Compost : The Pen is Mightier than the Dalek.

 

 As you might know, if you've followed me for any length of time, I hate Daleks.

 

 

No! Not those things, the least-scary and stupidly mobility-limited villain ever invented or made out of cardboard egg cartons.

No, I mean those nasty plastic compost bins - and for once, yes, I use the word “bin” rather than “pen”.

 

Anyway.... I hate plastic compost bins, known as daleks, because they don't work. They simply don't work.

The idea is that you tip material in the top, then when it's ready (pause for hollow laugh), you are supposed to open the little door at the bottom, scrape out the good stuff, then continue shovelling more material in the top, as part of a continual process.

Great idea in theory: but in the real world...

 

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January Newsletter

 

Well, hello everyone: yes, Xmas is over, and we are heading uphill towards spring!

Yes, the days are getting longer: not by much, but already it's light enough to work at 8am. Each day is longer than the one before, and the increase is increasing, if you see what I mean: at the start of the month, it was about one minute a day longer, but by the middle of the month it's more like two minutes more, every day, and by the end of the month, 2-3 minutes longer each day.

That means that now we have passed the end of the month, the day is nearly an hour longer than it was at New Year! Yay! 

 

So what's going on in the garden, this week: well, we've had some milder weather and the bulbs are coming up, which is always nice. And can you tell the difference between them, before they get flowers?

Here's a quick look at what was coming up in one of "my" gardens: (to see all the relevant photos, you'll need to hop across to Patreon)

Firstly we have the predicted Sno - pause while I type it really slowly - Snowdrops. Phew! I have no idea why, but I just can't type that word correctly.

There they are, dear little things, and easily recognisable by being small, glaucous (ie bluey-grey) and - if you look closely - having a slight vertical stripey-ness about them.

Next are everyone's favourite: can you guess?

Yup, Daffodils. Much taller than Snowdroips (told you), which doesn't really help unless you have them growing side by side... but they are also less glaucous, and with a definite feeling of sturdiness.

What about these little fellows, though:

They are Tulips: the clue is the way the leaves form a hood, almost but not quite a tube, as though each leaf were protecting the ones below - which I suppose, in a way, they are.

Tulips send up a lot of leaves before they start on the flowering lark, but Hyacinths don't: their flower buds are evident, very early on in their young growth:

You can see the knobbly bud, right in the centre of the leaves.

Another spring beauty which does a lot of leaf-before-flower is, or are, the Alliums, which are much paler and somehow less chunky than the other spring bulbs:

Their leaves tend to flop outwards, rather than standing to attention as the Daffodils do.

Crocus often appear to be producing flowers before the leaves - but that is usually because they are growing in lawns, and their tiny, slender leaves look just like blades of grass.

At the other extreme to the delicate little Crocus (Crocuses? Crocii?), we have Spring Snowflake, Leucojum vernum, with their stout, upright, bright green leaves: they don't normally flower until the real Snotrdips (told you) are nearly finished, although there is often a slight overlap in flowering times: but until they flower, it's easy to mistake them for Daffodils. 

So, hopefully you can now wander round the garden looking at the bulbs with confidence!

Apart from all this bulb activity, not much has happened in January, because I have done very little work, mostly due to the weather, which has been almost unremittingly cold and wet.

That means that several of January's articles have been leftovers from last season, rather than the usual "ooh, look what's going on in "my" gardens this week!"

There were a couple of season-appropriate articles: frost on the grass, winter pruning of Fuchsia, tidying up the Auricula, Dogwoods and their lovely colour, for a start. And then some less seasonal articles on water butts (rainwater harvesting being one of my many soapboxes), brambles (a never-ending source of questions, enquiries, and pleas for help) and the vexing question of Housework in the Garden.

Intrigued? Become a Patron and you can read all about them! You don't have to give much, just a couple of quid is fine: think of it as buying me a cup of coffee once a month, in return for a weekly chat. And it's not a lifelong commitment, you can be a member for as long, or as short, a time as you wish. I know that we all have budgets, and sometimes we need to cut back, so if you become a member now, and then, in time, you have to cut back, that's fine, I will understand.

To become a Patron, all you have to is to go to any of the articles which won't let you in, and click on "Join to unlock". You will then have access to every article I've written here! Oh joy! What fun! (*laughs*) Go on, how can you resist!

Fuchsia - winter pruning

 

Another plea for advice from another former Student: I am beginning to wonder if I am not training them sufficiently well! (laughs) To be fair to me, this is a winter-related question, from a summer Student, so it's not a topic we would have covered in any great detail.

Hardy Fuchsia, then: the sort that live outdoors in the garden all year round, with a woody structure and usually a gnarly woody base. I think the most famous is “Mrs Popple”:

 

... which is hardy, reliable, beautiful, and can get up to nearly waist height each year.

I say “each year” because they die back over the winter, and are generally cut down, right down to ground level.

Personally I'll cut them back radically in late autumn or early winter, depending on how long they stay looking nice: then in spring, when they start to grow again, I'll go over the cut-back stems and remove any which are not sprouting.

Most of the best sprouts are from the very base of the plant, but if you forget to cut them back in winter, you will find some sprouts - and when I say “sprouts” I mean “shoots”, not “brussels sprouts”, but I am sure you realised what I meant - appearing along the old stems, which leads some people to ask if it's not better to leave the old stems uncut, in order to get a bigger plant the following year....

 

To see the rest of this article, and to see articles at a more calendar-appropriate time (!!) please hop over to Patreon.

Photos in the garden - Sun in the eyes

 

 

I'm not a photographer at all, I just take quick snaps for reference, and I've always known that “one” should not take photos facing into the sun. Last week, though, I learned that it is actually possible!

We were giving a Weeping Pear (Pyrus salicifolia 'Pendula') tree its annual prune: these ornamental trees (also known as Willow-Leaved Pear) need annual pruning for two main reasons - firstly because otherwise they turn into a fluffy muppet on a stick: here it is, back in September:

  ... secondly because if they weren't pruned, the weeping branches would reach the ground, and thirdly - and this is the main reason - to remove the dead wood inside the canopy. Oh, did I say two main reasons? Ok, three main reasons then. (“no-one expects the Spanish Inquisition...”) 

To see the rest of this article, please hop over to Patreon.

Clearing leaves from shingle

 

 

Ah, this one again!

I'm often asked for advice on clearing fallen autumn leaves from shingle, often by garden owners, and often by exasperated gardeners!!

My best advice is to get a folding (ie adjustable) Spring Rake which we gardeners - brace yourself for a not-very-good joke - use mostly in Autumn. (I did warn you.)

One like this:

 

Spring rakes are brilliant for this time of year - despite the name - because they are used “lightly”. They're not like solid soil rakes: they are springy (hence the name) so they are great for getting fallen leaves off the beds and borders without ripping the plants to shreds, and they are also great for raking shingle.

The trick is....

 

To see the rest of this article, please hop over to Patreon.

Bees, in December!

 

 Yesterday (which, by the time you read this, was actually “last week...”) I was working under a large Mahonia, and I was struck by how many bees there were, buzzing about the flowers, which were - at half past nine in the morning - just thawing out from the early frost:

 

Typically, every time I tried to get a photo with a bee actually in it, the bee would buzz off before I could get lined up properly, so you'll have to take my word for it, but there were lots of them.

It surprised me, because the sun had barely broken through the morning mist (it was just above freezing), and yet there they were, buzzing around like mad things.

Is it normal to find bees so active in December?....

 

To see the rest of this article, please hop over to Patreon.

Bearded Iris - winter tidy-up

 

 

Technically, this is part of Autumn Slaughter, with which you are now all familiar: but I had a question specifically about Bearded Iris, asking how I pruned them in preparation for winter, and luckily I did some just last week, so here's a quick run-through of my process.

Back in May, this bed of Bearded Iris was in full flower:

 

...and yes, there is one purple one in amongst the blue ones!

By mid June, the flowers were all over:...

 

 

To see the rest of this article, please hop over to Patreon.

On-line Seminar – Self-Employed Gardeners: How to Grow and Develop your Business: Sat 24th January, 2026

 

There are still some places left on this one!!

What's it all about? Here's the blurb:

Once you’ve been a self-employed Gardener for a couple of years or more, it’s easy to get swept up in the seasons, and to lose sight of your initial goals.

This online Workshop aims to help you take a fresh look at your business, to deal with any problems or issues that might have arisen, and to encourage you to look beyond your current situation.

With a style that has been variously described as “chatty and informal” and “appropriately bossy”, Rachel will take you through the commonest problems and pitfalls: wasting time; un-necessary paperwork; increasing your income; targets and how to use them; dissatisfaction with your Clients and how to deal with them. 

After a short break, Rachel covers specialising; how to increase and stabilise your hourly rate, and why you should do so; how to deal with late payers and low payers; when and how to ‘sack’ unsatisfactory Clients, and how to replace them with better ones; then some pointers on Expanding and Looking Forwards; with questions being asked all along the way.

All delegates can submit questions by email beforehand: and all delegates will receive a pdf version of the presentation, with some additional handouts. There will be time for questions and discussion at the end of the Zoom session.

Timings:
Start: 9:30am via Zoom (with breaks)
End: 12.30pm approx.

How to book a place: go the the WFGA (Working For Gardeners Association) website or contact me direct via email,  Inquiries@Rachel-the-gardener.co.uk

NB: I'm only at my desk first thing every morning - usually 6.15-6.45am - and again briefly after work, so don't expect an instant answer... unless it's raining!

Or, if you are still at the "thinking about a change of career, always wanted to be a gardener but not quite sure if I can do it..." stage, then check my book, available from Amazon Kindle:

It's less than a tenner, and if you have Kindle Unlimited, it's FREE!! 

Don't worry if you don't have a Kindle, you can download it to your PC, to your laptop, to your tablet, or to any other kindle-style device.

Do it now! And take the first step into a better life..... *laughs*