I was struck by curiosity recently that several friends imagined we wouldn’t be doing much gardening for the next few months as it was ‘too cold’, ‘too wet’, ‘too dark’ or that ‘there just isn’t anything to do at this time of year. ‘
Winter is actually a busy time in the garden, when you finally get the opportunity to work in the areas of the garden that look after themselves for the other nine months of the year – the orchard, the hedgerows and the fruit cage – to name a few.
We recently spent a couple of days weeding and reclaiming the soil circles around all eighty fruit trees in the orchard. We try to do this twice a year but it is all to easy to get overlooked when there are seedlings to transplant or grass needing cut and the rampant couch grass in the orchard is very invasive so the circles soon become re-congested.
Once we have weeded the circles we mulch them with compost and top that with a dressing of autumn leaves. This will feed the trees for the year ahead and their roots will be cosy under a thick winter blanket. With a bit of luck the worms will pull the leaves down into the soil making it even richer , then, in another month or so, once the trees are truly dormant, we will prune them and check all the stakes and ties that support them against winter storms.
As we approach the last few weeks of the year the evening darkness comes earlier each day.
In Spring and Summer the gloaming means you can be out in the garden till late evening but now we have to start packing up the tools to finish anytime from three p.m. onwards as it can take a while to clean and sort everything. Last week I had locked up and was heading to the car park when I realised my phone was still in one of the polytunnels. So I retraced my steps in the encroaching gloom. It was a clear evening with the full moon beginning to rise over the Ochil Hills, just behind the Doo’cot. A stunning sight! I took a photo but there was a little cloud in the way, so I waited for the moon to rise a bit more and tried again but this time the Doo’cot was in the way, slicing off the edge of the moon. I tried from a different viewpoint but this time a tree was in the way and when I went to another position the moon had disappeared completely. Luckily, twenty minutes later, just before it got too dark I managed to get the best position and took this quirky photograph.
The winter geese have been flying in across the sky this month, long snaking skeins migrating thousands of miles from Greenland and Iceland to overwinter on the Firth. They fly in a ‘V’ shape because this formation reduces the energy they need to migrate. Each bird can ‘ride’ the air that passes the wings of the bird in front giving them a slight lift and saving some effort on the long trek south.
This is one of the UK’s best wildlife spectacles. It is such a privilege to witness when you realise that they are capable of flying for 12-15 hours non-stop and they have safely negotiated all that distance. Usually the birds will be pink-footed geese though the other day I saw nine swans flying in formation and it was noticeable that they hardly moved their wings at all, seeming to glide effortlessly through the air at speed. The geese frequent the grassy, south-facing fields of the neighbouring farm so they are an almost constant presence through the winter months but it is always exciting to watch them fly in and out. A sure sign that winter is here.
Written by Margaret (photographed below). All images are also from Margaret unless otherwise stated. Margaret is the Head gardener and leads the Gardening team.
