Under The Boardwalk

In the depths of the winter

I’m stealing a march on my garden.

Bending it to my will.

Why does this make me think of Lesley,

my esteemed design partner?

Well, she’s a bit of a ‘Drifters’ babe!

U know, the 1960′s doo wop/R & B group? (In fact she is a Tamla Motown girl altogether!)

And apt to break out into one of their many hits whenever it seems apt.

Do a roof garden:

and its a case of : Up On The Roof, The Drifters 1962 – YouTube

mention you’re off to the movies and its: The Drifters – Saturday Night At The Movies – YouTube

 

and one of her great favourites is:The Drifters – Under the Boardwalk – YouTube

And that is where my garden is regularly at the moment, under the board walk.

Come winter, mess wins in the attention stakes in my garden and while

I am sure the woodland borders of Buck House are smarter than the one above

and I can’t think that it would suit the likes of the RHS,

it is smarter than it was:

The only way this sort of clear out, cutting back herbaceous perennials and so forth, should happen at the moment, with the weather conditions we are experiencing,  is the boards which you see in the top foto.

They are cheap plywood offcuts and each is about four times the size of my foot. This enables quite careful placement amongst the plants. and allows you to move around without the hard, narrow footmarks on frosted or saturated soil which cause so much damage to soil structure and roots.

Use the boards and sure there is a smidgin of a shine to the surface, but I find you do not even need to cultivate the soil where you put them down. Now that has to be good news!

They do however come with a little bit of a health and safety warning. Fleet of foot and sense of balance are the order of the day.

Always use them the same way up and clean them after use. With mud on them they can become slippery.

So if you buy the idea it is a case of caveat emptor. But hey, the heart stopping moment as you just don’t fall adds to the experience!

But why experience this at all? Why not just loll on your sofa next the fire and let it all ride till the spring.

Well there is just so bleedin’ much to do in the spring.

And you do just so bleedin’ much damage!

Because bulbs are already thru and this will continue in mild spells in the meantime,

Perennials are already thru and etc …….

The weather is also wildly inconsistent now and so the canny gardener is opportunistic and makes use of odd times when it suits to do these jobs.

The other reason for some housework is that inter alia you get rid of weeds, pests, suss out pest damage, and above all while you are working you think of all the moves you can make in your borders once they are tidy. These moves will be the genius which improves both its spring and summer appearance and its overall performance.

So it is such a constructive time to be out!

Steal a march and you might just win the battle.

There’s Lelsey boogeying away:

“(Under the boardwalk) Out of the sun

(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be having some fun

(Under the boardwalk) People walking above

(Under the boardwalk) We’ll be falling in love

(Under the boardwalk, boardwalk)”

Bless!

R

 

 

 

 

Category: Design Bites, Garden Planning, General Gardening Stuff