November and December are the times when gardeners enjoy a well-deserved break. I am often asked what I do in the winter. I answer with complete sincerity: “If there were no such respite in winter, I would not be able to start the new season with joy...” I curl up on the sofa in front of the fireplace without any guilt and enjoy leafing through a stack of magazines I left unread in the summer, searching the internet for new exciting ideas and plants.
But when I'm in the mood, I enjoy walking around the garden and in nature, admiring the graphic branches of leafless trees and the different structures of grasses and perennials left in the beds after a colorful summer, the brown color of shoots and seed pods is also quite nice and calming to look at. They get an especially wonderful shade when covered with frost on a cold sunny morning. Learn to love brown - brown is a color!
I'm making plans for the new season. This year, in addition to making plans, I've also been able to put ideas into action: the rock garden has grown a little longer, the path has been renewed a bit, and preparatory work has been done on the perennial beds that have long been waiting for rearrangements. And how can you rest when here and there, a few flowers appear and with them, insidious weeds have unexpectedly reached a new round of seeds. So, I still need to add a layer of bark chips to the mulched areas, so that instead of hoeing and digging, I can let the earthworms do the work. To repel the more stubborn weeds and buckwheat, I have to put down a layer of newspaper first. By the time the leaves rot, the troublesome roots have also given up.
Now, in December, unfortunately, the work that has just begun quickly ends with the arrival of darkness. Then there is nothing left but to fill the garden with mysterious (candle) light. It is nice to hang candle chandeliers on the stone wall or hang them on the branches of trees so that you can enjoy the mysterious light from the window. Preparations have been made to make candle covers from ice, but whether nature will help to make them remains a mystery for now.
While you wait for the white blanket to be spread on the ground and the season to be declared truly over, I look back with concern at having to drag the lawnmower out of its winter quarters once again to get the overgrown grass under control, stock up on compost or spruce branches to protect the more delicate roots in case the frost should surprise you with snowless ground. Some of the more delicate alpine garden plants would have long wanted a little “roof” over their heads from the endless rain. With the thawed earth, a few more supports need to be pressed down, so that when the bright spring sun arrives, a shade cloth can be used to protect some of the tender plants from sunburn. Wrapping them up right now in such warm and humid weather could do more harm than good. In the worst case, they would instead go to sleep inside the cover.
Happy holidays!