In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is  ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including
01.08.2023 - 14:44 / gardenerstips.co.uk / hortoris
Get sowing for some winter greens and veg like Beetroot, Spring Cabbages, Lettuces, Spring Onions, Chicory, Fennel and Rocket.
Unless you already have a well stocked allotment or vegetable garden you need to be thinking about next years winter vegetables. Settle down with a drink and some good seed catalogues and plan to enjoy the fruits (or veg) of your labours through to next Christmas.
The well named Tundra Cabbage will take all that winter can throw at you and still produce firm heads until April. Blue cabbage Aurtoro looks so good next to Autumn yellows and oranges and it can be planted in the flower garden. The heads are firm and the leaves tightly packed to make a vegetable that stands well. It will also help make a warming winter soup.
Cabbage Tips
Plant Spring cabbage 12in apart. Earth up the soil around their stems to prevent rocking and help them against the cold. In cold frost prone areas cover with fleece or cloches. Watch out for pigeons which may get deterred by netting. Young plants can be thinned for spring greens and leave the rest to heart up.
Curly Kale with crinkly leaves is another vegetable that shouldn’t be restricted to the vegetable patch. Redbore a purple leaved variety grows on tall sturdy stems that look interesting through winter. Other varieties like January King 3, Red Winter or Westland Winter, a blue green, can add more variety to the garden and your winter grub. If you like the blistered crinkly leaved varieties go for Resolution or Traviata F1’s.
Parsnips are just ready to start lifting. They can be left in the ground until needed and I think a bit of frost does no harm to the flavour. Interceptor Carrots can be harvested through to March and reverting to the purple theme Purple Haze
In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is  ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including
Now part of this garden is down to crazy paving the Qualcast grass box is needed less and can be put to a different use. It looks like a ‘unibarrow’ has got in on the act to make a feature planter for these pansies.
Ants can be an unsightly nuisance and inspire concern. However they do not directly damage plants but are more a sign that you have another pest problem.
A rock garden is a grand place to display your alpine plants. You can shade them with rocks, provide deep root runs and provide rain cover with perspex roofs
White is the second most useful colour in the garden after green. I am progressively increasing the number and variety of white and grey plants that I grow.
Despite my garden being full to overflowing after the spring rain I have decided to create a new area for a Japanese Garden. When starting a new project I was advised to have a name that may colour the end result. I opted for the grand title of ‘Japan Land’Â This will be a long term project and I won’t rush it as I have on other projects in the past.
What can gardeners do in winter? The answer lies in the soil! but to old gardeners it is still ‘Beyond our Ken’. I often spent too long polishing my good intentions this includes planning to send my mower for servicing and sharpening’ a shame I do not plan to polish up my other important gardening implements.
Britain has some of the best gardens in the world. The choice of which to visit is far larger than this selective list but at least it gives you somewhere to start planning this years outings.
In the cold wet winter it is a good time to plan where to visit as the year improves. The South West is the obvious place to start your visiting tour of gardens containing exotic plants.
‘The Garden of Reading: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Short Fiction About Gardens and Gardeners’ edited by Michele Slung.
First read the authoritative book ‘The Himalayan Garden: Growing Plants from the Roof of the World ‘ by Jim Jermyn
Your own rock garden does not have to be as large as that at Kew. You do not need to demonstrate every regional zone on the planet. Nor do you need specimen plants that grow in all the range of soil conditions and climates. Better to concentrate on doing one or two things well.