Winter is practically upon us now, as evidenced by the glut of crunchy leaves appearing beneath our feet. The season heralds the end of our more active gardening tasks, but a green-fingered hobbyist’s work really is never over pop over to this site.
While you might not be chomping at the bit to get out there and garden in more unpleasant weather, there are some sensible, even essential winter maintenance tasks you can do to ensure your garden remains its beautiful self even while in hibernation, and to ensure that it will bounce back all the stronger come spring time.
Prune Your Plants
Firstly, you should be getting out there with your secateurs every once in a while, even long after deciduous shrubs have shed their leaves and flowers. While pruning might be for aesthetic purposes as well as control purposes in the summer, the winter presents you with a clearer opportunity to prune for the health of your plants. Without leaves in the way, you can better diagnose diseased branches in deciduous plants; besides, your evergreens will still need some attention!
Protect Your Flora
With regard to your seasonal plants and flowers, the winters can be especially harsh to them – even if they are generally primed to weather cold well. Low temperatures, strong winds and the presence of frost can all be detrimental to the health of your more prized plants, so wind-screens and frost cloths are crucial for keeping your more favoured shrubs happy.
Clear Away Debris
The winter is also a golden opportunity to clear away the debris that collects in your lawn and flowerbeds. The cold weather can stave off decomposition, making it far easier for you to get rid of dead leaves with a cordless leaf blower before they turn to mulch.
Mistakenly, many people leave their dead leaves to decompose in hopes of enriching their soil; the slow rate of decomposition can in fact cause leaves to smother the soil, and render it more hostile. This is to say nothing of the potential for introducing disease to your plants. If you are of a composting disposition, you should instead collect your leaves and deposit them in a composter, to let it do its work first!
Store Your Tools
Finally, a note on the tools of your trade: make sure they’re clean and safely stored throughout the winter! Even more active winter gardeners, as with year-round allotments, should be taking care of their tools and ensuring they’re packed away at the end of each day. These harsher conditions make rust more likely, so a dab of machine oil and a cool, dry place is just the ticket for your equipment.