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| Our frosty front garden |
After my previous post's plant-free rant about the Government's shameful attitude to benefit claimants, it's back to matters horticultural this week despite several degrees of frost and freezing fog in this part of the world.
Hardly ideal conditions in which to wield the trowel or secateurs, you might think, but in fact I have enjoyed two days in succession tidying up gardens to help them look their best in winter and seen some particularly beautiful sights in the process.
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| Frost-covered foliage |
It's strange how on a frosty, foggy day the hoarfrost seems to grow as the day wears on. The plainest shrub suddenly acquires a delicate white edging to all of its leaves; the dry brown stalks of a summer perennial glisten silver in a moment of pale sunlight. Nothing shows off the vivid red stems of a Cornus quite as impressively as a backdrop of sparkling frost-dusted evergreen foliage. And everywhere is so wonderfully still and quiet, apart from the sound of the cold ground creaking and crackling under your feet.
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| Bright berries of Cotoneaster |
To enjoy these delights safely and comfortably, I'd recommend at least two layers of socks (woolly tights with socks gives an extra layer on the legs) inside a sturdy pair of boots and definitely gloves, also more than one pair but for wearing alternately rather than together. When one pair become wet and freezing cold, they can sit on a hot radiator and thaw out while pair number two take over; swap them as required.
Luckily my client yesterday had a blisteringly hot radiator perfect for a very quick turnaround of defrosted gloves and also thawed me out nicely at lunchtime with a delicious bowl of leek and potato soup, garnished with smoked salmon. I am tempted to make this a standard condition for anyone seeking to engage me as a gardener, but frankly I cannot afford to be quite so fussy!
