For people who love their gardens and enjoy every moment spent in them during the spring, summer and autumn, the idea of winter arriving and demolishing the hard work put in during those warmer months is rather disconcerting.
Luckily, there are several things you can do during the winter to make sure your garden is fit, healthy and ready for the next batch of warm weather. So, without further ado, let’s prepare your garden for winter!
Get shot of annual plants
If you have any poppies or other annual plants in your garden, now is the time to dig them up.
This might sound a bit over the top, but it’s for the simple reason that these kind of plants rarely survive the cold months, therefore it’s much more productive and better for your garden to get shot of them now and add them to your pile of compost.
Fertilise your lawn
If you’ve got a lawn in your back garden, it will almost certainly have seen a lot of action during the summer months.
Paddling pools, kids playing lawn games, and the hot dry weather of the summer will all have caused havoc with the grass beneath, and that means it’s in need of some TLC.
The answer lies in fertilisation, but it needs to be done thoroughly in order to prepare your garden for winter.
Start by raking the grass to relieve it of thatch build-up and then aerate the area with your garden fork. By doing this, you’ll enable a much better flow of air and water through your lawn, thus improving its structure and preparing it for even the harshest winter.
Cover the pond
If you’re lucky enough to have a pond in your garden, it will probably have spent most of the summer getting clogged up with garden matter and other less desirable stuff as it rots.
This is normal, but to make sure it sails through the winter months, it’s a great idea to clean it out as thoroughly as possible and cover it for the duration of the winter.
Not only will this protect the pond itself, but also the wildlife that are likely to inhabit it, by reducing the chances of it completely freezing over.
De-weed
Oh, fun! If there’s one gardening job few people enjoy, it’s weeding.
However, a serious de-weed of your garden before winter really takes hold is a vital step if you’re to avoid having an even larger, even more annoying job on your hands come the spring.
So, pluck up the courage to have a proper de-weed session now, no matter how long it takes – you’ll thank your past self next year.
Lay down compost
This is another job that is either avoided or assumed to be pointless at this time of the year, but one which will set your garden in great stead for next year.
Lay down a couple of inches of compost, and top it up with mulch. This will protect your plants from any significant frosts that might develop and also help any wildlife that decides to feed on them.
Wrapping up
Winter isn’t a time for gardening as consistently as you do during the warmer months, but set aside time for the above tasks, and you can rest safe in the knowledge that you’ve done as much as possible to keep it in tip-top condition and ready for the year ahead.