‘Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream.’ – Josephine Nuese 

Growing up in a city, in an apartment in a large building which had no green spaces but a compound which was used for parking cars and for us kids to play, was so different. Gardens for us were the public parks where people used to jog around, kids played and where retired folk met in the evenings. My mum had her little city green space on our two balconies. She missed having a garden which she did when she was growing up in Mangalore. I remember that one so well. We used to visit my grandparents every school holidays in the summer. There were flowering bushes everywhere, coconut palms and fruit trees dotted around. My mum had green fingers – whatever she planted in her wee balcony garden flourished under her care.

When mum and dad visited me in my first home in Manipal, she was so thrilled to be able to tinker around. But that garden was nothing but rock!! Manipal sits on a volcanic rock and it is very hard to grow anything without putting trucks load of top soil. We still managed to grow bananas, papaya, crotons, bougainvillea, hibiscus, coleus, and we also had a small kitchen garden with ginger, chillies, curry leaves, and garlic.

But the garden stayed the same all the year round, the temperatures remaining constant with probably a degree or two lower in the so-called winter. I learnt about the winter garden only after coming to the UK. The preparation for winter, when all the annuals are taken down, the perennials are trimmed, the bushes cut down, the fallen leaves are collected and the grass treated with the autumn feed and given the final cut before the temperatures fall.

Everything looks so stark, trees are bare, the beech hedges with their brown dried leaves, the ground hard with frost. One positive about this picture is that you can see the surrounding landscape well through the bare tree branches. It is a view which is breath-taking even though very stark.

Now we are in the midst of winter, with colder weather still to arrive. I see the little birds who have stuck around, looking for scraps as the ground is too hard to dig for worms. The feeders and the fat balls hanging on the fence are a big favourite with the smaller birds like robin, coal tits and sparrows. The blackies and pigeons pick the crumbs on the grass below.. I tend to put out some bread for the crow who will stuff his beak with as much as he can before the gulls get it..

The winter garden, though stark and dull, holds promise, waiting for the spring to make an appearance for the revival of the countryside. I can’t wait either….