Winter garden

THE GARDEN AFTER FROST

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Yes, Jack Frost has been paying West Cork, as well as the rest of Ireland, and I believe other parts of Europe too, a nightly visit. That in the middle of it I ran out of heating oil through my own lack of attention is beside the point. I was able to solve the problem very quickly thanks to a loyal plumber and heating oil providers. This did not take awake from the beauty which greats me while attending to some domestic chores like emptying the kitchen waste into the compost bin at the end of the garden. I could not resist taking some photos at least. Meanwhile a little robin has been coming closer all winter and even sang to me the other day, how totally lovely.

And what I would really like to do this year is to make my garden into a lovely space, that is nurturing to the soul, a space where my family, friends and myself can rest and find quiet and peaceful admiration for nature. And a space for wildlife, where bees and other pollinators enjoy all the flowers and find nectar. Where birds can build their nests and sing their hearts out, for a mate when the time comes. I’ve had up to five goldfinch everyday feeding on the seedheads of the Evening Primrose, such a wonder. The usual bird population is fine this winter, I’m taking part on the survey again. The chaffinches are definitely down, the sparrow count is up. There is only one dunnock whereas there have been two for years. The wren is our resident bird, as are two blackbirds, a couple. Everyday there is now a Pied Wagtail feeding in the front garden, a first for our garden. Of course the robin is always there, but some years there are two, so far there is only one, I read that the males come feeding earlier than the females so I hope that the female is still on the way. It is nice when a robin comes up to you and it feels like they are really trying to communicate with you, and when they then start to sing so close, that is wonderful!

I wish you all a peaceful, joyful, healthy and happy 2026, enjoy!

a GLIMPSE into our winter garden

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Early one morning about a week ago there had been a night frost. Everything in the garden looked sugar-coated until the first rays of the sun touched the plants. I took my chance to go out and enjoy all the beauty while shooting some pictures to share here, an enjoyable activity first thing in the day ! We have had a few small roses flowering since summer, this bush was a potted plant we received as a gift and I eventually transplanted it into the garden. It is doing very well. The young camellia bush does not seem to have large buds yet, but then it is only January. It only gave us one flower last year so I am hoping that in another few weeks we will get a nice display.

Young Camellia plant
The morning sun is already peeking through the hedge
A good supply of fresh dandelion leaves has been growing all winter, they are getting ready for our salad bowl!
The hydrangea flowers never cease to give plenty of pleasure. They will soon be ready for pruning
Morning sun lighting up the background of these young foxgloves plants
Huge garlic plants
Deepfrozen three-cornered-leeks
As the sun melts the frost, the consistency of the ice changes
Early sunshine, like evening sun, has this special quality I always think and is more beautiful. And of course can look great in a photo.

Iced grass blades, and a look down the garden

Somewhere in the back of the garden I discovered this beautiful summer flower, still in full bloom and beautifully covered in crystals.

My thoughts at this time of the year turn to plans for next season’s growth, and this year I am going to revert back to what I did a few years ago – letting the wild plants do what they want to do – grow. I’ve made a list of over 38 herb and wild plants, some of which I use for food, that are growing now in our garden. And another list of a few that I need to buy at the market.

Plants already established are: Feverfew, Borage, Nettles, Mint (3 different types), Rosemary, Bay leaf, Lavender, Sage, Oregano, Thyme, Herb Robin, Dandelion, St. John’s wort, Lemon balm, Plantain, Sow-thistle, Tansy, Three-cornered-leeks, violet, comfrey, Lemon Verbena, Mallow, Rue, Cleavers, Wild Rose, Nasturtium, Willow herb, Calendula, Solidago, Shepherd’s Purse, Clover, Purple Loosestrife, Ivy, Dock, Mullein, Groundsel, and wild garlic. Quite a few of these self-seed every year, and some of course are perennials.

And those that I want to buy are: Yarrow, Fennel, Parsley and Evening primrose.

Most likely we will be seeing some of the larger purple Thistles which are good when they come into seed as they attract and feed Gold finches.

It is a time to get very excited about seeing all the wild plants and the herbs doing so well despite it being winter. I am looking forward very much to enjoying them all once spring starts, but for the moment I let them be dormant and let them enjoy their winter rest.

So how is your garden doing my dear readers? I will be most interested in reading your comments.

THE WINTER GARDEN

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Gathered in the garden ready for cooking chicken broth is wild three cornered leek, cut and come back celery (a plant that is two years old and doing great) and oca which I have been growing for some years and which is a Peruvian root vegetable.

Due to all the rough weather we have been experiencing lately, and also due to the indoor work which we were completing I had not been much in our garden to check on things and certainly did not do any work in it. But between the two latest storms I did go out and took stock of what needs doing and what is growing right now and it seems that we have quite a bit going for us, there is more food to be found there than at first one would think. And so I have become encouraged and excited to get going. I plan to grow as much as I can fit, because my plan is to preserve some surplus harvest and to that end I bought some Kilner jars today. When I was growing up every housewife used to preserve a variety of foods in those jars. My mother did this until she was well in her eighties.

  • Dandelion root and oca
  • Last year’s spinach among the three cornered leeks
  • Young nettles
  • Winter greens – kale
I found lovely fresh and young nettles growing at the back of the garden. I was reminded recently of how wonderfully full of minerals and vitamins this plant is and I mean to make more use of it this year, even for tea but also in soups.
  • Young sprouting chives, I am very happy to see these as they suffered last summer
  • And young dandelion leaves, if we only half knew how nutritiously valuable this plant is, we would use it a plenty
I am very happy to see that the dandelions are going to be as plentiful as always. I mean to use a lot of them. Even our canary birds like this wild plant 🙂
  • A young broad bean plant
  • And elephant garlic is sprouting too
I planted a number of broad beans in late autumn, too late really and several were eaten by none hybernating slugs or snails, but two or three plants survived and that has got to be good.
  • Three cornered leek
  • Celery that just keeps growing
The few celery plants that we have in the garden are the type which stay green and grow even during the winter, you just cut leaves off the plant and let it go on growing. I love celery I use it especially in soups.
I am chitting our potatoes, last summer my grandchildren and I dug up the potatoes that I had grown, the excitement this caused was so much fun that I decided to grow some more this season!
  • Thyme growing real well this winter
  • Mediterranean oregano
The herbs have also grown very well during the past winter months despite some frost. The oregano especially is very lush and I love using it in the kitchen. The thyme and rosemary too are thriving, and so is the sage. As well as that the lemon balm, hypericum, tansy, sorrel, and comfrey are all coming up beautifully.
I hope that wherever you are that your gardens are growing well too and that my friends in the UK have not been affected by the most recent floods and storms.