This week in the garden Week 4

This week in the garden Week 4
In between showers and work I have taken care of a few chores. Cutting back some leggy herbs, Sage and Fennel in particular.

This mild period is ideal for taking the tired stems back. Without frosts to enhance the dead stems it quickly starts to look untidy. One or two of the stems are also broken, the result of the high winds we had.

I try not to cut them too far though, just in case of further frost that is more than the light dustings we have seen so far this winter.

Next week the beds will be mulched with compost that has been rotting down for a year or so. This covering will provide a little more protection for crowns and and newly emerging shoots lulled into a false sense of spring.

Sage can become woody after a while, and winter is a good time to rejuvenate it. The standard pruning rules apply here: take back any damaged, crossing and unruly stems. But don’t take them back too far, as the pant may well sulk for months otherwise. I left a couple of stems to be tucked under a rock to grow on as layered cuttings. This should room over the spring and early summer and be ready to move by autumn.

Sage is plant that should be in sun and heat. I have taken cuttings – in midsummer -and planted some on the edge of gravel paths so that they get the sun, and the stored heat of the stone. They are also regularly brushed as I or the dog walk by, releasing the pungent aroma. He smells much nicer for it!

These sunny spots are premium real estate for gardeners, but Sage is probably a worthy resident.

I also trimmed the mints, and removed some of the prolific runners they send out. Some can be potted on to replace ageing plants or to give away.

Last to go was the Santolina, which I treat in the same way as Sage. Mine are just three years old, and this is the first major trim. This summer will be the time to take cuttings with a plan to try using some as foliar borders around the raised beds.

This week in the garden I have also seen the first broad beans showing both in pots and in the greenhouse borders. This is a new area for me, never having grown anything but chillies, tomatoes and cucumbers under glass.  I had also sown some peas in the other border bed, where the soil is deeply cultivated by remains drier – only the moisture from the ground up getting through.

So fingers crossed there will be some early bean crops in the greenhouse and some ready to go out as the ground warms up outside.