大象传媒

In the news....

Binoculars at the ready! I hope you've got your allocated hour marked off on the calendar this weekend.

Yes, it's time for the , in which a large chunk of the nation's gardeners (530,000 last year) take up birdwatching, then give it up again after only an hour (having recorded their findings first, of course).

As we know all too well, it's been one of the coldest Decembers on record, so the RSPB are awaiting reports of the effect such numbing temperatures have had on our smallest birds, particularly in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the 大象传媒 Wales Nature blog has a cheat sheet on bribing more birds to come to your garden: and to whet your appetite, there are some wonderful videos on the 大象传媒 Wildlife Finder.

Incidentally, after our recent post about the uber-expensive snowdrops you can buy at the moment: if you thought 拢265 for a bulb of G. nivalis 'Flocon de Neige' was a bit steep, how about 拢357?

That was the price a single bulb of G. plicatus 'E.A. Bowles' went for this week , setting a new record. Recession? What recession?

Elsewhere on the web...

Garden bloggers, journalists and environmentalists rose up as one this week to protest against the government's plans to sell the nation's forests. Nigel Colborn pointed out ; he was joined by , journalist , and wildlife artist .

Phone-ins and email inboxes at 大象传媒 TV and radio stations were crammed: 大象传媒 political blogger Deborah McGurran tested the mood in East Anglia: 'people are genuinely angry,' one worried local MP told her. And debate was fierce on听大象传媒 Radio 4's Call You and Yours and Farming Today (7m 40s in), which had a rare voice in favour from a woodland owner in North Yorkshire: 鈥渨hy shouldn't somebody who lives in a town be able to buy a wood... and get a huge amount of pleasure from it?鈥�. Quite. This one could run and run.

Elsewhere: for Life in a Cottage Garden, Carol Klein's joyful celebration of her Devon garden. Even those hard-to-please folk on the messageboard are (mostly) full of praise. High summer last night, and we've got autumn yet to come. Bliss.

Out and about...

It must be spring or something. Suddenly, there's so much going on you're dithering over what to do first (and how to fit any gardening in).

Snowdrop celebrations mark the beginning of the end of our long, nasty winter: Londoners can head straight for the , open for just two weekends for snowdrops and other winter bulbs, and Lady Christine Skelmersdale, of specialist bulb centre , visits in Surrey to talk about .

gets the swank prize for having 250 varieties on show; then there's , private gardens opening for the , and so many snowdrop openings at National Trust gardens .

I hope you can still find the energy to visit a : queen of them all is Garden Organic's 16th , at Ryton near Coventry this weekend. Over 130 varieties, rare vegetable seeds from , talks, tastings, and a potato-themed restaurant. It's going to be a busy year!

My 'ludicrous' garden

"It's getting ludicrous" my wife told me. She was referring to my garden. She meant it as a criticism. I took it as a compliment.

I am not sure that "ludicrous" is the appropriate word, but I admit my garden is not conventional. It's not meant to be. It isn't big - about half a tennis court. I have divided it into clearly demarcated areas, some of them inspired by my international travels.

For example, there is the "magic tree" - actually a lilac - festooned with the kind of shiny, glittery, swivelling things you can buy at a 'New Age' shop, augmented with strips of coloured paper and a few fake insects. Roadside trees in India are often decorated thus.

Then there's the "Inca Ruins", created from a few crusty old house bricks, fragments of clay pottery, and one of those plaques with a smiley sun's face on it, which looks Inca, even if it isn't.

There is also a thriving thicket of tropical jungle with ferns, palm trees, bits of bamboo and a couple of Buddhas. This I have called "Viet Nam", even though I have never been there.

Plus, I have excavated five small ponds, divided by equally small rockeries, which look almost natural. Something that can't be said of "Gnome Corner", the home of an ever increasing colony of at least 100 gnomes, some pleasingly jolly, but most of them undeniably tasteless. The whole effect is - what is the word? Imaginative? Quirky? Unusual? Oh, ok, ludicrous.

But what about the wildlife? To be honest, at first glance, one could be forgiven for assuming that my garden has been specially designed to deter birds.

For a start, it is not exactly quiet. When a breeze blows,windmills whirr and wind chimes of all sizes tinkle and clang, like an under-rehearsed Balinese Gamelan orchestra.

The pigeon is real!

Then there are the plastic predators. Lots of them. Many gardens have one. Usually a fake heron, posing by the pond to deter real herons from gobbling the goldfish. Have you noticed that it doesn't work? For a very good reason. If a flying heron looks down and sees what appears to be another heron crouched immobile over the water, it assumes there are fish to be caught, and is most likely to join its chum, real or plastic. Wildfowlers use the same technique to lure ducks. They put out decoys. The fact is that fake birds are if anything likely to attract others of the same species, not scare them away. I have 3 herons and 2 egrets in my garden. I have only ever had one real heron. But then I haven't got any fish.

I also have several of those model hawks and owls that are meant to frighten birds away from airports and valuable crops. So do they clear my garden too? I conducted an experiment. I put a very realistic plastic peregrine falcon on my shed roof. This is a bird that is feared by many others, especially pigeons, which are staple peregrine diet.

One could be forgiven for assuming that my garden has been specially designed to deter birds

I retired to the back room and lurked by the open door with my camcorder. Within 10 minutes, I had a video of 2 or 3 wood pigeons pottering around the peregrine as if it were one of their own. It was almost as if they knew perfectly well it was a fake.

To confirm my conviction that birds are not daft, my garden is now guarded by the peregrine, a kestrel, an eagle owl and no fewer than five little owls. I have pictures of all of them with great tits, blue tits or robins perched on their heads! I even once - in the cause of science - put out a totally realistic cat (not a stuffed real one). It was barely a minute before that too had a couple of wrens hopping on its back, and a young rat gnawing at its tail!

Then there are my mirrors. The generally touted advice is that you shouldn't put a mirror in a garden because birds will attack their own reflection, thinking it's a rival, and they could hurt themselves by pecking at the glass. I have indeed witnessed that kind of behaviour, but only by dunnocks (hedge sparrows), and though there was a fair amount of fluttering, pecking and poking I am pretty sure there was no beak breaking or head bruising. I even solicited a second opinion by placing a mirror on the bird table. It got no reaction at all, although I reckon one particularly vain robin had a bit of a primp.

Anyway, my noisy, garish, model-infested, ludicrous garden has five large mirrors and a number of little ones, suspended on fences, nestling in rockeries and wedged into bushes. Thus, the many psychedelic bird scaring features are reflected and multiplied as if in a giant kaleidescope.

And yet, I have 58 different species on my garden list. Admittedly, this is over 20 years, and a fair proportion of them were flying or circling overhead, including 8 birds of prey: kestrel, sparrowhawk, hobby, red kite, buzzard, honey buzzard, osprey and (real) peregrine.

Most birdwatchers count flyovers on their garden lists - species seen in, over, or from your garden - except the . The rules for the annual clearly state: "please record the highest number of bird species seen in your garden (not flying over)."

Sounds a bit mean doesn't it? Well no: it's all in the interest of facts, figures and fun. Anyway, it doesn't mean you can't look at anything that flies over!

The Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend. It is easy to take part. All you need is a garden or a park. Further information - including - is available on the . By taking part you will be contributing to a unique cross-Britain database which reveals the state and status of the species that choose to enjoy - and may indeed depend on - the food and shelter that we provide in our gardens. Please join in.

Oh yes, one word of caution: if you do have mirrors in your garden, make sure you don't count every bird twice!

Watch clips of Bill Oddie's Top Ten Birds

Use the 大象传媒's Wildlife Finder to explore hundreds of different birds.

Visit the 大象传媒's Nature UK website

The first emerging seeds have popped up their tiny green heads in my propagator (a dead fridge, on its back, half full of sand embedded with a soil warming cable, and two glass Porsche side windows for a lid). The melons are just behind, you can see bulging spots in their compost though no sign of tomatoes or peppers as yet.

Many of my plants under cover look a bit weary, that is those that are not obviously dead; I no longer have any coffee plants, the look hopeless, the , a grafted one at that, has been cut right down. Many of my lost their centres - wet lodges in there and the cold then gets them, they're much safer bone dry. Still, the days are getting longer and brighter and soon I expect most survivors will flourish once again.

The have come through amazingly well, still cropping, that's nearly four months of fresh tasty vitamin packed fruits. Likewise a potted Cape gooseberry has been doing well; the cold barely touched it though now it's suffering grey mould - as is much else. The citrus are still awful despite my best efforts.

A couple of pots of are growing well with plenty of good looking leaves - should be a grand show soon. They are now stood in place of pots of hardy cyclamen which have finally finished, they were very good value with months of bloom. Outdoors is bleak, drab and rather muddy; however there are now some flowers to be found.

The are dangling profusely but the tiny carmine female flowers are not out yet - they need a warm sunny day to stick out their sea-anemone like tentacles. My cornelian cherry, cornus mas, has masses of fat buds waiting to burst. I've cut some stems to bring in for a vase on the kitchen table where they are now opening their yellow blooms. Along with these I've stood sprigs of a winter flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, the tiny creamy flowers live up to their name, and twigs of Wintersweet, Chimomanthus fragrans, which also lives up to its name with waxy wan yellow petals on red-centred flowers that carry delicious spicy perfume.

I've looked for the but they're not there yet, the crocuses are just sticking up their nibs as are the snowdrops. And it's only with today's perambulation I notice I've not seen any autumn flowering snowdrops, right by my back door these were regularly increasing for a decade or more from a kind gift of a few bulbs. Normally appearing in autumn and flowering in November these are now notable from their very absence. A close investigation reveals a few stumpy leaves and no signs of flowers past or present. Um, I wonder what's done for them, and it must have been well before the cold snap distracted me. I shall disinter their remains later, move any hopefuls to a new spot and see if they can be revived.

The idea that we might coin the phrase 'growing medium' where previously we used the word compost seems to be catching on. I for one try to use it to avoid confusion.

Actually, there is much confusion at the moment with quotes in a range of publications about the big theme of the day: peat-free growing medium. We have come a long way since gardeners were first encouraged to give up using peat but in my view, we still haven't got there yet.

Last year at Beechgrove we conducted a peat-free compost trial using seedling geraniums. This picture illustrates the variability of peat-free products.

I was in at the start, interviewing for television, a professional environmentalist and therefore a strong supporter of the idea. We were standing on the , outside Currie south of Edinburgh, one of the last (LRB) in the country, which is still intact. As many will know, it was areas of LRB across the UK, which were 'mined' for the right kind of peat to satisfy the need for a new growing medium. It is a unique geological formation and supports a diverse ecosystem all of its own. We've had debates and seminars on the subject and despite the need for change, I remain a sceptic regarding the way the debate has been treated. Politicians need deadlines to suit their vote-grabbing policies but dressed-up to appeal to people's consciences about the planet, carbon footprints, global warming, and climate change - have I missed anything out? Oh yes - biodiversity! They have a 'tick box' mentality. The incongruity of it all is that some authorities claim peat reserves across the globe are growing faster than we can use the stuff and perversely, power stations are still being built to be fired using peat! Joe Bloggs asks "wot's goin' on, I'm a bit confused mate?"

I hope you can see what I mean and whilst the scientists and manufacturers are still trying their level best to produce a substitute that is CONSISTENT and REPEATABLE, let us use a pragmatic approach. Whilst we experiment to find the right alternatives, a process that requires significant research and costs money, let us continue to use peat from bogs where, if you like, the damage has already been done and certainly ring fence raised lowland bogs in this country that are still untouched. Incidentally the rules for repairing bogs that have been worked out in the UK and Ireland are pretty stringent. Some of the results in this phase are quite stunning.

Where do I now stand in this debate? It must be pretty clear by now but since day one I have advised that using peat for soil amelioration is a grave misuse of a valuable material. Positive results of this action are likely to be transient and therefore it is to be deplored.

The trouble is, peat is such a good, reliable material. What age is peat? The answer is measured in thousands of years. As a result, it is chemically inert when used for our purpose, it is also free from harmful organisms. Together with its water holding capacity and air exchange properties, peat remains the number one material in the right price bracket to be used as a growing medium.

What age are the alternatives containing composted green waste, wood fibre, bark, paper etc.? This will vary significantly from one recipe to the next but they are all likely to be well under 100 years old and these materials are likely to be chemically ACTIVE under certain temperature and moisture regimes and therein lies the problem. In one recent report, the same product varied from bag to bag let alone from one sales site to another!

Truth to tell, for seed sowing, cuttings and young plants, I will still recommend peat -based growing medium and that view is endorsed by the recent Gardening Which report. Older plants are more likely to be able to cope with the best of the peat-free range.

Alan Romans

Let's start by clearing up a commonly-asked question. What exactly do we mean by a 'heritage' potato?

Well, definitions vary. In a catalogue I helped compile some years ago we decided on 1950 and before, though this was simply because I wanted to include Roseval (deep red salad potato with ruby-red stems; excellent cooking and flavour) 鈥� one of my particular favourites.

The earliest variety still around, Fortyfold, dates from around 1800, though. Old varieties tend to have survived because a number of people are convinced that they have characteristics not found in modern varieties. This usually centres on flavour, texture or the way they behave on cooking.

This is not just nostalgia 鈥� the useful gene sequences which make potatoes the most productive and nutritious crop on the planet date from about 3000 years ago. Modern breeding is about 'tweaking' the crop to give an increase in saleable product 鈥� the priorities are disease resistance and uniform size, with low dry matter and high water content for extra weight.

This means many post-1950 varieties are not as palatable as the oldies, which are the best of what was a very large bunch. For decades supermarkets have dictated that very floury potatoes, blue skinned varieties and coloured flesh types are unsaleable in their environment. If you're of a mind to disagree 鈥� and many gardeners are 鈥� until recently you had little choice but to grow your own.

In the last 20 years, seed potato variety availability to gardeners has increased from about 20 bog standard varieties to getting on for 200. Interestingly, where gardeners lead, the supermarkets follow and they are now increasing their variety numbers to some extent.

There are 3 types of certified heritage seed potato.

1. National Listed varieties

These are registered varieties that have been around as field grown crops for many years and often continue to have a market. They include long-standing favourites like Duke of York (1891), International Kidney (1879), King Edward (1902) and Arran Pilot (1930) 鈥� all heritage varieties that have stood the test of time and are still popular today. However all of them can and do come and go depending on the confidence of a grower to find a market. Pink Fir Apple (1850) was hardly heard of a few years ago 鈥� yet now thanks to rave reviews from chefs and gardeners it too is a National Listed variety.

From left to right: Pink Fir Apple, Arran Pilot, King Edward, International Kidney

2. Non National Listed varieties

Public pressure has led to relaxation of very restrictive rules and it is now possible for farmers to grow these varieties with the agreement of the relevant agricultural authority. They are often grown in very small quantities and are often quite expensive. In this category comes our oldest variety, Fortyfold (1800), with famously high yields even by modern standards; the Victorian variety Salad Blue if you like purple mash; Shetland Black (pre-1923) with its deep purple skin and yellow flesh; and Beauty of Bute (1890), a fine early maincrop with white flesh and a floury texture.

From left to right: Shetland black, Highland Burgundy Red, Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy, Salad Blue

3. Minitubers

Laboratory grown from tissue culture material sourced from the National Collection, these are exceptionally clean seed, vigorous but small enough to be easily posted. Their expense is balanced to some extent by cheaper postage. Fortyfold is available as a minituber, as is Mr Little's Yetholm Gypsy (c.1900), another near-black variety but with tinges of red, white and blue too. Other minitubers include the classic blue-fleshed 19th-century French salad variety Vitelotte, and the Victorian Highland Burgundy Red, which has burgundy flesh and a lovely fluffy texture.

The wonderful thing about heritage potatoes is that every variety has a story to tell about the people who grow them. Try a few this year and enjoy your window into history.

I am drinking Zabar鈥檚 house blend coffee (ground this morning) and eating an H&H sourdough bagel, though I am no longer in New York.

These are just some things I brought home. 13 bagels (you get one extra when you buy a dozen), some coffee beans, Russian Caravan tea (so easy to get there) chipotle chilli flakes and a jar of Rick鈥檚 Picks 鈥楾he People鈥檚 Pickles鈥� for Nat. My suitcase weighed a lot.

It was a good holiday. I danced to Blondie at the Pyramid, sweated in a sauna on the corner of 66th and Broadway, drank in old haunt on University Place and ate pierogies in the east village. I was glad to get home though. I missed the allotment and the chickens missed me. Since I鈥檝e got back it鈥檚 been so grey that there鈥檚 no distinction between the road and sky and then it鈥檚 been so cold that the sun felt compelled to come out. Now it is good digging weather.

That鈥檚 all I鈥檝e been doing, pulling out the bootlace roots of bindweed and sieving through the soil for fragments of couch grass.听 It feels epic at this point, like it may not ever end, even after hours of work it is hard to see what you鈥檝e achieved.

I pushed more broad bean seeds into the soil and cloched them in some hope of something green soon, something I planted rather than the weeds that are laughing at me.

Today though, I鈥檓 staying indoors to sow chillis.听 I am unusually reticent about sowing anything too early, particularly if you don鈥� t have a heat greenhouse to prop you up between now and spring, but I feel that chillis need that extra time. They are slow. They do not move fast in any sense in the early days, so the longer you give them the better.听 If you wait till the end of Feb or March and grow them outside you will grow something beautiful, but whether you get any ripe fruit is another thing.

听

I鈥檓 growing 鈥楲ong Red Cayenne Slim鈥�, which is just a good long hot chilli that always performs well and dries nicely. A 鈥楬ungarian Black鈥� 鈥� very pretty shiny black fruit, not particularly hot, but tasty and 鈥楾hai mound鈥� for when I want to blow our heads off.

My favourite, however, is Rocoto Red. It is very, very hot and fleshy and round like a child鈥檚 drawing. It is a Capsicum pubescens, rather than the more common annual Capscum annuum. It can live for a number of years if you can give it somewhere frost free for winter (mine comes into the kitchen).
It鈥檚 sometimes known as the tree chilli as it has a distinctly different habit to other chillis. The leaves are hairy and pale green, rounder in shape and the stems are strong and branching. The chillis look more like small round sweet peppers, but boy do they have a kick. I鈥檝e managed to get a single plant to four years old, by which point it was so big I couldn鈥檛 bring it indoors and it succumbed to a winter鈥檚 night and blackened. However these chillis are more cold tolerant than others and don鈥檛 mind cooler summers. It鈥檚 perfectly happy outdoors all summer and fruits well whatever the weather.

I find it鈥檚 useful to mist the flowers in order to improve fruit set and these chillis are hungry you can鈥檛 feed enough in the growing season. These chillis are so fleshy that they never dry well. If there鈥檚 a bumper crop then I freeze them instead.

I鈥檓 going to sow them under heat on my windowsill propagator. They germinate at around 28 celsius and can take up to a month to germinate, so patience is necessary. I always make sure I keep the propagator lid on as I find that if the moisture dips, then germination is even slower.听 I keep them indoors for as long as I can to make sure that they are a decent size. They make nice house plants, so I dot them around the house and move them out once the weather is warm enough. 听听听

Alys Fowler is a writer and broadcaster

听

In the news....

听

Tests in the US showed neonicotinoids 鈥� pesticides used widely in America and the UK, but banned in several other European countries 鈥� .

In the UK, the chemicals are used on oilseed rape and also in gardens 鈥� look out for the names on pest control sprays.

UK scientists say other factors may play a part and more research is needed. But 25 MPs supported an from Labour MP calling for all products containing neonicotinoids to be temporarily suspended.

On the subject of pests: the tiny viburnum beetle has knocked the mighty slug off the top of. The beetle's creamy yellow larvae reduce beautiful viburnum leaves to ugly lace doilies in late spring. No wonder we're bothered.

Elsewhere on the web...
We're getting the first sneak peeks into the show gardens being created for this year's . Anne-Marie Powell gives a hint of: 'palm-sweating', 'sickening' and 'petrifying', followed by screams, tears and quivering 鈥� and that's just when the RHS gave her the thumbs-up.

Kew has announced, while has been talking to his sponsor, The Telegraph, about : 'I'm sure it will be fine,' he says,听opting for bravado听in the face of rising听panic. 'The only concern I've got is that some people might not quite听get it.'听

This week's good listen: Sarah Swadling visiting a commercial Cornish daffodil farm in the rain for 大象传媒 Radio 4's 'On Your Farm': a world in which daffs come in the tens of millions.

And this week's good read:. As heartbreaking a tale of life conspiring against a dedicated gardener as you will ever hear.

Out and about...
For keen veg growers, Potato Days are like being let loose in a sweetshop. Old heritage varieties with names like Shetland Black rub shoulders with the very latest modern disease-resistant types, tempting you to try something new. The king of them all is the next Saturday at Ryton, show garden near Coventry, but there are others听听too.

Also next weekend is the s : 530,000 people, 280,000 gardens, and 8.5 million birds.

Birdwatcher extraordinaire is dropping by later in the week with a post giving his take on this national love-in with our garden birds; and there are dozens of mass birdwatching events all over the country on the weekend itself. RSPB experts are at the , and you can feed the birds at the , or enjoy the shelter of, Liverpool, where there's also a display of tropical birds to brighten the winter gloom.

Brilliant, the mild weather continues and my garden jobs are getting done, helped by the slowly increasing hours of daylight. I've just sown some tomatoes, sweet peppers and cucumbers, trays of onions and loads of salad crops.

Pawpaw leaves contain a chemical called , which breaks down proteins found in meat and dairy. The leaves can be made into a tea to treat indigestion.

Of course the first three are in a heated propagator but the others are just on my bench under cover. I've potted up a sweet potato and put it on heat to force some shoots, and sown some seeds. (I want the leaves to cook with my somewhat tough chicken meat - cockerels do not fatten like hens and make chewy meals, an enzyme in pawpaw makes tough old meat tender. Indeed they used, cruelly, to inject it into old cows just before slaughter to make their meat more palatable.)

I've started bringing in strawberry and gooseberry plants to force, they do not get any heat, just come under cover, but this is enough to bring them into earlier growth and give me fruits weeks if not months earlier. I'm also about to bring in some grapevines, peaches, cherries and apricots, it's just I need to make some space first!

Fortunately I am at home for a while, we recorded GQT in Warrington which goes out the 21st January and I'm 'at liberty' till I go to Lavenham on the 24th. Now that's pretty local in Suffolk, which makes a nice change from the long rail journeys I frequently have. Mind you I love watching the changing scenery from the train, it was quite an eye-opener to cross the Pennines on my way up to Warrington and see snow still lying about here and there.

I forget how gentle is my low altitude southerly climate compared to the bleaker ones some gardeners have to cope with. Even so it has been a harsh winter, and could be so again, February is often nasty.

Amongst the losses so far I've been surprised by the state of a young peach sapling of . I planted this autumn before last, it's allegedly disease resistant, and although it did have a touch of the red blotchiness and curling leaves it threw off the attack. Unfortunately it has suddenly produced the worst I have ever seen with oozing gummy sap up and down the whole of its slender trunk. I guess the freezing weather burst the bark; it seems to have done similar to some branches on an old apricot as well. The latter may recover but the damage to the peach is so extensive I fear it cannot survive. So I've ordered a replacement, and another, a Rochester, to replace an old tree which fell last summer.

I've also some more apricot saplings coming - with every other jam possible in my cupboard my twins have become obsessed with apricot jam demanding it in frozen bread sandwiches (which they invented). I freeze loaves of organic sliced bread for convenience, they like it when still frozen, sort of like cookie ice cream I guess.

Bob Flowerdew is an organic gardener and panellist on 大象传媒 Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time.

Some of my seedlings in small pots

Whilst soil conditions are still unsuitable for seed sowing out of doors in most places, the first indoor sowings will be getting under way any time now. Last time, I talked about seeds old and new. Before going on to the process itself, a word about the utensils, containers etc. I may make some very obvious points for experienced gardeners but be assured it pays to emphasise these elements every time.

Clean containers are vital, by all means re-use pots, boxes and margarine tubs but be sure that they are clean. In my early days, everything was washed in a tub of water laced with sterilant. A word of warning though, if you go down this route, be sure that the containers are thoroughly rinsed with plain water to remove any remnants of the detergent - it can burn seedling roots. Nowadays, most people will get away with giving containers a thorough brush out to remove loose remnants of old soil and old roots because we are now in the age of plastic which is much easier to clean.

May I also remind you to clean the watering can and the roses, the water butt or any other storage vessel. They can be the source of disease.

Why am I being so picky? We start some outdoor crops indoors at this time either to be able to harvest them early as part of a plan to be self-sufficient and/or to achieve a greater yield because you have given the plants a much longer growing season. Bulb onions would be a good example of this latter point. If you sow the seeds into a dirty pot, they may pick up a bit of infection with the result that you have to start all over again. You may just have lost a potential month's growing time and you can't get it back until next year! Don't be careless.

Now that you have clean containers, what size is required for the job in hand? We are back to that piece of string again, let me say that so many people waste seed by sowing far too many for their requirements. My sowing unit for small seeds is a 7 to 9cm pot (the three to three and a half inch pot in old money). For bigger seeds that can be readily handled individually, I would space sow them singly in cells. For broad beans, sweet peas etc I use the opening book type (with hinged cells so the root systems can be removed without damaged). Some people save up the cardboard inner from toilet rolls for this job!

One more thought, before you get the process under way - where are you going to accommodate the pots of sown seeds? Truth to tell, many will germinate perfectly well sat on a windowsill, the pots sitting in a little plastic tray. If the surface of the compost is left open to the air, it will tend to dry out quite quickly; adversely affecting the germination process and constant damping over would not be an acceptable way to over come the problem. That is why we tend to place the containers inside a tray with a clear plastic cloche-like lid. Some models may even have a heating cable incorporated enabling you to raise the temperature inside to speed up germination. Indeed there is one long and slender in shape especially suited for use on a window ledge, which accommodates a number of quarter size seed trays, ideal for raising a range of types at the same time. Whatever method you use, it is important that you make provision to shade the unit from direct sunlight - that would scorch little emerging seedlings.

Next time - the growing medium and my sowing technique.

Jim McColl presents 大象传媒 Scotland's .

The weather鈥檚 been mild this week and I鈥檝e been able to do jobs left from last year. Mostly pruning. The old boys always reckoned earlier was better than later and for years I鈥檝e been done by new year. This time I鈥檓 late with many trees and shrubs waiting, though at least the grapes are finished- these are most important as if I don鈥檛 keep them hard pruned they take over.

I鈥檝e also been clearing up damage under cover caused by the severe cold. My low powered heating system worked for those important plants such as pineapples hiding under two layers of clear plastic doubled up with two layers of bubble wrap. But plants under two layers without heat have suffered with large old aloe veras turning slushy and even those under cover have died which shows just how cold it was.

Moisture damage on one of my lemons

Oddly enough my citrus trees mostly avoided too much harm from direct freezing but instead have ghastly damage from condensation. The cold caused frozen leaves on other plants which with the thaw wilted giving off their moisture; this has been condensing on the inside of the roof and dripped onto the packed rows of citrus unnoticed. The predictable result has been an explosion of grey mould covering citrus fruits, flowers and leaves and threatening their shoots too. Ooops, should have spotted that coming, I鈥檓 now ventilating every drying day to recover control. But I鈥檝e lost nearly all the fruit which are moulding in spots if not wholesale.

Most strangely satsumas have not suffered as badly as lemons or oranges and grapefruit are almost unscathed. I鈥檝e also been sorting through my stores - maybe half my onions are rotting, cabbages also, while apples stored in a dead freezer in a shed although frozen near solid have surprisingly apparently not taken much harm.

My carrots are fine but the spuds are in a bad state - also housed in another dead freezer -about two thirds have gone soft. A touch of frost and potatoes go sweet, much more chill and they go soft, liquefy and stink so it鈥檚 important to evict them as soon as noticeable.

One of my soggy spuds

Although losing my stored crop is annoying losing my seed crop is far worse. I save my own potato sets, and select especially big ones as these give better results by far. Ironically it turns out big spuds are more adversely damaged by cold than small ones. (Probably having got bigger because of more water availability and thus getting damaged the more as they were moister). Now I do have some sets left to plant but only smaller ones- no bigger than bought sets. Though of course their eyes may have been killed even if the tubers have not softened. I will have to wait to find out. Not for long though as I鈥檝e got my first buckets of Dunluce and Rocket already planted up and stood in the warm.

Bob Flowerdew is an organic gardener and panellist on 大象传媒 Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time.

How much would you pay for a single snowdrop bulb? A pound? 拢5? 拢10?

How about 拢150?

This is the price one single bulb of Galanthus plicatus 'E.A. Bowles' fetched at the hotly-contested Galanthus Gala last year. On internet auction sites, too, prices regularly reach 拢80, 拢90 and in one celebrated case 拢265, for a single specimen of the rare G. nivalis 'Flocon de Neige' bought in 2008.

Britain, it seems, is in the grip of galanthomania: a craze for snowdrops. Specifically, very rare snowdrops: those only available, very occasionally, from private collectors. Over the past five or six years the prices galanthophiles are willing to pay for the rarest bulbs have been rising and rising, and with just one or two growers supplying the most sought-after varieties the trend seems set to continue.

Joe Sharman, galanthophile and owner of , runs the annual Galanthus Gala, attended by about 300 people from all over the world. Here are his top five most covetable snowdrops - the ones which regularly reach three-figure prices at auction. Find one of these beauties in your garden and you may have struck gold.

Galanthus elwesii 'Grumpy'

Galanthus elwesii 'Grumpy'
Value: has reached over 拢100 online
The flowers are beautifully shaped but it name derives from the markings on the inners which resemble a miserable face. It's always popular, and often bought as a funny present for someone with a reputation for being a grump!

Joe found this sweetly scented snowdrop himself, in a naturalised population in an old Cambridge garden in 1990. It's a tall, vigorous snowdrop, flowering mid-season, and has grey-green leaves, though it can be slow to increase.

Galanthus nivalis 'Ecusson d'Or'

Galanthus nivalis 'Ecusson d'Or'
Value: about 拢50 but has reached 拢160 online.
This unique variety was the first yellow-tipped snowdrop, and was found by Mark Brown in France in 2004. The name translates as Shield of Gold and is the name of the hamlet where the bulbs were found.

Green-tipped snowdrops are relatively common but when this one appeared at an RHS show everyone was astounded. The ovary and all six of the petals are yellow-tipped on mature bulbs but smaller bulbs in each clump can have white outer petals. The plant is relatively tall and surprisingly vigorous, flowering mid-season.

Galanthus nivalis 'Flocon de Neige'

Galanthus nivalis 'Flocon de Neige'
Value: around 拢100 but has reached 拢265 online.
This amazingly beautiful snowdrop was found by Mark Brown in Buckinghamshire in the 1980s. The name translates as snowflake, which couldn't be used as it is the common name of Leucojum - so Mark ducked the issue by naming it in French.

A double form of the common snowdrop, with six perfect outer petals producing a really attractive flower. The green-tipped inner petals are often arranged in symmetrical ranks unlike most of the other doubles.

It's a dwarf variety, flowering mid to late season, and needs frequent division to keep it flowering well.

Galanthus plicatus 'E. A Bowles'

Galanthus plicatus 'E. A Bowles'
Value: around 拢150.
Found in 2004 by Michael Myers in the garden of the famous plantsman, E A Bowles and named for him. In the long run this is going to be one of the most popular varieties grown.

It's a superb snowdrop, one of the best ever found, with six large pure white petals. Spectacularly vigorous, often having two flowers per bulb and flowering even on small side bulbs, flowering relatively late in the season. It also has broad blue-green leaves with folded edges. Other poculiform varieties had been found but none had survived.

Galanthus plicatus 'Madelaine'

Galanthus plicatus 'Madelaine'
Value: about 拢25, but has fetched up to 拢60 online
Joe found this yellow snowdrop in 2002 and named it for his niece. It has yellow-tipped inner petals with a greenish-yellow ovary. It's one of the most vigorous of the yellow snowdrops, flowering mid-season, with greener leaves than many of the others: the strength of the yellow colour can vary considerably depending on the soil type. The leaves have folded edges. Only four other yellow varieties of this species have been named.

This year's Galanthus Gala is on Saturday 12 February in Brackley, Northamptonshire: though it may be advisable to leave the credit card at home....

Close-up of two Blue tits (Parus caeruleus) on a bird-feeder, a very common and charming visitor to gardens throughout Britain

In the news....

There鈥檚 been more than the usual flutter around the bird table this week as it emerged听. Researchers found feeding wild birds after the breeding season starts affects their behaviour and may skew natural breeding patterns.听

So, asks 大象传媒 Nature鈥檚 Jeremy Torrance, do we empty our bird feeders at the end of March 鈥� or follow the ? The jury, it seems, is still out, though the general consensus is 鈥榙on鈥檛 stop yet鈥�. While everyone鈥檚 working out what to do, you could always practice telling the difference between chaffinches and chiffchaffs with help from the Garden Birds collection on the 大象传媒鈥檚 Wildlife Finder.

The government-sponsored , launched just before Christmas to bring more trees to towns and cities, is gathering quite a head of steam: nearly 2,000 trees in the ground, an eyewatering 165,000 or so to go. And under another urban greening initiative, , an instant forest of 10,000 trees is springing up this week at Roding Valley Park in north-east London, thanks to an army of 400 or so volunteers. London Mayor Boris Johnson鈥檚 hands will be among the blistered.

Elsewhere on the web...

Ah yes I know all you can see out of the window is howling gales and horizontal rain. And that鈥檚 if you鈥檙e lucky and the white stuff hasn鈥檛 come back. But 鈥� you mark my words - spring is in the air.

Don鈥檛 believe me? Haven鈥檛 got that spring feeling yet? The latest visit to Carol Klein鈥檚 garden at Glebe Cottage in Devon should change your mind (Life in a Cottage Garden, Fridays at 8.30 on 大象传媒 Two). I鈥檓 still basking in the warmth of yesterday evening鈥檚 feast of snowdrops, celandines and seed-sowing (as is ). If that doesn鈥檛 put you in the mood I don鈥檛 know what will.

If you need evidence, snowdrops (Galanthus elwesii, in this case) are : surely a candidate for this year鈥檚 first-snowdrop-of-the-year award. ; while Stephanie 鈥� aka the Enduring Gardener - has . It鈥檚 the ever-resilient Rosa banksiae 鈥楲耻迟别补鈥�, in case you fancy some winter roses for yourself.

Out and about...
There鈥檚 nothing quite like stomping about in hobnail boots while whacking sticks and having a good sing-song to get the blood circulating, so if you鈥檙e in need a midwinter pick-me-up get yourself along to the . This ancient tradition sings away winter and, they say, encourages the trees to produce a bumper crop for autumn. Hobnail boots optional.

For something altogether more genteel, take a virtual stroll around some of our most spectacular gardens and parks without leaving the warmth of : their photographic exhibition of the parterres, potagers and parklands owned by English Heritage starts on Friday.

Or join the tropical butterflies emerging from their chrysalises in the glasshouses at . This spectacular annual event creates a living kaleidoscope of colour as the vivid wings of the butterflies flutter among Wisley鈥檚 sumptuously lush tropical plant collections. Plus, it鈥檚 really warm in there: the perfect escape from a dreary January day.

Thank you all for responding to the programme. It means a huge amount to all the team involved with making the series to know that you care enough to tell us what you think. Knowing how much you all care about the content of your gardening programmes, we wanted to create something really special for you and to make the programme as real as possible.

Everyone involved has done their very best to make it as good as it could be. It's easy for me, it's a real treat because I'm in my own garden doing what I do - it's all the people who have painstakingly crafted the programme who are the stars of the show (plus the plants of course and not forgetting the dogs and cats).

In common with all your gardens, the plot at Glebe Cottage is recovering from the snow and the extreme cold that went before it. Now we have torrential rain, inches in just a few days and water is gushing through the soil in places it's never done it before. This hillside is full of springs and such events make you realise what a powerful force nature is.

Clearing up is the order of the day and planning for the year ahead goes on apace. How exciting.

Thankyou for all your questions and for your comments. We're glad that most of you are enjoying the programmes and hope you find the rest of the series equally exhilarating. We hope it makes you smile and encourages you to get out into your own gardens - as if you needed any encouragement. Please continue to let us know what you think. Happy gardening!

Our gorgeous Lakeland Terriers, Fleur, the mother and Fifi her puppy

Mappers, joy55, Debbie and many others wanted to know about our dogs...
We have two dogs, Fleur, the mother who's black and tan and Fifi her pup. Fleur had been abandoned so we can never be sure of her history but we're fairly confident she's a Lakeland Terrier. We realised she had lots of problems including a dodgy heart. The vet said she'd probably live a decent life but was unlikely to make it into old age. On the same day we went to consult him about the wisdom of her having a litter she made her own mind up and we found her with a neighbour's Lakeland Terrier at the end of the field. He's called Ted and is now known as Father Ted! Sadly only one of her 4 pups survived - Fifi. She is a joy but as mad as a hatter!

Miss-polly asked:
Do you open your garden under the yellow book National Gardens Scheme?
Yes, we will be opening the garden as part of the National Gardens Scheme for one day in 2011. You can find the details on the .

The garden and nursery are also open on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays after Easter until October. Opening times are 10:00 - 13:00 and 14:00 - 17:00

Do you have any help in the garden?
As well as the garden, we run a nursery so a few people help part-time mainly with the nursery. Barbara, Sheila (who's been helping for more than 20 years!) and Helen, come for a day or two most weeks. Graham does occasional days and a lovely girl called Naomi has just started giving me a hand in the garden. I do as much as I can myself because I just love it!

Dinagreen asked:
I have been clearing up my veg patch recently and when digging come across clusters of what look a bit like blow fly maggots? I have been feeding them to my chickens! but occurred to me they could be good for the garden? Can you tell me what they might be?
Without seeing them I have no idea what they might be. Keep on feeding them to the chickens. The micro-organisms that help the soil are invisible without the help of a powerful microscope - it's usually only the worms that are big enough to see so alternatively don't feed them to the chickens - your soil needs them!

ladynovicegardener asked:
What's your favourite garden to visit?

听

I absolutely love at Buckland Monachorum. It stands on the edge of Dartmoor and has a wealth of exciting plants in addition to glorious views. It was 's garden. Later, for many years it was in Keith Wiley's capable hands. (He now runs a very exciting just down the road which he and his wife Ros built from scratch.) Matt Bishop, another brilliant plantperson is now in charge at The Garden House.

I also love my friend Veronica Cross's garden in Herefordshire! It's full of excitements and rarities as is our friend at Ashwood Nurseries. John opens the garden for charity several times a year. It is superb. Toby filmed a feature there with him on hardy cyclamen back in the autumn.

There's also a host of gardens up and down the country that I discovered when making the Open Gardens series. One I especially love is just outside Kendal, Meadow House, Burneside and though Anne-Marie Burrill with whom we filmed, passed away, her husband Paul continues the good work. They garden organically and his veg and fruit are beyond compare including the most delicious peaches and grapes you ever tasted. No mean feat in Kendal even though he grows them in a tunnel.

Summerchild asked:
What gardening challenge are you still looking to conquer?
I'm not much of a conqueror, more of a participant, but one plant I'd love to grow well but have never yet succeeded with is Primula petiolaris. It needs damp conditions but perfect drainage - how do you do that???.

Generally I'm just looking forward to learning more about growing plants and being introduced to new ones.

A number of you asked whether I rely entirely on dividing and taking cuttings or whether I buy plants too?
I think it would be quite a dull garden if I relied only on propagating the same things! In the early days when we first came to the garden I grew masses from seed as we couldn't afford to do anything else. And I still get the same thrill growing both plants I know and new and unfamiliar species from seed.

Propagating your own plants means you get to know your plants intimately. I always encourage people to keep an eye out for new plants, particularly from nurseries in their local area. If the plants have been nurtured just down the road, you can be fairly sure they'll be happy in your patch as the conditions will probably be similar and you'll almost certainly get good advice - ay Trillium? By the way I brought your grass to Tatton two years running but didn't see you. Hope all is well.

Welshcol asked:
As part of your new series Life in a Cottage Garden will you be giving some time to the important part of vegetable growing to a traditional cottage garden?
Veg does come up now and again (including onions and garlic and some harvesting in later episodes) but since we covered veg in so much detail in the Grown Your Own Veg series, it was decided to give as much time as possible to other aspects of our garden.

Here's a clip from the second episode, all about veg!

Have you given your daughters a chance to give their input to the re-design of "their" plots?
Alice and Annie are very interested in the garden and they are consulted but they're not hands on these days! Most of the time they trust me! Glad you are enjoying the show welshcol!

David K asked:
Do you consider a well manicured lawn an asset or unnecessary hindrance in the garden?
I know of lots of beautiful lawns but I have never had a lawn. They support little wildlife which is something that's very important to me. By the way thank you David for all your encouraging comments over the last few years.

hypercharleyfarley asked:
If you were to have a garden in another part of the world, where would you like that to be and why?
I would hate to leave my garden but if I really had to I would choose another temperate region such as New Zealand or Japan. I just love the change of seasons too much to garden in a tropical climate.

The Cycling Gardener asked:
If you could invite 3 people, alive or dead, to dinner, who would they be?
I have two separate lists! A list of gardeners:
Christopher Lloyd
William Robinson
Margery Fish

and a list of non-gardeners:
Marlon Brando
Pablo Picasso
Caravaggio (with whom I'd drink lots of red wine!)

What's the most important gardening advice, now having years of experience, that you would give yourself when you started gardening?
What a great question! If it's a brand new plot, create a nursery bed where you can plant out anything new and plant out cuttings and seedlings which can grow on until you're ready to use them. Meanwhile you can concentrate on learning about your garden and ameliorating the soil. Whether it's dry and poor or cleggy and heavy, compost is the answer.

If it's a well established plot, I would advise spending a whole year watching it and getting to know it, including taking notes and photographs.

In either case finding out about your garden enables you to choose plants that will enjoy the conditions there.

Life in a Cottage Garden continues on 大象传媒 Two on Friday 14th January at 20:00

Can I use seed that I didn't need in 2010? That question is often asked and the answer is always the same and it starts with the words 'it all depends'. Most vegetable seeds will keep for a few years with parsnip being the dodgy one. Herb seeds are short lived and quite a few flower seeds remain viable for just a year or maybe two. You will readily find the appropriate charts on the Internet.

The second point to consider relates to storage. Most seeds nowadays are packaged in hermetically sealed foil sachets. After sowing, the remaining seeds can be returned to the foil envelope. Folding over the open end a couple of times should achieve a decent seal. If these packs are stored in a cool place where the temperature is likely to be constant, they will remain viable for quite some time. Finally as time goes by the viability of the seeds will start to diminish therefore you must be prepared to sow a little more thickly than is recommended, to finish up with your requisite number of plants.

From time to time has published results of germination tests carried out on new seed which have shown pretty awful results. The attendant publicity would be sufficient penalty for the businesses concerned! The reason I mention this relates to the seed count in each packet and what you have to pay. Spend a little time studying the information provided, particularly the seed count.

That brings me neatly to the question of whether or not to use . As you will be aware these particular cultivars are given this appellation because they are the First filial generation of a cross between two pure, self-breeding lines. The resultant seeds are expensive because the plant breeder has to maintain the male and female lines pure and separate to achieve the desired effect. What effect is that? There are several, firstly there is what is known as hybrid vigour, which is self-explanatory. With that come a number of attributes - stunning flower colours, enhanced perfume, resistance to bad weather conditions, uniformity of form, disease resistance, heavier cropping. For amateur gardeners, I suggest the F1 flowers are definitely worth growing but when it comes to vegetables, there is one snag: that uniformity which is so effective in producing a floral display is not so welcome when you plant 24 F1cauliflowers and there are 24 heads ready to be harvested on the same day! I exaggerate slightly but I tell you they can be pretty close. That said, the F1 hybrid Brussels sprouts can be absolutely marvellous, so long as you pick little and often. Favourite amongst the early introductions was Peer Gynt which I have picked from November through to March. It has undoubtedly been superseded by others as good as or even better.

Earlier, I mentioned disease resistance as one of the benefits of using F1 hybrids, staying with brassicas, there is now a range of resistant varieties. If your ground is infested look for cabbage Kilaxy or Kilaton; cauliflower Clapton; and for sprouts Crispus. All are substantially resistant to the disease.

What about collecting and storing seeds from plants in your own garden? Some things with large seeds like broad beans for example; you simply leave the pods on the plant for as long as possible, pick off and separate the beans and allow to dry. The simplest way to harvest many small seeds is to cut the flower stem as in dead-heading and drop the lot into a bag. By so doing, you are less likely to loose the seeds that have already ripened. For convenience, the first inclination is to use a polybag and I have no problem with that so long as you do not store the seeds in such a container. Take the harvested stems with seed heads facing downwards in the polybags to the garage or shed and hang them up to allow the ripening process to continue. Don't seal the neck of the bag tightly. Remember to LABEL the contents.

With the passage of time, the ripened seeds will tend to drop from the heads into the bottom of the bags, some may need a bit of encouragement by shaking or gentle rubbing. Traditionally, we would then transfer the ripe seeds to a brown paper bag or envelope (with label). Several may then be stored in an airtight jar until spring.

Earlier I mentioned F1 hybrid seeds, home saved seeds are said to be 'open-pollinated', in other words there has been no control of where the pollen has come from! As a result, the new plants are unlikely to be true to type. They are likely to be a mixture with good, bad and a whole raft of stages in between. That, for some people, is the excitement, indeed that is how many new kinds are discovered and developed.

Jim McColl presents 大象传媒 Scotland's the .

That blanket of white snow was a respite in some ways from the mess my garden had become. It allowed, for a week or so, the promise of a something new, a blank canvas to erase my mistakes. Then it melted and all my flaws were on show again.

I need a radical reordering. All the good bits of my garden are shoved into the first half and then it sort of peters out. In some ways this was inevitable. The garden was started on cuttings and discounts, all very small plants and now they have out grown their space, but this is exciting. It's almost as if the design process is actually beginning.

I have three very large clumps of Sedum spectabile 'Septemberglut' (actually truth be known I'm not sure what cultivar it is, but that's a good enough match). I love these plants. The flowers bring in hordes of bees and stands as a swansong to the end of summer. The slugs may have considered them a good hotel but do very little damage and by the end of the month the young leaves will become a mainstay of our salads.

The young leaves are soft, yet crisp with a hint of cabbage, but wonderfully bland and perfect companion to the hot flavour of perennial or salad rocket and the other mustards leaves that have limped through this winter. The act of eating the sedum also keeps its rampant nature in check. I found that last year I had to do very little pinching out or staking. By late spring the leaves will start to fatten and taste horrible. It is possibly the lowest maintenance salad plant I've come across. However these plants are too large, so I shall split them soon and replant the divisions further down the path to keep the eye moving. Splitting Sedum is ridiculously easy. I do this with a small border fork. You can tease the plant upwards and then gently remove a section, the young leaves cluster together and if you are careful you can pull a section off like a jigsaw puzzle and no-one will even know you've been at work.

Any perennial that flowers late summer to early autumn, so Asters, Heleniums, Eupatoriums, Rudbeckias and the like, can all be divided in early spring once the soil is workable. The general rule is to make sure the new divisions go into something nice. Add a little compost to the planting hole, give them a good watering and make sure they are firmly into their home. Rocking about in the wind or the upheaval of frozen soil is not considered fun.

In very mature plants the centre is often woody and less vigorous (that notorious bare middle of large clumps). This bit should go onto the compost and the newer growth around the edge divided into clumps to be replanted.

In theory you can divide into individual shoots as long as each bit has a root and a shoot, but if you are going to divide into such tiny clumps then it's best to pot them on so they can bulk up in good potting compost. A 10-15cm diameter clump is about as small as I go. This is still big enough to make an impact when replanted.

Ever since introduced me to slow roasted pork with fennel seeds I've found a much-needed excuse to increase my fennel collection. This year my 50p bargain basement bronze fennel, Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum' finally came into its own. Even now the skeleton flower stalks still look marvelous. I need more. These are best divided in autumn once they are about three years old; mine most definitely needs another year's growth so I shall have to be patient and dream about that part of the scheme instead.

Alys Fowler is a writer and broadcaster

In the news....

听

A survey by and consumer magazine this week found most people are confused by labels on apparently eco-friendly gardening products.

So they put the credentials of 14 'green' plant foods, pesticides and weedkillers to the test 鈥� and found much of what's on the labels is pure greenwash. Most manufacturers couldn't provide evidence for their claims, many of which, says Garden Organic, are completely meaningless. They're now calling for rules to be tightened post-haste.

听

And lastly, congratulations to the , from Bristol (population: 433,100) to Great Whittington, Northumbria (population: around 200). Good luck to all.

Elsewhere on the web...

As regular readers will already know, Carol Klein's new 大象传媒 TV series following a year in her garden at Glebe Cottage in Devon began last night. Time-lapse photography, garlic, snowdrops and hedge-laying: who could ask for more.

If you missed it, catch up here 鈥� and to while away the wait till episode 2 (next Friday, 8.30pm, 大象传媒2), Carol's conversation with Jane Garvey on 大象传媒 Radio 4's Woman's Hour is a real treat and will make you feel a lot better about those tulip bulbs you haven't planted yet.

There's something about the beginning of a new year that sends us gardeners into reflective mood. has been taking comfort from Gilbert White's tortoise; recommends edible glitter for staving off the January blues, and is worrying 鈥� quite understandably 鈥� about being followed by a furniture manufacturer from Singapore. Sometimes has a lot to answer for.

Out and about...

In minimalist winter landscapes, perhaps frosted in ice or wreathed in mist, sculptures in the garden can be other-worldly. winter sculpture trail continues working its magic this month, placing a thought-provoking selection of art by British sculptors against a backdrop of winter loveliness.

Also unmissable are the legendary in St Ives, Cornwall, where iconic, monumental works in bronze, stone and wood are set in the garden where she created them; and the , an extraordinary blend of atmospheric planting and art in Surrey, open in winter by appointment only. On a grander scale, the near Wakefield currently has over 200 works by artist David Nash among its sweeping landscapes and spectacular views.

If you fancy having a go yourself, there's a at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's centre at Welney, Cambridgeshire next Saturday, with living willow weaver . Who knows: it could be the start of your own back yard sculpture collection.

In the polytunnel in summer

The shortest, darkest days are over, at least theoretically. Still as any good gardener understands the work goes on, there is always something needing doing and probably several things already too late to do already. Such is gardening.

In the polytunnel with fellow GQT presenter Eric Robson (in the summer)

I find the answer is not to worry but just to do whatever seems pressing, or fun. Either will do as in both cases something is getting done, it is inaction that gets nowhere. Of course gentle days when I can work comfortably outdoors at the moment are few, any day still and bright I grab for pruning and for spotting hibernating pests such as scale insects. But now is more a time for lurking in my polythene covered tunnel, it is my own little kingdom. A glasshouse is always too small and worse...it is clear - onlookers can see what you're up to. Under translucent plastic you are well concealed, the armchair, kettle and pile of magazines can't be seen.

Of course not much time is wasted with these trifles, you see under plastic, gardening goes on all the year round. Especially as I have erected another tunnel inside the first. And within this is a bubble plastic tent sheltering my pineapples and other most tender treasures.

In the long border between the inner tunnel and the south wall of the outer one I grow hardy salads all through winter. Especially, as I'm always suggesting on GQT, Miner's Lettuce, Claytonia (). This is succulent fare, bland and not bitter, easy to grow almost anywhere all winter, everyone should have some and let it self seed. It鈥檚 seldom a problem once the weather warms up and usually disappears to come back in autumn.

I also grow loads of rocket, , , , spring onions, and herbs. Then inside the inner tunnel I have pots of new potatoes. The first couple were sown on December 21st and a couple every week after. Giving very light crops, these start so early - often before everyone else is planting theirs at Easter. They jostle for space under the lemon and other citrus trees in tubs which have come in for the winter. And the space was already full of , , , , et al. So as you can imagine my watering is fraught with difficulty as I wind between all of these. I have to be so careful as splashing water about makes the atmosphere even more humid causing mould problems. If I ventilate more it will be too hard to heat so I just try to keep the air as dry as I can, the floor is saw dusted just to absorb any drops.

Squeezed in a sunny corner is my propagator made from an old dead freezer half full of sand with a soil warming cable for heat. In here right now, I鈥檓 starting off my first tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, I know it鈥檚 still far too early, but I love it, don鈥檛 you?

Have you read Alys Fowlers鈥� Boxing Day post? If not, click across to it now and have a gander. It鈥檚 rather good and lists 32 things she鈥檚 determined to achieve in 2011. Yes, it鈥檚 a little daunting (anyone else ever tried wild swimming? No, me neither) but it鈥檒l certainly get you thinking.

No. 5 on Alys' list: make a new path for the allotment.
Dah dah - already done!

No. 7 on Alys' list: create a truly beautiful bouquet.
Done it!

I鈥檝e studied it in detail and have worked out that I鈥檝e already done five things from the list (5, 7, 15, 19, 29), would like to have a stab at a further 15 (1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 21, 24, 25, 30) and can鈥檛 really be faffed with, or don鈥檛 quite understand, the rest. By my reckoning that gives me the potential to be about 62.5% as good as Alys this year. Not bad.

Of course, this kind of 鈥榣ooking forward鈥� is just what鈥檚 needed at this time of year. I don鈥檛 know about you, but I feel like I鈥檝e eaten my weight in cooked meats over the last couple of weeks, I hate to think how much wine I鈥檝e drunk and I haven鈥檛 ventured into the garden for weeks (apart from a trip to the beer fridge that鈥檚 in the greenhouse). None of this is good. What I need to do is get outside, see what was damaged by the huge dump of snow and repair the shed roof. That鈥檒l make me feel better and set me on the right foot for a year of spectacular gardening.

Yeah right. It wasn鈥檛 that long ago that I blogged about my own gardening resolutions. Amongst other things I was hell bent on regularly feeding and staking plants, repeat sowing salads and taking more cuttings. So far I鈥檝e failed miserably because it鈥檚 been entirely the wrong time of year to do any of these things. And of course it鈥檚 been flipping freezing.

Or am I just making excuses? Could I have repeat-sown salads under a cosy cloche? Could I have taken some last minute cuttings of geraniums and fuchsias to boost next year鈥檚 stock? I expect so, but that鈥檚 what happens with resolutions isn鈥檛 it? You make them, slowly the urgency disappears and before you know it you鈥檙e back to old tricks.

Who'll join me for spot of wild swimming?

No, hold on a minute. I won鈥檛 be defeatist on the second day of the year. I know for a fact that some resolutions can work if you鈥檙e determined enough, because I stopped biting my nails at the stroke on midnight on 31 December 2008 and haven鈥檛 had a nibble since. I鈥檒l apply the same grit and determination to my gardening, and by the end of 2011 I will have been staking my plants regularly and I will have a beautifully repaired shed roof.

What鈥檚 more I will have been wild swimming in the man-made ditch at the end of our road. Oh yes, 2011 is going to be marvellous.

Kevin Smith is a garden writer, and former Commissioning Editor of 大象传媒 Gardeners' World Magazine.