Gardening with Pat Duke: Which flowers work well in your winter bed and more

In the Garden  

You could be forgiven for thinking that the recent deluges are only good for growing rice or marsh plants. January in particular sorts the men from the boys and women from the girls in gardening terms. It’s relatively simple to have a colourful bed in mid summer with plants dropped in at great expense from a homogenous garden centre. To have a garden in January that draws you down there to look at its winter displays requires another level of knowledge and horticultural skill.  

A flourishing winter garden relies mostly on foliage and different shades of green and where flowers are located in relation to each other. These can include grasses that hold dew and sparkling frost on their seed heads. 

There are however several plants that flower between now and the fast approaching spring. Of these, the hellebore is a particular favourite. ‘Helleborus niger’ is flowering now and will continue every year without even a second glance in terms of care needs. 

Others flower after the hellebore, which seems to trigger a domino effect like ‘Daphne mezereum’ with its delicate purple, lilac and mauve petals. For longer interest there is it's evergreen cousin, ‘Daphne odora aureomarginata’ which has a contrasting yellow line around each flame shaped leaf. 

Mahonias also flower now and even love a bit of shade so draw you into the darker corners of the garden. ‘Charity’ has slender spikes of bell shaped canary flowers that appear from nowhere almost overnight. They are highly scented and remind me of gorse which of course flowers all year round and can be shaped using topiary if you have the space. 

Planting winter flowers nearer to the house is helpful for people with mobility issues or anyone in wet weather as they can be admired from indoors when the weather doesn’t always naturally inspire as it does in the warmer months. 

On the Plot 

Jerusalem artichokes offer the plot holder a good example of sowing and harvesting at the same time. If only all veg was like this we wouldn't have to remember where we planted them last year! Plant ‘Fuseau’ variety as it is hardy, reliable and the tubers are smooth which is useful when it comes to peeling. Working on a plank so as not to disturb the soil, plant them a spade's depth and lay the tubers on a few handfuls of leaf mould before re-covering. This really is an understated tuber that would probably be as popular as the potato if it wasn't for its well earned reputation for inducing wind. Probably best to avoid the library after eating them I'd say. 

Now is a great time to make some raised beds with lengths of wood and stakes at each corner. An electric screwdriver will make light work of connecting the ends to the corner stakes. Raised beds make life much easier all round but be cautious about not using up too much precious soil space that can be used for growing. 

Remember how much can be grown in a small area using techniques such as ‘square foot gardening’. It’s much easier to tend and organise using raised beds and I can’t imagine having a plot without using them. They really are that essential. Carrot fly for example is eradicated by using them as they can’t fly above the beds.  Raised beds are the reason every allotment plot has a pile of wood knocking about somewhere in the hope of putting it to good use as a raised bed to fit a patch of earth. 

When the rain is battering the windows it's a great time to sort out your seed collection/box and throw out any out of date or dead seeds. It will be infuriating to plant a row of veg only to find the seeds have lost their magic.