Category: January

Well the Winter cut down continues and the excitement is building; I can’t sleep at night as I am constantly planning the next stage. My overall plan is to build things up to a crescendo by working up to the big hedges along the front lawn, then finish with a flourish by reshaping the large bay tree back into its donut shape – such fun!

OK, I accept that some people – a few – don’t get excited by the big cut down, but the least you could do is get out there and do a bit of cutting back, your garden will benefit and so will your health. Speaking of health, gardening is one of the healthiest things you can do. However, and unfortunately, Cruella (my wife) has gone back to England for a couple of weeks (she told me it is the manadatory period of mourning for the cat). This in effect means that from my point of view gardening stops being healthy and becomes an “extreme sport”. In her past absences I have achieved the following: smashed my skull open to the bone, fallen into numerous hedges, fallen off of so many ladders that I have been given an award, almost bled to death on two occasions, got trapped in the compost heap and flooded the garden.

Anyway enough of this rambling, let’s get on with the gardening.

9th January: Things I have been doing lately.

🌷Pruning Roses. Now is the time to cut back your Roses. Be brave, start by cutting out all growth that’s crossing over, then cutback weak stems, then go for it cut the whole thing back by two thirds. I know it looks extreme, but Roses love it and will reward you with more blooms. Don’t feed yet, wait till March. The photos below show my Rose beds in their freshly pruned state, in a few weeks time they will spring into growth. By the way, before you ask, I haven’t shown you the pruning stage because it involves severe loss of blood and multiple scratching and cuts, so much that people are asking me if I am self harming.

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🧝‍♀️ Cutting back Dame de Noche. Everyone in Spain should have the lovely night scenting Dame de Noche. If you have one, now is the time for the big cut back. Mature plants should be cut back by at least two thirds. Cut just above a leaf node and aim to develop a rounded shape. If you are growing against a wall then aim to create a fan effect coming out from the wall. The photos below show my Dame de Noche prior to pruning and after its very fetching haircut.

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🌾 Cutting back grasses. Now is the time to cut back your large ornamental grasses. I have a large Fountain grass that I only cut back slightly last year in the hope of creating a bigger grass. This was a mistake that I paid for in weak growth. So be brave cut your grasses back to a small mound and shape it in a bevelled round shape. The first photo below show my grass in its wilting Winter coat, the second photo shows it severely cut back; my reward will come in May.

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🌴 Cutting back Palms. You will probably cut your Palms back two or three times a year and it is important to keep this discipline. Not only does it keep the Palms shapely and attractive (#@mePalms), but also it means you are cutting the fronds when they are still green as opposed to cutting them when they have turned brown and have become like iron. My recommendation, from experience, is only cut the smaller Palms yourself, anything that requires the second extension of a ladder can lead to an unexpected trip to hospital.

The first photo below shows some Canary Palms that I have grown in an island on our front path. These require cutting twice a year to make the path passable. The second photo shows the newly trimmed Palms. The effect you are looking for is that the fronds are standing upright, they will eventually drop below the horizontal by the next time they are due a trim.

✂️ Espalier Figs. Regular followers of this blog (and you are legion) will know that I have been growing a fig espalier up the wall of our outside kitchen for a number of years. The espalier process is very slow as you are bending and shaping a plant against its natural shape. But anyway, now is the time to prune Figs espalier or otherwise. Once the leaves are all off the tree quickly starts to show next years buds. This is the point when you prune them just before they go into leaf.

The first photo shows my espalier before I began to prune. The second photo shows the newly trimmed fig. Note that with espalier you have to be brutal and cut back to the main trunk and your selected side shoots.

☠️ Killing broadleaved weeds on the lawn. If you have a lawn (I am not including artificial grass) then this is the time to kill broadleaved weeds on your lawn before they have time to set seed. Unlike most parts of the world, in Spain, our weeds grow fastest in the Winter because they just get scorched off in the Summer. You can’t use just any weedkiller on your lawn, you need to choose a selective weedkiller that will kill the weeds and not your grass.

The photo below shows the start of the process, the weedkiller I use, its victim and my marked up watering can showing its for weedkiller only.

This is a funny old time of year, all the hard work of the big Winter chop down is behind us and the new gardening year has yet to start. There are only two more big Winter jobs but I will cover these in future posts. In the meantime I am wandering round the garden as it sleeps disconsolately looking at plants, tidying things up and doing little jobs.

22nd January: Things I have been doing lately

🌿 Planting succulent cuttings. At the end of the summer I always take some cuttings from succulents such as Aeoniums. These sit on my potting bench for a few months as they gradually take root; they don’t really grow very fast, but they root soundly. If you plant these out now they will have taken nicely before the heat of Summer. The photo below shows my cuttings planted in a reasonably shady area; this is not ideal for succulents but they will be ok.

🔗 Putting up a wire trellis for the famous Solanum. Regular followers of this blog will know that my wife Cruella and my friend Karl have on a number of occasions stopped me growing Solanum (potato plant) from cuttings. They have regularly tortured and destroyed all my attempts by wilfully: underwatering, overwatering, trampling on (and blaming the dogs) and on one occasion saying the cuttings had been destroyed by aliens. They are both currently on trial at the UN.

Anyway, and eventually I managed to hide a new cutting from them and it has now rooted successfully. My aim is to grow it through trellis up one of the pillars in our outside kitchen. Now you can use wooden trellis here in Spain, if you want to, and I do have some. However, if you are growing plants in full sun then the trellis will soon be destroyed by the sun’s rays and you will be left with the horrible job of disentangling a large mature climber from a rotted wood trellis. Far better to grow climbers in full sun on wires.

I have used Vine ties as tensioners on the wire and used a medium wire. This will ensure that the plant will not make the wire sag as it grows, and also enables me to keep a good tension on the wire as the plant gets heavier. At a future date, assuming all goes well with the Solanum, and Cruella and Karl do not sabotage it, then I can extend the wires horizontally to grow the plant across the top of the outside kitchen wall. The three photos below show how rapidly the Solanum is growing; it went into the ground on December 12th – by Easter it will be at the top of the wires at this rate. (click on each picture to see it enlarged).

💡 Resurrecting bulbs. I have no doubt that you remember that last year I put spent Iris bulbs that I had in pots to bed. This involves letting the foliage completely die back, then cutting it down and covering the surface with compost. I then put the pots away under my potting bench and left them for months, slightly watering about every six weeks or so. I check them all the time at this time of the year, and as soon as a green shoot peeps out I place the pots on the potting bench for few more weeks so that I can keep an eye on them. When they are steadily growing I place them in the position they will be for flowering and then water once a week. The photo below shows one of the pots with the Iris getting into their stride. What a comeback can you think of anyone else who made a spectacular return from death?

🔪 Cleaning and sharpening tools. In our busy world people are increasingly stressed, anxious and burnt out. They seek solace in Mindfulness, Yoga and Psychotherapists. But forget all that rubbish just sharpen your tools. Yep, it’s that easy, sit down with some clean cloths, a light oil and either sand paper or a sand paper pad. There is hours of harmless fun to be had in this way, and not only will you benefit, but also your plants will appreciate your efforts. I have been happily esconsed down by the potting bench for hours sharpening away. Cruella says she wishes it was my wits I was working on. When I think of a clever retort I will let you know.

The terrible pun in the title above was a feeble attempt to keep everyone focused on the Big Winter Chop Down. It really is important that you get everything chopped back, pruned and tidy this month. If you leave it too late then growth can happen very quickly in Spain and you can find yourself having to cutback just when buds are appearing. Anyway, with that dire warning ringing in your ears let’s get this show on the road.

9th January – Things I have been doing lately

🌳 Cutting back hedges. I have over 100 metres of mixed hedges. These consist of Hibiscus, Bignonia, Pink Trumpet Vine, Plumbago, Roses, Bougainvillea, Jasmine a self seeded Pomegranate and a Partridge in a Peartree, ok I lied about the last one. All of these plants intertwine and are encouraged to fight for light and space, which in turn produces a vivid wall of colour and interest for at least 9 months of the year. Over the summer the hedge can grow in parts to over 10ft tall, which means it all has to be brought back into shape during the big chop down.

Normally I bring everything down to line up with the front wall and railings and square it off over the lawn to make sure there is no overhang during winter which could kill off parts of the lawn. This includes using a hedge trimmer, lopers, secateurs all of which I utilise precariously from a mobile platform. If you have hedges then you have to be cruel to be kind, if you don’t cut back then all you will have is straggly leggy growth poking over your railing or wall. Many gardens in Spain have this untidy look which can be seen as you walk along the road. By cutting your hedges back hard in January you are guaranteeing dense flower filled growth. You only need do it once a year but it is definitely worth it. The top two photos below show the hedge before its haircut and the bottom two show it newly trimmed (click on each photo for an enlarged view).

🌺 Cutting back Canna. You no doubt remember that I planted some lovely Canna earlier this year to take the place of Pampas grass that had become a bit unruly. The Canna have been a joy and provided a lovely statement plant in a key area of my garden. The Canna have been allowed to die back so that all the goodness goes back down into the soil and the rhizomes (a bit like bulbs but uglier). The die back process is important for Canna if you cut off the top growth too soon then you are denying the plant all its sustenance for next year; and that means weedy growth and no flowers.

Because we do not have frost in our part of Spain it is safe to leave Cannas in the ground over Winter. When all the leaves have gone brown and the stems are starting to collapse, you just need to cut the main stems of the Canna back to between 4-6 inches from the ground. If you cutback any less the plant could start secondary growth during warm weather which will ruin next year’s flowers. If you cut back any more then you risk getting too close to the rhizomes and damaging them.

If you haven’t got Cannas yet, then what is stopping you, get on with it. You can purchase rhizomes on line from respectable growers in the U.K. and they will deliver in Spain. Or, you could just wait till I divide my Cannas in a couple of years – I will undercut anyone’s price in my new Secondary Canna market. The photos below show the dying Canna and then their new cutback status. They should miraculously be back by Easter; remind you of any one (click on each photo for an enlarged view).

🌾 Cutting back grasses. Apart from my lawns I don’t really have any other grasses. The only exception; after my brief dalliance with Pampas, is Pennisetum (Fountain grass). This grass is popular in Spain and can be seen in many gardens and municipal plantings. This is a lovely showy grass with beautiful bobbing seed heads lofted on long graceful blades. Normally I copy the municipal gardeners and cut this back to about 25cm in January. However, this means that the grass never really gets very big, and yet I have seen quite big ones in some gardens. So by way of experiment, this year, I am just cutting off the seedheads and seeing if I can grow the overall size of the plant. I will let you know what happens. By the way if you fancy growing this grass, remember that all grasses need much more water than their desiccated looks would lead you to believe. The photos below show the Fountain grass prior to its trim and then afterwards in its new slightly reduced state. (click on each photo for an enlarged view).

The big Winter Chop Down in the garden has just started and I have already completed my annual fall off a ladder. This annual event involves me balancing precariously either up a tree or on top of various types of ladders and platforms. This year’s occurrence whilst not being as spectacular as some past years, did involve me falling about six foot on to my head and side whilst holding a hedge trimmer. My hand and wrist were a bit damaged, but hey my heads ok. Cruella (my wife) says it’s the thickest part of my body. Anyway, let’s get this blog started I have messed around long enough with triviality and medical updates; mind you it does hurt, and I do have a rather fetching stretchy thing on my wrist. See photo below.

5th December: Things I have doing lately.

🌿 Cutting back Lantana. Before you start the big chop down it is a good idea to cut back perennials otherwise you risk damaging them as heavy prunings drop on to them. In my case this only really applies to Lantana. So if you have Lantana, and lots of people in Spain do, then now is the time to cut them back. Lantana can take quite hard pruning, in many cases to just about six inches for mature plants. I have two type of Lantana in my garden: trailing ground cover type and the normal bush type. The bush ones are only about a year old so I have not cut them back very much, whilst the trailing ones I can cut back quite drastically and they will come back as they are older. The pictures below show the Lantana in their unpruned and pruned states.

🌳 Pruning trees. I have lots of trees, many are fruit trees and a considerable number are pines. However, the only ones that I really prune besides the fruit trees are a large evergreen Ficus and a large Mimosa. Ficus are lovely evergreen trees that do well in Spain, but they can get a bit top heavy and bulky. Here in Spain they have overcome this by cutting out the main trunk and creating a donut shape with the branches. I copied this about five years ago (one of my more spectacular falls) and it looks very nice. However, if you are going to do this, and I recommend it, you have to cut it back to shape every year. To be honest this involves lots of clambering around in the branches with a chainsaw or hedge trimmer so I really would recommend getting a professional in. My fellow garden blogger Tony Tomeo @tonytomeo.wordpress.com is the tree expert, but as he lives in the US he won’t be able to pop round, but he can offer good advice.

Anyway, pruning the Ficus in to shape has to take place each January because by this time your donut is gradually filling back in again and you need to reshape it. The photos below show the Ficus before and after its annual reshaping.

The Mimosa is a different kettle of fish; although I don’t tend to prune it annually it can be a very bulky tree and grow to over 30ft. In my case the canopy of the tree was gradually edging towards the roof guttering and it was overshadowing the dogs kennel. Whilst some shade is important, the dogs were living in permanent twilight. As with all big pruning exercises, take your time saunter around the tree for a few days and eye up it’s structure and look at the lay of the main branches. Should the tree ask “who are you looking at”, just deny everything and say you are just out for a walk. Never tell them in advance they are going to be pruned, they get skittish and play up.

The eventual outcome was that I have raised the canopy of the Mimosa by removing the main lower branches. Overall I am happy with the outcome as I have taken it away from the roof guttering and the dogs now have more light, though they are now requesting sun glasses. Raybans! would you believe, that of course is ridiculous, dogs in sunglasses. I’m thinking Aviators would probably suit them better. The photos below show the Mimosa before and after its big prune. Mind you it’s still not speaking to me. I’ve also shown you a photo of the prunings from the Mimosa and the Ficus to show how hard I am working.

🌸 Trimming Pink Trumpet Vine. Pink trumpet is a big favourite here in Spain and you can see it everywhere. However, it is a vigorous grower and if you are not careful it will become unmanageable. You have to be very strict with it and severely cut it back each January. At first you can trim Pink Trumpet with shears or a hedge trimmer, but gradually over a few years it’s main stems will thicken and become almost like tree branches. Then you will need to use a saw or chainsaw. But don’t be afraid, you can be quite ruthless with it and leave just a bare stump of 2ft. If you fail to do this then Pink Trumpet will become so strong and vigorous that it will become a major undertaking.

I grow Pink Trumpet in hedges and as a stand alone wrapped around an old Palm tree trunk. The picture below shows the plant around the tree trunk. Every summer this plant throws out a profusion of lovely pink flowers that makes the tree trunk look like part of a firework display. But if I failed to trim it up each January then it would eventually come into my bedroom one Winter night whilst I was asleep and beat me to death with the tree trunk. The photos below show the Pink Trumpet before and after pruning. Oh, I forgot to mention that at the top of the trunk I have a small solar panel that powers solar lights wrapped around the tree; this is very effective and means you get a day night effect from the plant.

🧟‍♀️ Cruella. Many people have asked me whether Cruella my wife really exists and if she is really as wicked as a I report her to be. Let me be quite frank, no plant is safe anywhere in her vicinity. She is so bad with plants that Interflora delivery vans regularly crash outside our house.

Anyway, here she is. I surprised her in her “counting house” the other day. You sound a bit credulous that she has a counting house, but of course she has a “counting house” all the wicked fairy tale characters have one, and she is no exception. She told me that she was counting the collections from our Church over the Christmas period. But, I don’t know all the collecting tins for our local orphanage were stolen over Christmas and she started laughing when someone told her about it.