How To Get Your Garden Through The Winter Months

A good clean up at the beginning of winter might seem like a chore as the colder temperatures set in but trust us – you will thank yourself in the spring.

Here are a few simple ways you can keep your garden looking tidy through the winter months

and protect your plants

Relocating Your Plants

Ideally, moving any tender plants that can’t survive a frost into a shed or greenhouse is the best option. For larger potted plants, bring them nearer to the house were it will be warmer or try wrapping the pots to prevent the roots from freezing – bubble wrap is an effective way of doing this.

For plants that can’t be moved, the best thing to do would be to cover them of a night. You can buy special frost protection fleeces but equally, old towels or sheets will do the job. Make sure the plants are covered well with no gaps for the heat to escape.

Smaller plants can be covered with unused plant pots or bottles with the tops cut off.

Protecting Your Plants With A Mulch

At GCS, we’re all for using natural ways to nurture a garden and we find mulching is fantastic. It is a great way to protect your bedded plants from the frost by keep the ground warm.

If you don’t fancy making your own leaf mulch you can always buy some from your local garden centre or online. There are many different types of mulch that we will briefly touch on but its ultimately down to you to decide whats best for your garden.

If you’re after a biodegradable mulch, wood chips are always a popular choice because of their attractive natural finish. Straw, grass clippings and compost are other alternatives. If you are after a more permanent solution, you might want to look at materials such as rubber, slate, gravel, shells or even plastic sheets.

Tidy Up

Other than the obvious, like tidying borders and patios, we advise getting rid of any old, rotting plants that you no longer want. After all, you can then buy a few more new and exciting ones right?

Pull up any weeds. Once dug up, make sure any invasive weeds are removed from the garden or burned – this will put a stop to them sprouting again next year.

If you’re going to take the time to prune any old leaves or flowers just be sure be check throughly for any signs of new life.

Lawn care

Your lawn will be very low maintenance through the winter. With a mild winter like the one we are currently having, your lawn is probably still growing. You might find mowing is still necessary but only do so when conditions are dry and try not to cut it too short as this will make it harder for it to survive.

If possible try to keep off the grass in wet weather as it is easily damaged in these conditions and it will often go very patchy and bumpy as a result.

It’s a tough time to be a gardener but hang on in there – spring is just around the corner!