Joyce Russell
Photos: Ben Russell
‘Putting the garden to bed’ conjures images of covering bare patches of earth with duvet-like mounds of mulch, or sheets of polythene drawn tight and tucked in around the edges. Ground coverings are indeed an important part of the job, but it makes a lot of sense to add in a few other tasks to ensure that both garden and gardener can take some rest through the winter.This doesn’t mean that the garden is completely dormant – there can be plenty of winter crops growing – and nor does it mean that the gardener is redundant, but it does mean that all is in good order when the garden bursts into action next spring.