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November can be a very dreary month in the garden if you don’t look around properly. The seed heads of grasses are in full bloom and when the frosts land on them they are delightful. Seed heads from the flowering cottage garden plants help feed the birds before they die down for the winter.

 

So far in this area we have had no serious frosts so very little damage has been done to the tenders and the herbaceous are still merrily flowering away—some into their second showing! Now is very definitely the time to bring them in to the shelter of a greenhouse or light and airy frost free shed. With care (and very little watering) plants like pelargoniums, the tender salvias, tender azaleas, hibiscus can be nurtured through the winter and by spring you have a head start on size.

 

For colour in your pots and tubs at this time of year I love pansies. They are called “winter pansies” but are the same ones whatever time of year they are grown. Some are sown very early and some later-hence “winter”. They will sit through the worst winter can throw at them and come alive whenever the weather is mild. Cut them back after flowering in the spring and they will start all over again. The can be grown from seed (very tiny and I find I lose half of them!) but usually sell very cheaply at the markets and I use my limited seed table space for plants which will cost a fortune!

 

If you are lucky enough to have a polythene tunnel like we have there are lots of vegetables that can be grown with little shelter. Spinach (which will also thrive outside in a mild winter) potatoes, (add some straw on top to stop the leaves being hit by frost) leeks which are very hardy but love a bit of shelter.

 

My delight is to experiment in the tunnel and we have had fresh garden peas at Christmas—not the bean family though (except broad—more on that later) as they need warmth and long light days and many of the lettuces are hardy and will quite happily sit in the tunnel all winter. Many plants would survive the colder months but die because of lack of light. We know this very well having lived in Scotland for 50 odd years before coming to France! Broad beans can be planted now (in tunnel or in the garden) for a lovely early crop. Our first year here we were eating our first broad beans in early February.

 

The one problem with planting big tasty seeds in the winter is mice! They are hungrier and are experts at sniffing out food. Some years I have had several sowings before germination. My cats are getting older and do not really relish hunting on cold winter days!

 

Broad beans are a very good source of nutrition and withstand many attacks from predators. Slugs don’t seem to fancy them overly and black fly can be reduced by nipping out the tender growing points which they love. New growth will simply shoot out from the sides below the cut off points.

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Story by Sheilah Kennedy of Kennedy Paragiste

 

 

 

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