Way back in the day when Blue Peter was still in black and white on the tele, Simon, one of the erstwhile presenters asked the legendary Percy Thrower, tasked with overseeing the then Blue Peter garden project, '....and what should we be doing in the garden this week Percy?'
'If your garden is as wet as mine, keep off it' was the unequivocal stern reply, which promptly brought about an abrupt end to that weeks' gardening slot, much to the consternation of the presenters as well as the producer and production team no doubt.
So if your December garden is wet and heavy, hold back on your urge to tidy it up by collecting up and composting your fallen leaves and other accumulated debris along with your desperate need to prune back the gooseberries, red and blackcurrants if you missed doing it last month. The most sensible and effective thing to do is to a 'Percy' and avoid trampling around and consolidating the ground and its wet or sodden grass.
What"s more, your borders and beds will welcome a cosy blanket covering of leaves and suchlike, protecting next year's tender shoots and allowing earthworms and the like to drag them down into the ground and munch away on the decaying stuff, resulting in the improvement of the soil structure and its fertility for the benefit of future planting. So reduce your stress levels and give your local worms and soil a treat and leave everything where it is.
One thing you must do though is to make sure your expensive tree fern is well wrapped up and cocooned from the cold. Izzy is keeping her fingers crossed that she has been quick enough off the mark this year to protect her magnificent patio based specimen from the unforgiving Chiltern frosts. In fact she is still struggling to coax her other one back into life with copious quantities of conifer and box hedge feed having severely neglected it last winter allowing it to shiver and dry out. It seems as though it's a lost cause though as she has now resorted to training stray tendrils from a nearby voracious passion flower, winding them around the sad looking brown stump in an attempt to disguise its inevitable demise.
Talking about drying out, don't forget to keep an eye on your geranium/pelagonium cuttings on whichever window sills you can remember putting them by giving them the little bit of TLC they need at this time of year.
It looks like there will be no white Christmas this year for most us, but just in case our fickle weather does an Ian McCaskill on us and showers us unexpectedly with extensive amounts of the white stuff, Izzy recommends that you ignore her earlier advice by venturing gingerly on to the land to shake it off your prized conifers and other vulnerable items as the excess weight can cause damage by snapping off the weaker stems and branches.
Have a great Christmas and whatever you have to look out on to, enjoy the view of your sleeping garden,,,,,,,,,,,,,from the kitchen window
