Battening down the hatches

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/renewed-wintry-blast

The winter lettuces in the raised bed are under a plastic cloche, and I've got a couple of rows of Swiss Chard under a mini poly tunnel so that should keep the weight of any snow off them.  The Broad Beans are up but only a few inches tall so snow shouldn't damage them, they'll be fine.  

I managed to get my bare root pear tree and gooseberry bushes planted yesterday - they're near the terrace so I can keep an eye on them without walking across the lawn, but they should be ok anyway.

Hydrangea and other cuttings are in the cold frame - I'll throw some fleece over them if the temperatures drop too low.

The hedgehogs have at last realised it's winter and are snuggled up in their hedgehog houses in sheltered corners.

And Very Important - we drained the outside tap yesterday, then OH wrapped it in a big wadge of bubblewrap and tape, just to be on the safe sidie.

What have you done to prepare your garden for 'the icy blast!' so that you can sit on your sofa and eat cake in front of the telly without worrying ? 

put my (nice)pots in the shed and conservatore and hid some less valuable under the garden table(which has a cover) ,put a pots over some plants,fixed a cover for the lavenders (in hopes) and built a barricade round some tender plants,will it work?soon know.

We've got some bright sunshine at the moment, but it's quite windy,  the clouds are scudding across the sky, travelling  from the north to the south, and the seagulls are having a lovely time swooping and wheeling in the wind.  

I've got a horrid cold but I've just wrapped up and been out as the tarpaulin over our compost bins was flapping about in the wind; don't want it to blow away, or even worse, keep us awake all night, so we've pegged the sides down and put some weights on the top.  Fingers crossed. 

I have wrapped the echiums in fleece and bubble wrap, also a salvia hotlips.

Covered all the garden in made compost and almost covered everywhere in bark chippings,(well rotted down) that came from our row of beech trees we had to have reduced last year, and from out own chipper.

Some of the salvias I put in the cold greenhouse have got too dry already so I had to offer a drink in spite of the predicted icy blast. 

I've stood the potted bulbs in there as well. I've always left them out before but last year I lost a lot. I think it was probably because the cold came so early and they hadn't started developing. That won't be a problem this year, roots are already out the bottom of the pot. I can hardly move out there. All the cuttings, some assorted thymes I split up a couple of months ago, bits and pieces that either I or my advisory team (that's you people) thought should be protected. Plus garden bench for sunny day coffee times.

Sorry about the cold Dove. A glass of mulled wine in front of the fire is a good remedy

Cheers Nutcutlet, nothing red in the cupboard that isn't too good to spoil with heat and spices, but there's chicken and leek soup and dumplings for supper, and the choice of G&T, brandy & coke or the remains of a bottle of French rosé, all of which I understand have reknowned healing properties 

Sounds as though you'll be OK

I learnt my lesson a few yrs back when I lost a lot of things-

Am in Nwest & aim to have all my outside patio pots wrapped securely with bubble wrap by the end of October.

The Agapanthus & Nerine pots are all also wrapped & covered with 2 layers of fleece in a solid coldframe. The HA seedlings, those that have survived the latest slug attack are fleece covered in a 2cnd coldframe. This one is also insulated around its' sides with polystyrene sheets.

The 2 surviving dahlias & Chocolate cosmos, also in glazed pots, have been dried off still in their pots, the pot wrapped & a fleece cap tied over each They are now under a plant table in a part-glazed porch.

Had I been using the very cold greenhouse to store things this winter I would have insulated with bubble wrap the North side & bottom half of the remainder. Then any stored pots in there would have been under a couple of fleece layers & an expanding cloche. I also use that reflecting material, that you fit behind radiators on outside walls, under the bubble wrap on the N & E sides. That then is good at reflecting any light back into the greenhouse in the spring for seed sowing.

As I've cleared away any dead, dying foliage I've forked over any soil compaction & mulched with my compost as I've gone alone. No problem this yr worrying if the soil was moist! I tend to do the mulching sooner rather than later as have a lot of spring bulbs in the borders, so spring isnt the best time for me.

Any spare glazed/unglazed pots/planters have either been brushed out & stood under the greenhouse staging or put into a 3rd coldframe!

All my HH cuttings are on sills either in the porch or in a spare bedroom- but if really cold nights are expected they get moved away from the windows! Losing all my HH fuschia cuttings one yr did not go down well!

The tap to the water butt is now slightly open & the butt drained. I'll reclose it usually about the end of Feb. 1 yr I ended up with a cracked butt re the water inside freezing. Havent an outside tap to worry about.

In the 2 coldframes containing plants there are water filled plastic bottles around the inside edge acting as 'heat sumps' to keep a more even temperature in there.

Once the last border is cleared, hopefully this next week? I can curl up with seed catalogues & my new gardening books, plus a pad & pen & make plans for next season!

Oh & this yr sometime I need to clean out the greenhouse properly & same for the shed, listing what I need to buy & taking all the stuff have acculmulated that is really rubbish to the tip! May even try painting some new fence panels whilst am less likely to demolish the plants in front of them.

Who says there's nothing to do in the winter?

It seems that we are not all going to die after all

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/beast-east-uk-spared-siberian-blast-103154565.html

Most forecasters got it wrong-despite many times telling us they can only forecast 5 days as maximum with confidence, we were told last week that this week winter would arrive with a vengeance

Not so-the barbecues can come out again-expect milder conditions by the end of the week-or can we?