The winter-vegetable garden may not have the colour or freshness of June or even October, but there is a rich reassurance in the kale, sprouts, turnips and beetroot that rides the worst of the weather with a kind of insouciance. Even if the snow has to be scraped aside to ease out a parsnip or the cabbages are brought in rimed with frost, the taste is rich, good and warming.
The garden helps make Christmas, more than any amount of frantic commercial consumption. So, amid the orgy of Christmas shopping, I try to carve a garden-shaped space where there is plenty of consumption but no money changes hands. At the heart of this is Christmas dinner - and the sequence of meals that flow from and after it - which is so much the better for having as much as possible gathered from the garden or allotment.
Planning is obviously needed to make this happen, starting right back in the previous spring. But for all of us who have failed to some degree in this department, and are gazing upon empty vegetable beds - believe me, I do, every year the time for ordering seeds for next year is fast upon us.
Esta historia es de la edición December 2023 de BBC Gardeners World.
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Esta historia es de la edición December 2023 de BBC Gardeners World.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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Travel Ideas For Garden Lovers
Looking for green-fingered holiday inspiration? The GW team share recent destinations for garden getaways
Your wildlife month
December is a time for reflection in the garden. What worked for wildlife in 2023 and what didn't? How could you do more? Looking at the bones of the garden now, is there space for more plants? Are your fences bare? Are there enough berries and hips? You have until March to plant bare-root trees and shrubs. What would look good? What would better serve wildlife?
The Full Monty
I can, and occasionally do, manufacture jobs in a kind of gung-ho, boy-scout spirit
Expert's choice
Smaller variegated ivies still pack a big punch all year round, says Graham Rice
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
Frances Tophill explains what to cut back now, including grapevines and hardy shrubs
Hardwood cuttings
It's the zero-fuss way to make free new shrubs - just follow our guide from Nick Bailey
Hassle-free harvests
While veg-plot activities slow down in winter, there is still plenty to do, from planting fruit trees, and harvesting sprouts and salads to taking stock of your growing year so you can plan next year's crops, says Jack Wallington
The happy house plant guide
In the first of a seven-part series, Jane Perrone shares expert advice on how to give your house plants the best start to a long and healthy life in your home
The science of soil
Healthy soil is teeming with life - Becky Searle delves below the surface to explore how this fascinating system works and how it can benefit our plants
'It's like another lung - like having oxygen on tap. It makes you breathe in a different way'
Helen Maxwell's garden in rural Carmarthenshire surrounds the house that her husband (who's an architect) designed.
