
With no warning they all suddenly take off but no
aerodynamics this time!
Visits
As I suspected last month we did not manage to fit in any more
garden visits this month. The weather wasn't always inviting, and
as mentioned earlier there is a wide range of jobs to be done
before winter sets in. Although Moira is still in some pain, she is
gradually recovering mobility since her knee operation, but she is
not yet up to a full garden visit especially if that entails a lot
of walking with slopes and difficult terrain to
encounter.
We did however have our regular monthly horticultural visit to
the South Wales Hardy Plant Society Group meeting in Coychurch,
Bridgend where we meet up with kindred spirits many of whom are now
friends with a wide and varied knowledge; some have their own
nurseries or have specialisms in particular plant groups and others
work as volunteers in local horticultural institutions. All of this
expertise is readily shared with other members of the group and I
have learned a great deal more about pelargoniums from Sue, a
friend who curates the collection of pre 1800 species for the
Cowbridge Physic Garden. There is a great opportunity to swap
plants and always a quality speaker on topics of interest to a
group like ours. Members take turns to give a short talk on their
choice of Plant of the Month prior to the main speaker, something I
have been pleased to paticipate in now that I am no longer able to
deliver talks of a longer duration.
As a member for something like 25 years, I am always banging on
about the benefits of being a member of the HPS and one of the best
at this time of year is the publication of the Seed Exchange List
often listing in the region of 2,000 types of seeds donated by
members from all over the country. Freshly gathered and reliably
germinating, there are many treasures on offer, sometimes supplied
by plant hunters and other members specialising in rare or unusual
plants. To find out more about the Society go to www.hardy-plant.org.uk So
much to enjoy for a £19 joint annual subscription, less for
individuals.
We send all our friends and other readers our best wishes
and hope that with winter soon to be upon us there are no more
"Beasts from the East" waiting to descend upon us..., and
that you get on top of all your winter jobs!!
On a seasonal note a charming Christmas cactus
(schlumbergera) I grew from cuttings, 4 to a 3" pot, 2 years to
flower in the warmth of the conservatory. Some bigger ones to show
you next month.
Keith and Moira X