Gardening: What to do when the ground is too wet to work

We’ve had enough rain in the garden recently it might be easier to write a fishing column.

The lawn can’t be walked on without making a muddy imprint that backfills with water and the beds can t be hoed or dug without a pond forming.

I've found myself looking for things to do indoors and stumbled upon the addictive pastime of creating winter containers. Most of the potted plants in the garden have long since faded away and the pots have been cleaned ready for next spring.

All this time I’ve been missing a trick by not filling them with winter flowers, berries and bulbs. These will only get better over time until spring arrives.

A quick trip to the garden centre will give you plenty of ideas in the way of evergreen grasses and sedges. Festuca glauca with its azure blue foliage or Carex ‘Everest’ or ‘Evergold’ will keep going and cost less than your average perennial.

Whilst foliage can provide much of the winter colour, bedding plants like winter pansies, violas and primroses can be parachuted in between to provide instant colour.

Roses with ornamental hips, are great in the centre of a pot to provide the height which you can then plant around. Small conifers, variegated pittosporum and holly can also take this job on handsomely. The pay off with these is that they contrast well with skimmia and photina, which you are more than likely to be gifted over Christmas and can reuse in this way if you like.

Experimentation is key and plants can be dropped in or moved around as required. Once the pots are full then put them somewhere they are visible from the house for days when it’s sheeting down outside and you can’t get out. Some can be placed at height, some can be covered with stone and some can be covered with some repurposed moss. Winter pots can also be a decent vehicle for glass orb or metal ornaments.

On the Plot

Just like herbaceous perennials rhubarb keeps its own counsel underground until the conditions are right, then visibly explodes into life.

Early winter is the best time to give it some TLC. Just under the surface lurk up to three or four fat buds attached to the woody root. At this time of year rhubarb is looking for food to store so it can push those pink blushing stems skywards. A thick mulch of manure or compost will give it an injection of nutrients when it’s needed most.

Although it’s a permanent resident on the veg plot, rhubarb, neither a fruit or a vegetable, will respond much better to being looked after. Even if for some reason you don’t have mulch or compost hanging around, give it a watering can full of plant feed.

There is a huge negative difference in the harvest of neglected rhubarb and one that’s been fed. Thick fat pink stems are more useful than thin insipid sticks.

Because it is low maintenance it’s tempting to allow it to get along by itself, but this a flawed theory. Thin stems can also be an indicator that it’s getting long in the tooth and needs dividing.

Dig out the whole root without damaging it. Digging very deep underneath and scooping it out in one piece is the best approach. When you can see the roots and buds, get the saw out of the shed and with the precision of a surgeon, cut out two healthy buds on each piece. These can then be replanted and placed under a spadeful of stable manure or compost a metre away from its sibling plants.

Keep finding windows of dry weather to potter and start to feel the changes in seasons and be attuned to nature. It’s easy to feel fed up in this weather and getting out when it’s fine gives us a natural lift.