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Joe’s Jottings
ecember and January has been pretty mild and on the whole dry in the north of England. I know we’ve had a few wild and wet days, the odd frost and a bit o snow up in Queensbury but all in all its been pretty benign. The gales we have had is due to our old friend The Jet Stream dragging low pressure systems at great speed across the Atlantic ocean. I’d never quite understood what caused it until I caught a bulletin on the BBC. The graphic showed North America and the cold and warm air. As it shows for the UK when we are going to receive the Arctic Blast headline, much favoured by the likes of the Daily Mail. The reason it stood out so much was the difference in temperature. The dividing line ran from the mid-west just below The Great Lakes up through northern New York State, New England, Maine and out across the Atlantic towards the northern tip of Scotland. North of the dividing line it was minus seven. Below the dividing line. A balmy, Twenty one degrees centigrade. In a town in Maine some poor sap in a tee shirt will have crossed Main Street to find he was a brass monkey in dire need of a welder. It is these extremes of temperature which causes great movements of air from hot to cold and vice versa in an attempt to find equilibrium. It is at its most intense at The Jet Stream creating winds over two hundred miles per hour, which drag along the weather systems to our shores. Apparently the “experts” say this will continue through January. So we had better batten down the hatches.
The mild weather in December has allowed a certain amount of work to be carried out in the garden. Trimming back hedges, turning over part of the plot to allow the frosts to break down the soil and I’ve even had to run the mower over the lawn to keep the grass in check. The bulbs I planted in the boxes are starting to show their heads and are a bit premature. Luckily spring bulbs tend to be a hardy lot and it shouldn’t spoil the display. I found some bulbs in the shed which should have been planted a couple of months back. They had been put on a shelf during a tidy up and forgotten. It wasn’t until I needed the mower to cut the grass that I discovered them. Because of the mild weather they have started to sprout so I quickly stuck them into pots and with a bit of luck I will have a constant supply of fresh flowers for the Kitchen Skirt to put about the house.
Speaking of the Skirt she was last seen scurrying of to the sales to bag a few bargains with her mates. I’m sure she does it on purpose to give me an attack of the vapours when checking the credit card statement. Although on this occasion she seemed to excel and managed to get some real bargains. Even I could see the stuff was good value for the money. Two top quality dresses and a jacket all for under thirty quid. This is what comes of providing plenty of flowers; she can spend it on something else.
Now is a good time to really think about what you are going to grow in the vegetable garden as you need to chit seed potatoes and prepare the beds for the coming season by digging in some compost and well-rotted manure. Some veggies can now be sown indoors on a convenient window sill these include baby beets, early cabbage bulb unions and spring onions. Whilst browsing the tinterweb the other day I came across a novel way of growing onions in an old water bottle. The bottle was the type you get on holiday which hold about fifteen litres. All you have to do is cut some holes in the plastic and plant your seed onions in the holes so as to allow the leaves to grow out into the air. When they are big enoughtr to eat just cut them out and cook em as you like. Globe artichoke, tomato, asparagus, celeriac, celery, lettuce and onions can be sown in a heated propagator this month. Vegetables to sow now for container growing include broad beans and carrots. Make sure the containers are protected from frosts with fleece.
Check that any plants and shrubs which require staking are secure as they may suffer from wind rock which could hold the spring growth back and seriously damage the plant.
Top ten jobs for this month:
1. Prepare vegetable seed beds, and sow some vegetables under cover.
2. Chit potato tubers.
3. Protect blossom on apricots, nectarines and peaches.
4. Net fruit and vegetable crops to keep the birds off.
5. Prune winter-flowering shrubs that have finished flowering.
6. Divide bulbs such as snowdrops, and plant those that need planting 'in the green'.
7. Prune Wisteria.
8.Prune hardy evergreen hedges and renovate overgrown deciduous hedges.
9.Prune conservatory climbers .
10. Cut back deciduous grasses left uncut over the winter.
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