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A FRESH START From homemade fertiliser to growing companion plants, Anna Taylor shares her gardening resolutions
I love cracking open an opportunity to review, plan and renew. It’s a real palate cleanser for the year just gone! I’m talking about those crisp, clear, bright days when the ground crunches underfoot, cheeks are rosy and the breath leaves our mouth in hot, steamy puffs. Cobwebs hang off last year’s stems and the garden’s skeletal structures sit like theatre props waiting for the cast to arrive. With the damp, bone-chilling, foggy days that hang between the a fresh diary and year planner. The whole of January feels like short hours of dawn and dusk, summer is a long- forgotten country. On these dark, grotty days, I don’t advocate for denial and chastising oneself with restrictive New Year’s resolutions, but instead encourage a more positive review and setting of intentions for the year ahead. I write an ‘ins and outs’ list, something like: In – more shrubs; enlarge the pond; buy warm boots; sharpen tools more regularly; plan trip to The Serge Hill Project (in Hertfordshire); create a washing station (just a tap right now); plan seed sowing in succession; establish more mixed (polyculture) planting; install water butts.
encourage plants to find water for themselves, developing their own deep roots rather than relying on us. Besides, tap water contains small amounts of chlorine, which can kill off beneficial soil micro- organisms. Instead of using the hosepipe, I’ll spray plants with a homemade ‘tea’ every week, consisting of water from water butts and shed guttering. Slugs were a real terror in 2024, but even organic slug pellets contain heavy metals and chemicals that alter the balance of soil. It’s best to avoid them at all costs. Beer traps are usually a good way to prevent the worst damage, enabling seedling leaves to mature and toughen up so they’re less enticing to molluscs. Hardening off plants well is the best prevention. I also resolve to direct sow companion plants to draw pests like aphids away from more precious plants. Nasturtiums, marigolds and achillea are great, with the added bonuses of joyful colour, filling in gaps and achieving a polyculture, which is far better for soil health, biodiversity and reducing weeds. I aim to periodically leave areas of grass unmown and some piles of sticks, weeds and leaves as habitats for amphibians and insects.
MAIN IMAGE © ANNA TAYLOR PORTRAIT © CHARLOTTE GRIFFITHS
I encourage a more positive review and setting of intentions
For the rest of this month, I’ll be pruning apple trees, bringing branches indoors to force blossoms and planning my planting schemes. Gardening and growing is a real salve for these challenging times, helping us connect with outdoor spaces and nature. It’s one of the best ways we can find some peace. A happy new year to all. Anna Taylor grows cut flowers on Anna’s Flower Farm, Saffron Walden. She hosts workshops in person and online, and is currently setting up courses on winter planning of flower crops and planting cut flowers. Book at annasflowerfarm.com
squeeze into the corner of your garden. Pop in a layer of newspaper, some topsoil and a few earthworms, then feed them regularly with kitchen waste. They’ll turn it into a crumbly mulch or compost and a liquid fertiliser that you can drain off at the tap and use to feed plants in summer. To turn this microbe-rich growing medium into a sowing compost, simply mix it with some sand and a little loam. I’m also planning to use less water. I rarely water plants growing outside, apart from when I’m transplanting seedlings. With increasingly unpredictable rainfall and drought conditions, it’s best to
Out – peat compost; mowing all the grass (leave some long); forgetting to collect the raspberries; not hardening off plants properly; wasteful irrigation; staking plants weeks too late. Homemade compost and more I’ve long been a champion of peat-free compost, but have found that the quality of bags from the garden centre can be inconsistent, so this year I’m resolved to make my own. It’s easy to do, and the simplest route is to buy or make a wormery. You can get really chic, smart little bins to
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