Plants looking good in late winter, plus jobs in the garden – which ones are essential and which ones may not be worth the effort.
00:00 Welcome
00:05 The seedheads are from Acanthus mollis ‘Rue Ledan’
00:18 Frosted seedhead from unknown lacecap hydrangea
00:39 The Middlesized Garden’s weather, size and overview with what’s looking good now
03:02 Gardening jobs for late winter
03:15 Tidy up any garden debris, but should you remove leaves from the borders?
05:00 Can you prune hydrangeas in late winter?
05:13 Follow Tamsin Westhorpe @tamsinwesthorpe on Instagram. Stockton Bury Gardens in Herefordshire opening times on www.stocktonbury.co.uk
05:43 Can you plant bulbs in late winter (January)?
06:18 Ulting Wick opens for the National Garden Scheme Essex: www.ultingwickgarden.co.uk
06:50 Plant, prune or move deciduous or bare root trees now
07:03 How to Plant a Tree: https://youtu.be/cecir4wb2fE
07:50 Pruning tips for trees
09:27 Keep weeding in mild winters. Weed around newly planted trees
09:48 Should you dig over bare soil in late winter (or any time)?
10:50 Should you get rid of worm casts in the lawn?
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46 Comments
Woo hoo! 100k subscribers. Well deserved 🤗
Thanks for posting before and after pictures of just leaving leaves in your garden, not many people do this and it's useful to see how quickly they decompose
Another delightful and informative video. Congratulations on 100k!!!
You have inspired me to try topiary with one of our native hollies! Great video – thank you!
I agree that it doesn't seem to matter when one plants tulip bulbs. I usually plant mine around Christmas and New Year, but because I ordered about 800 bulbs this year, I didn't finish the last tulips into the garden (as opposed to pots) until mid January. Good luck with your two Malus hupehensis in your front garden. We had ours chopped down yesterday 🙁 because at 30' tall it was to large for our small town garden.
Congratulation on 100,000 subscribers. One of THE best gardening UK channels out there. Now onto the next 100,000.
I'm new to your channel and new to gardening and I love watching your videos. You share so many amazing tips and advice I really so feel inspired and look forward to getting out in my garden. Thank you 😊
Thank you Alexandra for all the useful tips! My garden seems to have had an invasion of Three Cornered Leek, any mild days I’ve been out trying to dig them up there’s even some growing in the lawn!
I would definitely recommend rather than cutting a branch from underneath to actually make two cuts. Make the first cut that is going to tear from the weight about 8 inches out, then do your actual neat and tidy cut in close as suggested x
I found myself doing a silly late winter garden job today. I noticed last year that my witch hazel tree does not drop its leaves on its own before it flowers, and so the flowers are blocked from view by the dead leaves. So I went out and stripped off the dead leaves with my hands and also a secateurs on the really tough stems. I think it will be blooming in about two weeks, and I will be able to see the distinctive fuzzy yellow blooms this year, set off by the snowdrops I planted underneath.
Prune and shape roses in Georgia (USA)
All great advice. Definitely agree with spreading compost on the garden. The benefits really shows in summer and the rewards are like 300% for your efforts
I think the most important job for the late winter weekend is pruning roses, which is critical to keep the plants compact and reduce the chance of disease. But there are also other things that are you can do to create a clean slate. This includes spraying trees and shrubs that are highly susceptible to fungal diseases with a good quality OMRI dormant oil. This can make all the difference for example, for our native serviceberries, that otherwise defoliate due to Sephoria leaf spot…
Congratulations on a 100k ✨✨👌👌🙌🙌
Love your videos! Thank you so much. I am also a no dig gardener and I leave leaves on my borders too. Let nature do the work for us. My garden is as much for wildlife as it is for me.
best soil mix for plants growth
https://youtu.be/WCNmtoD3iVA
Thank you for all your advice, Worms are good may be but I have so much trouble with moles who seem to want there lunch on all my grassy areas.
So practical 👌🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Such a helpful video, thank you 😃
Congratulations on 100,000 subscribers! Your middle sized channel is clearly on its way! Well done.
It’s colder than usual so I can’t be out too long, but you inspired me to do a good walk around. I can see where jobs will be needed and that some bulbs are coming up.
sorry alexander,, what are the trees you've topiarized ??
I removed some of the larger leaves from my hellebores as the flower buds are now getting quite big. I want to be able to see those flowers in all their glory when they bloom – not long now. I'm in the same region of the UK as you, and yes – so far it has been generally mild with not many frosty mornings … yet. I also went round the edge of my flower beds and lawn with my edger just to neaten it up a bit. Just that small job has really lifted the garden. It was good to hear you questioning some of those 'jobs to do' which I agree are not always necessary. Perhaps some of these organisations should revisit their own web pages and review them once in a while. I'm keen to try planting tulips in January. Mine were planted in November, but next year I might hold a few back to plant later and see what happens.
I'm so glad you recommend not digging in compost/manure! I had just the same thought, that the worms will do the job for me. After putting manure on my garden & pots I read up on how & when to use compost/manure to make sure I had done it properly. Only to find a very long and complicated method that involved testing the soil etc I put leaves all over my borders in Autumn for protection & nutrients. Glad to see you don't clear your leaves away either. You're garden is beautiful. My garden is on a steep hill with three landscaped sections. It's hard work but I love it's quirkiness. It would be great to see you do a vlog about gardening on a hill. I would love to get some tips. Lugging large bags of compost/manure up the many steps of my garden never gets easier even with my sack truck! Thanks for a great vlog
I think the main job is to think about how the garden can be improved upon compared to last year, breaking this down into smaller 'to-do' projects. Then plan for these projects in advance so that we know what to do when we get around to doing them, if we wish.
I think the most important task for me approaching spring this year is deciding on blueberry varieties. Will Elizabeth and Elliott pollinate each other?
Congratulations on reaching 100k subscribers from Hardy's Plants 🙂
Thank you, Alexandra. This was brilliant as always. Take care, DA – Vancouver, WA
Great video Alexandra, thank you 👍 I agree with you on the leaves on borders, I have left mine, they make a good weed suppressant and keep roots warm as you said. I am also trying no dig this year, I covered a bare patch with plain brown cardboard and piled old spent compost on it. It's looking good and I'm looking forward to putting my seeds in there in early May. It is good to see some sensible garden advice on Youtube! 👍😊
I nearly always plant my tulip bulbs in late January, . I doesn't seem to effect the bloom at all; they all grow as happily as if they were planted in November.
You appear so“angry“whilst talking us through? Perhaps you are an ex- teacher? Enjoy listening to your Garden Tipps nonetheless.
Hi there,
Just found your channel quite by chance and I think It's superb. We have a garden of similar size down here in Somerset and whilst not that skilled or knowledgeable we are really keen.
We will be following you all year.
Terry
The most important thing for me to do in my zone 5 garden right now is to sit by the fire, read gardening magazines and books, catch up on Gardeners' World episodes and plan my projects for late, late winter/early spring. 😁
Thank you for promoting no dig.
Please consider starting an alternate platform on Rumble and not only YouTube.
I mainly need to stop myself from pruning the roses, here in high altitude France. The weather is now so gorgeous I want to go out and do stuff and I have about 100 roses to do, but we always get frosts and snow in February so I must wait !
Interesting video. I always wonder about pruning my hydrangeas. They are one of my favourite plants, so I don't want to ruin them, but I always wonder : if I don't want the branch, why can't I just take it off instead of waiting for new growth, or in the case of rhodos, perhaps, why should I wait until the flowers are gone? Logic tells me that the nourishment should be given to the remaining branches.
Great video! 1. Do you recommend to leave dried hollyhock seed pods attached? Last year was my first with this plant and i cut and collected the seeds, but it was nice to look at if left alone. 2. When should the seeds be planted in your zone? 3. Are the seeds 'planted' or scattered on top of soil? Thank you!
Speaking of planting bulbs (or corms) I have vowed to plant more gladiolus this Spring. The bees loved them and with the addition of hardy gladiolus to my yard I had blooms from June until frost! I was so inspired I made a short video "Glad for Glads!" Have you featured Gladiolus in a video yet? They deserve to make a comeback.
Leaving leaves on the flower beds hasn’t worked for me I’m afraid. I thought they would be like a warm duvet for the earth but they’re still there and when bulbs start poking through them they look untidy and are more difficult to pick up. I have a large oak tree at the end of the garden so maybe it’s because of the amount of them making a thick layer. Note to self to clear them from the beds before Christmas next year!
As I seem to be so impatient to do something in the garden, I have been cleaning my gardening tools. I was also partly inspired by photonia which has leaf spot and needs pruning.
Your winter garden looks pretty. I am in Zone 10a-Southern California. This has been a weird year, with a huge torrential rain storm in late October. The ground was soaked, so most plants figured it was January. Things like freesias and nasturtiums started early, and the stems are overly long, though they are blooming now. We have had rain over the holidays, but then January was dry, and we had a week long heat wave in early February. I let leaves lie in flower beds too, to help keep the weeds down, since they start once it rains. I rake leaves from lawn and sweep from pavements, then combine with fall/winter trimmings that don't have weed seeds, and use for mulch. I have clay soil, which is like concrete by the end of May, so all planting needs to be done as early as possible. My citrus trees and hot-pink bougainvillea are blooming, and the bees were out in force today. 🙂
This is an excellent guide!
Alexandra, please show us other people's gardens again this summer. I particularly love Poppy's London garden! I always look forward to your videos!
Hello Alexandra, thanks for the list of tips! I still have snow covering all my flower and vegetable beds. Really look forward to working in my garden with your tips.
I don't get rid of the leaves until Spring, either. Seems to me that's how nature planned it to be.