I had planned on doing a few more garden maintenance jobs outside but the early snowfall beat me to it. I was aware that the snow was coming but didn’t expect the full extent of the snowfall. My husband and I just managed to get the tender** plants moved from the greenhouse to the garage. I have done this for a several years now; basically since I moved to the Okanagan. The plants go into a dormant stage so there is very little watering to be done. I also enjoy stepping into the garage and seeing the odd plant in bloom during the deep mid winter months. At the moment a small hydrangea bush which I have potted up has some lovely blue/mauve blooms. Another advantage is having herbs readily available although the plants die down somewhat towards the end of winter. The thyme, sage and a few chives come in very handy over the Christmas season.
Yesterday my husband dug up the rest of the beetroot, parsnips and carrots. I can’t believe how well the cherry tomato plants did in the greenhouse this year providing an abundance of sweet tasting produce from mid July until now.
With the garden blanketed under a layer of snow I now turn my attention to indoors. A tradition in my family is to make Christmas cake and pudding so I concentrated on starting to make these yesterday. It almost felt like Christmas while I was stirring the fruit and watching the large snowflakes fall.
I guess because I have an affinity with nature I like to bring nature indoors. In the next few weeks I will be potting up the paperwhites, hyacinths as well as amaryllis. I always find it difficult to time it right, i.e. getting them to bloom just before Christmas. Rule of thumb is to plant them at least 6 to 8 weeks before. (Sarah Raven has a good article on forcing bulbs www.sarahraven.com/articles/forcing_bulbs_indoors.htm)
Time to snuggle down by the fire and read a good book. Winter has definitely arrived early this year.