Best Garden Ideas to Get You Ready For Winter

Winter is a difficult time for gardeners. The cold and wet weather makes it hard for amateur gardeners to motivate themselves to go out and tend their garden. Most garden chores are put on hold until the spring. If you are one of those gardeners, it is still a good idea to prepare your garden for the winter, as this will ensure your garden is ready and healthy come the warmer months of the year.

Trim your hedges

If you have garden hedges, autumn is the best time to trim them. This will create a tighter structure that can withstand the more extreme weather conditions. If you let your hedge grow out in the autumn, come spring you will have to do double the work as you deal with the damage from strong winds and snow.

Clean out pots and keep them in storage

Even your sturdiest pots can crack if you leave them outside and filled with

soil during the winter. Remove all leftover soil from your pots, wash them out, and then store them for spring. Bring your potted plants indoors to prevent the pots from breaking. This is one of the most common, and costly, mistakes gardeners make.

Get your plants ready

Gladioli, tuberoses, dahlias, and other tender underground plants should be dug up before winter. Store the plants indoors in a cool place. If your garden shed is big enough, make sure to use them.

Alan Titchmarsh believes that autumn is the beginning of the gardening seasonnot the end, as this is when plants like crocuses, daffodils, and narcissi should be planted. October is the best month as the soil is both warm and damp. Make sure you plant them deep enough (six inches) so they have the best chance of growing come the spring.

Protect your trees from bark splitting

Young trees are very prone to bark splitting. This happens when frozen bark thaws following early morning winter sun. This is most commonly known as “sun scald.” To prevent this from happening, wrap the trunks of young trees with commercial tree wrap paper.

Drain all your water features

If you have fountains in your garden, now is the best time to drain them thoroughly. Small water features will freeze, which can break the pump and pipes. Once you’ve drained them, store the pump in your garden shed.

Get your outdoor Christmas decorations ready

Here on Furniture in Fashion we wrote about the importance of checking all outdoor power sources to make sure you have functional ones when spring arrives. But if you are fond of putting Christmas decorations outside, checking on your outdoor power sources a little bit earlier would be ideal to prevent any short circuits during the colder months.

Lawn care

When it comes to your lawn, Garden.org recommends mowing it high, which is two to three inches for most lawns, to encourage good root growth. The vast array of garden lawn mowers featured on Screwfix show how the majority of today’s machines come with adjustable cutting heights. This allows gardeners to keep the lawn a healthy height all year round. Give your lawn a good feeding, too, with a 3-2-1 ratio. Don’t forget to reseed thin spots, apply a layer of compost, aerate compacted areas, and water it throughout autumn, especially if the weather is dry.