I am reaching the conclusion that January may be my least favourite month for a variety of reasons but a contributing factor is the garden.
Every time I look out of the window in early January, the garden is a stark reminder of how many jobs I left undone in the autumn.
The bare bones of the garden are laid out before me – warts and all. As I look I can see several large clumps of hellebores that I dug up last year to make way for the new pond. Did I re-plant them – no, they are lying on top of one of the beds in the cutting garden roots exposed to the cold winds, waiting for a home.
Somehow, the cold weather in January did not deter the weeds from growing, and I now have weeds on top of my weeds in the flowerbeds close to the house.
When I go into the utility room – there are still a couple of packets of Tulip bulbs, if I peep inside – the bulbs look mournfully back and I know they are thinking that they would rather be in the ground than on top of the washing machine.
The greenhouse took a bashing in the high winds after Christmas, with 4 broken panes of glass and a broken door – it looks wounded and miserable – not to mention damp and cold. The temperature in there is now colder than I had hoped for, yet not cold enough to stop the slugs from nibbling at the over wintering seedlings.
The kitchen garden has bags of soil improver stacked at the end of each bed – I only dug one over in the autumn. I fully intended to do them all, plant green manure and/or cover the remaining beds with black polythene to protect the bare soil from the winter weather. Meanwhile, I yearn for salad and order far to many seeds for my small plot, seduced by the descriptions and the photo shopped pictures in the catalogues.
In January, instead of finding hope in the garden, I only notice the undone, not working, must change, aspects of the garden. Whenever I come indoors from a little wonder around the plot Shedman asks if everything is all right, and I grunt at him.
But however much I beat myself up about my neglect and tardiness Nature carries on in her own sweet way and proves yet again that she can do perfectly well with minimum intervention from me.
Despite lolling around out of the soil for several months, the Hellebores are pushing up their flower spikes. I will plant the rest of the Tulips this week, and they will come up when they do. My seedlings will grow into sturdy little plants rather than sappy mollycoddled specimens and as for the weeding – well, one day I will have a garden so full of plants that there will be no room for the weeds to grow.
Thank goodness Mother Nature doesn’t get grumpy in January, but gently, quietly carries on doing what she has always done best – encourages things to grow.
Right, must get back to my tax return, which of course is the other reason that I have the January blues.
The picture in the post has absolutely nothing to do with January blues. Another reason why I have been AWOL this month is that I am doing an online image manipulation course … very taxing on the little grey cells!
Sure know the feeling about January blues …. and now I’m in Florida, it’s not much better – the gardens here have taken a real beating in the cold weather!
Charlotte´s last blog ..Sunny Sunday … at last!
Know what you mean about the state of the garden.I look at mine & at the moment I’m beaten before I start, there is so much to do. I know that I must just take one small area at a time & work on that. Then it won’t seem so bad.(She hopes!)
I am with you, Karen, in thought, word and deed. January has to be our least favored month as well, even though our wedding anniversary is then to add a small hoorah! There are too many days, and too many of those are not conducive to being in the garden, or anywhere else outside. I am so sorry about your broken greenhouse, that would be sad to look upon. Things will get better, I hope. Weeds are plants too, if we learn their names it helps.
Frances
Frances´s last blog ..What Will Happen To The Garden?
I do not like winter at all, and if my birthday wasn’t in February, I wouldn’t be able to think of one redeeming feature for the cold months. My gardens probably look much worse than yours, except I don’t have any hellebore, nor do I plant tulips. I do have seeds, and now I have boxes and boxes and bags of bulbs to get into the ground. I need to do that pretty quick, as our soil will warm very quickly when it does start to warm. But it is cold now, and I hate cold!
I would really like to curl up with a good book, but I feel guilty because I have so much to do in the garden! LOL
Janie´s last blog ..Propagating bulbs is the MOST fun!
Your image is stunning Karen! I see bluebells along a woodland path … a letter and portrait. Lovely! Tax time will make us all blue… I should be working on mine too! Good to think of your hellebores stirring and all the multitude of growth going on beneath and above the earths surface. I look forward to seeing your garden sprout into green. January is nearly gone! ;>) Carol
Carol´s last blog ..RAINBOW COLORS and a GARDEN PALETTE
I don’t mind January too much. Work’s always quite busy over Christmas and New Year (so busy, in fact, that we have our office Christmas lunch in January), so January is a good time to catch up with some rest. But February – I HATE February. By then I’m getting really fed up with not being able to get out and do things.
January blues indeed!
Such a cold, dark and dank month… Especially after the excitement of December… However on the horizon also looms spring, soon things will cheer up
Lots of jobs here for me to do too… I was going to do them on Saturday but decided to leave it another couple of weeks. I should’ve just done it!
I have had the January blues as well but feel better after this weekend when I got some gardening down – amazing how a little bit makes all the difference. I do like the photo
Helen´s last blog ..What a difference a haircut makes!
I feel cheered after reading your post Karen – I’m not the only one with unplanted bulbs and plants in transit that never quite reached their destination
I fumble my way through January but it’s February that I struggle with. I like the photo especially the face which I did not notice at first.
Anna´s last blog ..The Blog Post Formerly Known As ……
The one good thing about my garden being distant from the house is that I don’t see how bad it looks on a daily basis as it is dark when I get home from work. But, it was still light at 4.45pm the other day, so in a couple of weeks, I will get up to the garden almost daily, (providing it isn’t raining). That is when I realise how much I have to do and start moving things about by street light! Finish the pond, put the new path down, extend the flower beds. The list is endless. So you have my sympathy. You also have Shedman!!
I too have tulips unplanted and have just been going through piles of old seed packets unable to throw them away and wondering if old seed ever germinates. do you know? On the upside, the hellebore you gave me is pushing out fat buds and the snowdrops are just starting to show.
I am another whose pet hate is February. I just run out of patience by then. The whole thing has been going on too long.
elizabethm´s last blog ..Hens and hellebores
You know you’re not alone… though I do love January – so full of surprises coming through the soil bit by bit, but like yourself so many things that I didn’t get time to do are starting to show… even had a whole day in the garden yesterday and I really ache today
The start of a season is always hard! Take heart… spring sunshine will be on it’s way I’m sure and as I saw somewhere recently… “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass…it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” Take care – Miranda x
Miranda Bell´s last blog ..Wildlife in our Brittany Garden…
Well I don’t know what to make of that post!
I started it quite happy.
Then got rather depressed by your tale.
The got lifted by your ray of hope at the end.
So I am kinda back where I started!
Which is kins fitting, because we are at the start of another gardening year.
Good luck with yours.
Best Wishes
Robert Webber
I am so with you! gail
Gail´s last blog ..Fifteen Minutes A Day!
Wonderful, daydreamy photo. I feel your pain on the January garden blues, though.
My garden was already bedraggled and bare, most everything that would’ve been green died back to the ground in our extraordinary, record-breaking low temps a few weeks back, and then we’ve had three days of flash floods that washed the soil out of one of my beds in a little river, uprooting all my garlic and wasting an autumn’s worth of compost and other amendments. Sigh. When I went out there today and tried to do a few tasks, the soil was so soaked I dared not do much, and my gloves got soaking wet in no time from just trying to yank up weeds (how *do* the weeds survive conditions that kill everything else??), and my cold, wet hands sent me stomping back inside much too quickly, frozen in spite of bundling up.
Come on, Spring!
Meredith´s last blog ..bean beauty (plus focus: week three)
Scary, a ghost in the woods, miserable January, tax and Vat,and a cousin who’s a vicar where’s the pills!! On the other hand its a lovely picture and we are nearly at the end of Jan and vat, tax will be finished by the end of the week and coz will always be there spiritually for us.
Yes the garden is cold and full of hardy weeds,AND wet too,AND the North east wind is blowing, but then there are snowdrops, and the miraculous, fleeting winter irises….Love the picture Karen,a kind ghost in the woods
Oh yes Karen, the reminder of the jobs unfinished… got heaps too. Must ‘man up’ and get out there and take a look! Ah… will be interested to see the results of your image course as I’ve been getting headaches with PhotoShop for something relatively simple
shrl´s last blog ..Bird News
Oh I wholeheartedly agree! I always hate the way my garden reveals my shortcomings in January, more than ever now we’ve half-stripped the front garden and realised just how badly we’d let things go!
I have a feeling you are not alone, Karen! I too have orphan bulbs without a home in the garage
Thank goodness you posted that lovely photo so we can all leave with beautiful thoughts 
joey´s last blog ..JANUARY JOY!
I’m sorry for the blues! But your image manipulation course must be great if you’re creating pictures like the one in this post. It’s wonderful.
VW´s last blog ..Our Front Yard is Torn Apart!
Dammit, I had left a comment here, and it was eaten, apparently. January is a tiresome month, but it’s also a month of promise, as we look at what we consider ‘flaws’ and think about what to do about them. Squishing around the back yard on Tuesday with a friend who owns a nursery, we bounced ideas off one another and I decided what to do about some annoying, scraggly and unhealthy wire birches in the back garden. So that’s a happy to-do for spring’s arrival. We’ll make it through, Karen, we always do…
jodi (bloomingwriter)´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: "They called me the hyacinth girl…"
Yes, indeed.
Susan Tomlinson´s last blog ..The color of waiting
Dear Karen, I am so pleased that you finish this posting on an optimistic note as I was, myself, beginning to feel very heavy of heart and wondering what I could do to help. Happily, I do not feel you need to be on my worry list. Indeed, I am sure that you are far more capable than me! Thank you so much for making me a ‘Favourite’.