How to keep your Garden Neat and Tidy during the Winter – Here are a few tips on how to keep your garden neat and tidy during the winter.
As the summer months fade, and the colder weather is well and truly here; wherever you are, you probably won’t be spending as much time in your garden as you were before – unless, of course, you’re lucky enough to live in warmer climates all year round.
Keeping your garden neat and tidy is important to ensure you’re getting the most out of your garden both now and when spring and summer comes around in the new year.
If your garden is a bit untidy at the moment, then it’s best to try to get on top of it, so it’s easier to maintain in the future, plus it’s a good time to cut back some of the summer growth too. Here are a few tips on how to keep your garden neat and tidy during the winter.
Plan and prepare
When it comes to planning and preparing tidying up your garden for the winter, it may be beneficial to decide on what you want to keep in your garden, and what you want to remove or change to make it more managable.
It’s always nice to add a personal touch to your home, even when it’s outside. So if you’re keen to have a fruit and vegetable patch, then it’s worth landscaping the space to make it more accessible for this type of gardening activity.
Or, you may have young children or grandchildren, and have plans to create a space for outdoor play for them, which why it’s always a good idea to factor those ideas into your garden design too.
Prune any shrubs and remove dead plants
Now is the time to dead head and prune. Even if you’re an avid gardener, there’s probably some shrubs and plants that haven’t survived a hot summer or that won’t survive the harsh, cold months to come.
Pruning shrubs and cutting back branches on trees will help ensure you keep the space safe and tidy. Not only that, but it avoids any issues when it comes to trees overhanging onto your property, or neighbouring properties.
Removing dead plants will immediately make the space look more tidy and appealing when you want to spend time outside too, and creates space for new planting.
Add mulch
Mulches help soil retain moisture in summer, rain to penetrate the soil in winter, prevent weeds from growing and protect the roots of plants in winter.
It’s is a protective layer of material that’s spread over the top of the soil in order to improve the health of your plants and soil.
Adding a thick layer of mulch is a great way to help the soil regulate its temperature and moisturise it at the same time. It’s also great for protecting your plants and flowers when temperatures drop to freezing.
Tidying up Regularly
Tidying up regularly ensures that your garden is neat and tidy for the change of season. Now’s the time to put the barbeque, ladders and summer garden furniture away, as well as other things around the garden that won’t winter well.
It’s also a good time to get rid of anything that no longer is required, old pots and planters for example. Equipment like leaf blowers can be great to clear the space of autumn leaves and other garden debris, and are extremely handy at this time of the year.
Plant cover crops
Cover crops, also known as green manure, are helpful in order to build up the organic matter that you find in the soil. Sowing the covering crops in the late summer will be helpful to benefit the growth of any future plants you plant. This is particularly helpful for gardeners who are looking to harvest fruit, vegetables, and herbs.
With nutrient-rich soil, you’re going to get a much better harvest and all of your plants are going to look and appear a lot healthier too.
Clean your garden tools
Now is a good time to clean your garden tools. Tools like garden trowels, forks and spades will last longer if they are regularly cleaned, and I always add a bit of oil to them before storing them away when they’re not in use too.
Clean all your garden tools that come into contact with soil, and make sure to hose down all equipment and dry it off where you can. It also helps prevent the spread of the disease of anything that could infect other healthy plants and shrubs.
Store away all tools and furniture in a dry space
It’s a good idea to help keep your garden neat and tidy during the winter by storing all of your garden tools. A garden shed or a storage space in the garden is a great idea to keep everything safe and secure – as well as out of sight.
You’re probably not going to need to mow the grass or do much heavy gardening during the winter, so it’s always a good idea to put everything away.
Plus, if they are left outside, they could get weather damaged too. A shed is also the ideal space for drying your onions and herbs, and storing other autumn fruit and vegetales, such as apples and potatoes.
Paths
Finally, make sure your paths around the garden are safe, with no broken paving stones, loose bricks or excess moss, which will be slippy in frosty and wet weather. And, cover areas that you want to protect, where you have new shrubs or plants you have planted.
