December in the Gardens
By Molly Hibbert
Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees but tiny yellow crab apples still cling to the branches. The frost has separated the hardy from the not so hardy; the last lettuces were ruined but the Swiss chard has just about bounced back. The kitchen garden looks bare but we still manage a modest harvest of swedes, Peruvian ground apple or yacón, and cavolo nero for the Ox Barn kitchen. The Brussels sprouts are just perfect, soon they will be on the menu, served with brown butter and toasted hazelnuts.
It's cold, and more often than not, wet. I squeeze on three pairs of gloves: fingerless and furry, then a thin pair - good for fiddly jobs, and finally a waterproof set. Vic, the Senior Kitchen Gardener, jokes that I stick my hands into the leaf mould to heat up. We eat more chocolate biscuits than maybe we should, but, we reason, they are necessary to keep warm.
There's much to do in the garden in the last weeks before Christmas: things to pull up, plots to mulch, and a long list of cleaning chores that were neglected during the manic summer months.
We collect worm casts, the shiny squiggles of worm poo that can be found on the surface of the soil. Though some gardeners find worm casts a nuisance, it’s a brilliant fertiliser, and reportedly keeps away pests like aphids. We put the casts in a watering can with some water and leave it to steep overnight, then use it as a feed for the baby vegetables.
We still have tulips to plant, the resident squirrels are keenly waiting for us to leave the precious bulbs unattended. We pull out all of the tricks to deter them. We sprinkle cayenne pepper over the soil and lay branches of prickly holly over the freshly dug patch. Then, we cross our fingers!
