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  • My mind has gone blank and I need help...

    OK, dear friends: for reasons too tedious to go into, my poor garden has been sadly neglected since about September. I did plant some raspberry canes and did a bit of weeding at some point, but since then I have been rushed off my feet and have done sweet fa.

    The garden has - like yours no doubt - been buried under snow and hard as concrete for what seems like ages. Now that everything has thawed, I've gone out to survey the damage, sadly aware of the garlic and onion sets sitting in my freezing conservatory, which are not yet in the ground.

    The sad truth is that grass and buttercups seem to like frost and snow. There is scarcely a bare inch of earth. I can see parsley and strawberries which are obviously fine, plus a row of wilted chard and some beetroot. My blackcurrant bushes are massively overgrown, the Jerusalem artichokes need cutting down. There are a few brave onions and what looks like a lone savoy cabbage.

    I just don't know where to start. I feel I should clear the ground of grass and buttercups, but don't want to leave bare earth. Obviously, there's nothing much I can plant now unless I fill the whole plot up with onions and garlic, which seems a bit of an overkill. My daughter is now veggie, so I want the garden in really full production this year. Can I cut the chard back - will it grow again (I seem to remember reading it would but could be talking rubbish)? Is it too late to prune the blackcurrants or would I be better off just leaving them? Can I move strawberries so they're all in one place?

    I feel I do possibly know the answers to these questions but just don't know what's for the best. Or should I just shut the back door and wait until February?

    Perhaps you lovely all-the-year-rounders would be kind enough to give me the benefit of your advice? Thank you very much.

  • #2
    I think the answer to a lot of your questions is yes - trimming the chard (you won't lose anything if it is already dead) - I'd wait to move your strawbs until the frost and snow have gone - and you can prune blackcurrants in January / February - take out 1/3 of the old wood and open out the centre of the bush. HTH
    Whooops - now what are the dogs getting up to?

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    • #3
      Hi there!...lovely to hear from you again!!

      We've all been there- don't fret!

      Strawberries...yup- trim off the old outer leaves and runner and transplant. They'll be fine.
      Chard...I'd cut off the outer tatty leaves but leave the inner ones. It's a biennial so you'll need to sow new ones this year.
      Beetroot...should really be pulled by now- the frost may have got to it.
      Blackcurrants....well, I'm no expert on fruit bushes- but- they are dormant at the moment so I'd have thought t'd be OK- but try to avoid a frosty day/night. I've left mine for a year without being pruned and they were fine though
      Garlic...they do need to be exposed to frost to split into cloves, so I'd get them in fairly soon or you may just get a solid ball of arlic.
      Onions...urm- no idea- but as they are the same famy as garlic, I'd say get them in now too if they are the winter planting variety.Some are for Sring planting- best check first!

      Weeds....I'd leave them until you've got more time- they'll only b replaced by another weed. (If they were docks and brambles I'd be saying get them out asap though)

      Hope that sort of helps???
      "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

      Location....Normandy France

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      • #4
        I'd prune the currants - you have till they get back into growth so don't fret!
        Onions and garlic in asap (or into pots if there's not enough space)
        Weeds out if they're flowering, otherwise do it before spring
        Strawberries, I'd leave them till nearer to spring as we'll probably have another cold snap and they'll be weaker if they've just been moved
        Beetroot's probably had it as they don't like being frozen solid but try one just in case.
        But if you want to leave it till february I don't see why not - you'll just have a bit less time to do all your jobs!

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        • #5
          Thanks, chaps, and thank you for the welcome back!

          I really feel a need to clear out these buttercups, but I know from experience that the little blighters just come back. Realistically, I'm not going to be planting anything outside for ages though, am I, so there isn't really THAT much point in clearing the ground as I'll just be extra upset when the buttercups gallop through it again?!

          I think I'll have to stick onions and garlic in pots for the time being. Can I just stick em in a pot or two and leave said pots outside? I've never transplanted either garlic or onions and don't know how well they cope...

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          • #6
            Hi there!

            We always start our garlic off in modules, stood in the unheated greenhouse, but yeah outside...if yours are autumn planters get 'em into some compost & outside I reckon. We'll be starting some onions, shallots & leek seeds in modules & when germinated out in the cold porch...but we've also started onion sets in plastic modules too. They start growing and are all ready for when you have time or inclination or weather to plant them out.
            To see a world in a grain of sand
            And a heaven in a wild flower

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