At last a day in the garden

Being such a sunny day, we decided to treat ourselves and have a day off from decorating.  It was great to spend a proper amount of time in the garden and I of course used it clean up some of the pots.  At this time of year I am checking for damage, treating against vine weevil (a must if you have echeverias) and this year removing weeds and snails. Then it was on to the winter protection.

I mentioned this time last year the different levels of protection plants get; from being brought in, down to having a bit of fleece thrown over them before it snows.  As mentioned in the last post, I have lost my shed and this was a major part of my winter storage, so the cold frames are having to be far better planned. The first one is up and in the best place in the garden.  It gets sun from sunrise until about 4pm and is against the house so will benefit a bit form that.

Normally I don't have much problem filling it, it is just a case of taking the plants that wont fit inside or in the shed and putting them in here until there is no more space.  This year though I'm having to make some really tough decisions, while there will be another cold frame, it will not be as warm plus there are more plants that are used to better protection.  So I have done a test run using plants I am most concerned about or that are my favourites. These can at least start to dry out, but there are bound to be a few swaps.

I am also wondering if I could fit a second level in as well using the shelves form one of those mini green houses you find in garden centres. There are a lot of plants still waiting for a winter home and leaving them unprotected is not an option for most of them. Thankfully most of the larger plants are hardy and while a rain cover will help if I don't have space then it is fine and they can get a simple fleece cover before any snow. This collection is just half of those still sitting around!

There are a couple in there, like the agave attenuata, that have to be brought inside and I have started to put together those that will be brought in. 

Most of the very delicate ones are still at my parents and will have to be brought over in the next few weeks, they want their shed back for their own plants.  At the moment I am just crossing my fingers that everything is going to fit.  It's not just a case of putting them anywhere, if the light it not strong enough it can totally spoil the look of the plant, even when they are almost dormant. Still a long way to go, but at least there is some progress.

Hopefully this will be the last year I have to go through this and next year I will have an actual greenhouse!