Peter Dowdall: Wrap up and enjoy your room outside 

There's a certain magic about winter gardening. Here's what to look out for to make the most of any plot at this time of year

Mahonias' flowers not only help bees but their berries too are loved by many different types of birds. Picture: iStock

We often talk about “pet days” during the summer and autumn, these are days which are that bit special in terms of weather, days when the sunlight seems to go on forever and we get to appreciate and enjoy the garden that bit more than mere “normal days”, but what about “pet days” in winter? 

Several of the mornings over the last week or so have been quite spectacular. Cold, yes, and often more than just a bit, foggy but as soon as the sun started to break through, the garden and surrounding landscape has been quite sensational to admire.

On one morning, in particular, I was out early, taking the dog to do “his business”, it was still dark as the sun rises quite late now, and the world was shrouded in a dense mist, not a breath of air, just stillness. After another hour or so, the sun began to break through and light up the landscape with its rays, seemingly cleansing and illuminating the countryside with such pure beauty, it was quite simply, breath-taking.

These are the real days to get out into the garden, to get the winter jobs done. Wrap up well initially, you can divest what you want as you warm up from digging and weeding. 

The autumn bulbs should be nearly all in now, still time for tulips and alliums and soon the summer-flowering bulbs will need to be planted — lilium, paeony roots, gladiolus and more — as the months move on.

Irish Examiner gardening columnist Peter Dowdall.

Use these days to get out and give the garden a tidy up, removing herbaceous growth over the ground which has now died off. This can all be composted to create a great soil additive for next year. Not all herbaceous have to cut back now, for many will still stand upright and contain seeds that birds can feed on.

Established herbaceous can also be lifted now, divided and re-planted around the garden. Hostas, many dalvias, felphiniums, heleniums and others can all be done now, though I recommend leaving ornamental grasses and evergreen perennials until the end of the winter, even early spring when the new growth is just beginning to emerge once more.

Time, now, too, to make safe any paved areas or decking which may be getting slippy. 

Remove all fallen debris and apply an organic algicide or cleaner to avoid a trip to the emergency room. The probiotic Mosgo is well worth applying to these surfaces once cleaned as it works well to stop, or at least to slow the development of further algae and moss growth.

Hardwood cuttings, are an ideal way to propagate many deciduous trees and many fruit trees are grown commercially in this way. Take about 20cm of the current year's growth, about pencil thickness. The base of the cutting should be at a node, a dormant leaf bud and the top too, should be just on a node. Perhaps mark the top with a piece of string as it can be difficult to tell the top from the bottom of a winter twig. 

Plunge the cuttings into a pot filled with garden soil or compost. These can be kept indoors or outside and they will develop roots though be patient for it will take several months.

Mahonias have been looking better this year than most, or is that just the ones that I have noticed. I am not normally a fan of Mahonia as they nearly always seem to suffer from fungal leaf spot, the end result always being, a plant which looks sick and untidy. 

No matter how well it flowers, it’s beauty is reduced by the discoloured foliage. This year however, I have noticed several, in different gardens, looking quite resplendent. Not a leaf spot to be seen and flowers aplenty. They have all been the variety, Mahonia ‘Charity’ as that is one of the more popular varieties and one of the best to flower.

I’m looking at mahonia now with a while newfound sense of respect, for it is lovely to have an evergreen shrub in the garden which produces such fantastic flower colour during the winter months. It ticks all the boxes on the biodiversity list too, providing a valuable source of food for bees out at the moment and berries providing sustenance to birds. Its prickly foliage will provide a safe nesting location too for birds.

It’s no surprise that it was on one of those “pet days” that I noticed my first one this year — isn’t winter sunshine wonderful?

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