How To Care For Your Garden During Winter
It can be very easy to neglect your garden in winter, with the cold weather and lack of daylight, a weekend of gardening isn’t the first choice for many of us. Despite this, it is important to care for your garden in winter to allow it to thrive during the spring and summer months. Here are just some of the things you should consider doing:
Care for plants
Unfortunately, without help, some plants won’t survive through the winter if they aren’t properly protected against frost, wind, rain, and potential snow. Therefore, you may want to implement some protective measures. These vary depending on the type of plants you have but could include moving the plants or covering them up.
Doing this will allow your plants to continue to survive through to the warmer months and throughout the year.
Make sure to do some research before you put any measures into place; native plants don’t require protection and some plants will naturally only survive one season, so it isn’t worth trying to protect them at all.
Tidy up
Summer is the time when we typically spend the most time in our gardens, embracing the weather, hosting friends, and just generally relaxing. This often means that tidying up the garden falls to the waste side.
Winter, therefore, provides the perfect opportunity for a quick tidy-up. Removing any fallen leaves or debris is a good place to start. You should also trim back any hedges during this time too, opting for battery operated hedge trimmers will mean you can easily trim any hedges you have, at the front and back of the house without the constriction of wires and electric sockets. Make sure to trim before you do any sweeping so that you can collect everything in one go.
If you have a compost bin, don’t forget to pay this some attention too during your tidy up too.
Don’t forget the furniture
With an increase in rain and a decrease in temperature, it is very easy for garden furniture to go rusty or become damaged if left outside during winter. If you have the capacity, bring your furniture inside, or store it in a shed during these cold months. If you don’t have the space for this, consider investing in some covers that will also do a good job of protecting the furniture.
Plant new bulbs
Although it may not seem like it, winter can be the perfect time for planting certain bulbs. Do some research into when to plant different bulbs and choose what you’d like to start planting. Tulips, for example, are best planted in December and make a lovely addition to any garden.