January in Provence is magical. The tourists have left, locals go on vacation, the farms are quiet and there is a sense of calm hibernation. Days are the shortest this time of year with the sun rising around 8ish and setting around 5. Temperatures range from 0 degrees celcius to 15 degrees. While there are over 300 days of sunshine year round, January has several overcast days and rain. All perfect for the gardens to rest and rejuvenate.
While the mornings are chilly, typically the afternoons are warm enough to work in the gardens and because we don't have DEEP freezes the ground is soft enough to get your spade into. In addition, the perennials have died back and the leaves have fallen off the deciduous bushes/trees allowing you to really see your beds and where some 'infrastructure' work needs to be done!
I use January as my clean up month to prepare the garden for spring. Here are a few specific tasks I complete:
1) Trim hedges -With the bushes dormant you can clean up all your bushes and hedges and shape them for next year. I try not to trim them right before occasional deep freezes, however.
2) Prune trees - I cut off any dead or damaged branches and of course do a little shaping. Is that branch blocking to much sun from one of my beds? Is this tree growing in the shape I want?
3) Clean up planting beds - Time to cut back the dead growth of the perennials, weed the beds and re-edge them. Yes you read the correct, weed them (again). Because we don't have deep freeze here weeds grow year round, albeit slower in the winter. Re-edging is so important in my opinion as it creates that clean line separating the planting bed from the lawn. Also it is much easier to do in January when plants have died back. This is a much harder task to do during the growing season when you plants are overflowing.
4) Plan your 2023 gardens! I really love this time of year because I have time to sit back and imagine what I want to do in Spring. I break my gardens into 2 categories: 1) Existing Gardens, 2) New Gardens.
For my existing gardens, I always ask myself - Am I happy with this garden? If I am, I leave it alone and allow it to do its thing. not every garden needs to be redone or enhanced. If I want to evolve the garden, how so? Do I want to add a new plant(s), or remove a plant(s)? Are all the plants healthy and do they have enough space to grow during the next season? Do I need to add a hard or structural element such as large rock, birdhouse, or trellis? Am I happy with the color palette and the timing of the flowers that bloom across the season. I always try to aim for 9 months of something flowering in my gardens, so I may need to add a new species based on how last years species performed. \\
For new gardens, I have fun! I do a lot of reflection of what already exists in the gardens overall, and what do I want to replicate or if I want to add a new element or style. For inspiration, I spend time flipping thru garden books, looking on instagram and remembering gardens I have visited over the years. You can get inspiration from anywhere, such as a color, shape, a specific plant type, even a cultural aesthetic. For example, there was no Asian-themed garden on the property when we bought it, and as I lived in Asia twice, I love this aesthetic and wanted to add an Asian-inspired garden last fall, which I did. I researched plants that were native to Asia but would grow in Provence as well as typical elements found in Asian gardens. I'll write in future blogs about how to design gardens and things you should take into consideration when planning a new garden, but for now, go be inspired and dream of what your garden could be in the future!
Comments